Royal Mail cuts later collection times
The postal service is to trim later collections on almost half of UK post boxes.
Collection times on almost 50,000 post boxes will be brought forward to between 9am and 3pm, rather than 4pm or later, the Royal Mail has confirmed.
Those that have mailed a letter over the weekend may have come across a notice telling them of changes to the collection times of certain post boxes.
The new times will be rolled out in England and Wales over the coming month. Scottish postal users will be notified of their changes next month, with new collection slots being introduced throughout September.
Rural residents don't have too much to worry about though; these plans mostly affect urban and suburban areas.
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Making up for lost time
Royal Mail says that it will add 2,000 post boxes to under-serviced areas such as Northern Ireland and quieter parts of Scotland. By contrast, other new boxes will appear in more convenient spots such as train stations and shopping centres.
Tabs will also be added to the boxes to show if a collection has been made.
Royal Mail emphasises that there’ll still be late collections. Wherever there’s a box with an earlier collection time, a later one will be available within half a mile.
'Streamlined' service
Royal Mail is acting as many post boxes can no longer cover their costs. It says it wants to develop more of a 'streamlined' service for both its postal collectors and customers.
In a survey carried out by the regulator last year, 91% of postal users didn’t choose which post box they used based on collection time.
Do you think these changes will cause you much inconvenience? Let us know in the comments below.
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@centrum46 feel better now you got your political whinge over? ""Call me Dave" is making money hand over fist whilst the rest of us are paying for it" What are you talking about? Making money?! The country is losing money every day, that's why the debt goes up and up. Like the unfunny Liam Byrne said on leaving office "there's no money left". "Every former Nationalised Industry is now a shadow of it's former self ". That's a good thing isn't it? BA? BT? What a joke they would be if they were still nationalised. As for Royal Mail awful organisation now, worse before. The post boxes are coloured red for a reason comrade.
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As our wonderful Tory led Coalition have spent 4 years trying to pull this off it should come as no surprise. Every former Nationalised Industry is now a shadow of it's former self and making profits for the entire Front Bench in Parliament who all will be shareholders. Never mind the quality feel the width!! The service these industries now provide are beyond many people's financial reach but why worry when "Call me Dave" is making money hand over fist whilst the rest of us are paying for it. Tory Policy - make the Serfs suffer whilst we are in control. Always has been and always will be. As for the Royal Mail half the service for 4 times the price (first class postage was only 15p not so long ago) and it can be guaranteed that the Chief Exec will be on a huge bonus after we lent her the money for a large house in London.It would be funny if it weren't so serious for the nation and it's taxpayers. Still when it comes down to it the Tories can always blame it all on the hapless Clegg and Co as they have done for the past 4 years.
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"Royal Mail is acting as many post boxes can no longer cover their costs" Now that's a sign of the times, isn't it! Since when was it essential for a humble post box to cover its cost?
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18 August 2014