COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

With stamps now costing £1.65 each, we sent 100 cards to test the Christmas post



Millions of us are posting presents and cards to loved ones across the UK and crossing our fingers that they will arrive by Christmas within the timeframes promised by Royal Mail. But will they?

Money Mail decided to find out. We sent 100 Christmas cards to family and friends around the country and the world to find out how long it would take for them to arrive.

We sent the cards using first-class stamps, which means that those sent to addresses in the UK should have landed on people’s doormats the next working day.

But, just 16 of the cards we sent from the Daily Mail offices in Kensington, London, on December 4 arrived on time. Some eight households are still waiting for theirs.

From what we’ve seen, it is no wonder that one in ten people who usually send Christmas cards will not this year, according to a survey, and that sales of boxed cards fell by 23 per cent at John Lewis in 2024.

As the price of stamps continues to rise and post regularly fails to arrive on time, growing numbers are simply giving up.

Of the cards sent by Money Mail, some that have still to arrive were sent to destinations just a few miles away. One card sent to Balham is yet to drop through the letterbox despite two other cards safely arriving in the south-west London area.

Cards sent to Borehamwood in Hertfordshire and Belfast have also yet to turn up. It took ten days for one card to travel just three miles down the road to Putney, London.

Locations where cards were delivered on time include Norfolk, Kensington, Dorking, West Drayton and Penarth.

But friends and family in locations in Australia, as well as Cape Town in South Africa and Los Angeles and South Carolina in the US are still waiting on their Christmas cards.

The poor service is even more galling considering the price of a first-class stamp shot up yet again in October, from £1.35 to £1.65. This means a book of eight first-class stamps now costs an extra 22 per cent at £13.20 and a book of six first-class stamps costs £9.90.

October’s price increase came just months after the previous price rise in April and another hike in October last year. Before this they were £1.10, 55p lower than today’s cost.

A Royal Mail spokesman says: ‘Our independently regulated quality of service reporting shows that the vast majority of items arrive within one day and 92 per cent arrive within two days.'

Longford to Wyken!

Royal Mail accused of faking deliveries



Royal Mail managers have been accused of faking deliveries in order to preserve their yearly bonuses, The Telegraph can reveal.

Postal workers claimed they have been told to record some parcel deliveries as “inaccessible”, even if they never attempted to deliver the item.

That means customer operations managers would still receive their mid-year bonuses, understood to be based in part on hitting targets for the number of parcels that leave Royal Mail depots.

It risks parcels failing to arrive in time for Christmas across the country, and follows reports that some customers have been receiving “attempted deliveries” emails despite receiving no knock at the door.

On Monday night, Justin Madders, the minister for postal services, said he was “disturbed” by the reports and called on Royal Mail to investigate.

The Telegraph spoke to a number of postal workers who reported being told to scan items as “inaccessible”. One claimed he had seen managers ask for parcels to be reported as such “three or four times” in the past month, adding: “I can’t honestly say I’d know what would happen if I refused to do it, as I never have.

“Obviously, it probably is unethical to do something like that, as it is dishonest – and the customer is expecting their parcel. I don’t feel comfortable doing it. There is a culture of greed from the managers, and they just care about their bonuses.”

Another told The Telegraph that the rural area for which he is responsible had “30 to 40 parcels” that there was not time to deliver left at the end of each day. He said: “They tell us to scan these parcels as ‘inaccessible’.”

Scanning a parcel as “inaccessible” sends a customer a message to say that the delivery was attempted and another attempt will be made the following day. The postal worker said: “That’s a lie.”

Some customers have reported receiving “inaccessible” emails despite not hearing a knock at the door and seeing no evidence of a delivery attempt on their doorbell cameras.

Another postman, based in Scotland, said colleagues were often pushed into emptying their “frame” – the term for all post assigned to them on a shift – even if some would inevitably be taken back undelivered because of time pressures.

“Morale is on the floor, there’s a high level of turnover for staff and there’s not enough people to cover overtime,” he said. “The managers will ask [postal workers] to take it all out as they need to report what’s left in the building.”

On Monday, the Communication Workers Union said the findings were “further evidence of complete and deliberate mismanagement of the UK postal services”.

A spokesman said: “This is also symptomatic of a managerial bonus structure that encourages dishonesty and cuts to service over treating employees properly, looking after customers, and growing Royal Mail. It is important the public know that their postal workers have one hand tied behind their backs, and the current situation is no fault of theirs.”

Kevin Hollinrake, a former Post Office minister, said: “It’s disgraceful. If that’s something that is required by management, even localised management, that’s totally unacceptable. This is something that will once again damage Royal Mail’s reputation. In recent years, it’s failed year after year.”

Royal Mail should learn from Dutch post where Czech Sphinx is also involved



When Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has sorted out his CV and claims to being a solicitor perhaps he might find time to refocus on Royal Mail.

Reynolds, the Communication Workers Union and the flaccid board of Royal Mail-owner International Distribution Services would find it instructive to look at Dutch postal service PostNL.

The Dutch service, like its British counterpart, suffers from the same ills, notably vanishing letter volumes. It shares a common investor in Czech sphinx Daniel Kretinsky, who owns a 30 per cent stake of PostNL.

Kretinsky, designated as a 'legitimate businessman' by Reynolds, has the go ahead to proceed with his £3.6billion (370p-a-share) offer for the Royal Mail owner.

When push came to shove at PostNL, the Czech tycoon, whose wealth stems from running gas pipelines for the Kremlin, failed to step up. Instead, PostNL is seeking a £56m bail-out from the Dutch government which, so far, it refuses to provide.

Kretinsky made a series of pledges to the UK Government on maintaining the Universal Service Obligation (USO) should it win control of IDS. Yet given the Dutch experience and the financing structure of the Czech billionaire's bid, questions must be asked about the future of Britain's postal service under his control.

The finances of the Royal Mail will benefit from the review by regulator Ofcom. If accepted, second-class deliveries will be cut back to twice a week and a premium, more expensive first-class service maintained. This could generate up to £400m of extra income, making a material difference to the prospects of IDS. The board of IDS, in a potential breach of fiduciary duty, has failed to update on the impact. This has infuriated advisers to big battalion minority shareholders.

Kretinsky's public-to-private deal has disaster written all over it. It is financed by £3billion of high-cost debt which, in addition to the £2billion of loans already on IDS's balance sheet, means huge interest bills.

One only must read across to Thames Water and Asda to know that leads down the road to destruction. The scenario is obvious to everyone except Reynolds and his claque at the low-octane Department for Business. Royal Mail properties face being sold. Global Logistics Services (GLS), the European parcels arm, is likely to be hived off or merged and the rump left bereft of investment funds. The plunderers will be huge winners and the backbone of the postal service – the much-loved posties, along with the letter-writing and receiving public – will be the ultimate victims.

Royal Mail fined £21m for missing delivery targets



Royal Mail has been fined £21m for failing to meet delivery targets for the third year in a row and warned fines are likely to continue unless there's an improvement.

As well as failing to meet current delivery times for both first and second class mail, Royal Mail did not meet revised down targets agreed with Ofcom.

The delivery network delivered 77% of first class mail and 92.5% of second-class mail on time from April 2024 to March this year, "well short" of its 93% and 98.5% targets, the communications regulator said.

It's also below the reduced goals which were set out for the delivery company at the start of the year - bringing down the percentage of first class post delivered the next day from 93% to 90%, and second class mail delivered within three days from 98.5% to 95%.

The latest fine is double that levied last year, £10.5m, and nearly quadruple the £5.6m fine in 2023 because of the repeat offending.

It's the third-largest fine ever levied by Ofcom and would have been higher, £30m, but for Royal Mail's admission of wrongdoing and agreement to settle.

Royal Mail has, without justification, failed to provide an acceptable level of service and breached its obligations, Ofcom said.

"It took insufficient and ineffective steps to try and prevent this failure, which is likely to have impacted millions of customers who did not get the service they paid for," it said.

People have also been experiencing times when letters have taken weeks to arrive.

Ian Strawhorne, director of enforcement at Ofcom, said: "Millions of important letters are arriving late, and people aren't getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp.

"These persistent failures are unacceptable, and customers expect and deserve better.

"Royal Mail must rebuild consumers' confidence as a matter of urgency. And that means making actual significant improvements, not more empty promises."

Royal Mail has been ordered by Ofcom to urgently and publicly set out and implement a "credible plan" on how it is going to change.

The regulator said it expects to see "meaningful progress soon", rather than "more empty promises".

Improvements Ofcom had pressed for have not materialised, it said, and Royal Mail has been called on to make "actual significant improvements".

"If this doesn't happen, fines are likely to continue," the regulator warned.

Ofcom said the "persistent failures" are unacceptable, and customers expect and deserve better.

"Royal Mail must rebuild consumers' confidence as a matter of urgency," it added.

The company has also been set a new enforceable target for 99% of mail to be delivered no more than two days late.

Price of first class stamps to rise to £1.80



Royal Mail has announced stamp prices are to rise again next month, as the postal service faces criticism for failing to hit delivery targets.

From 7 April, the price of a first class stamp will increase by 10p to £1.80, almost three times the cost of 10 years ago, while a second class stamp will go up by 4p to 91p.

Royal Mail said the move reflected higher delivery costs, as letter volumes decline while the number of addresses increases, but the rise was criticised by Citizens Advice who said price rises should be tied to performance.

Last month, the BBC learned that Royal Mail executives would be called to face MPs over complaints surrounding the company's letter delivery service.

The chair of the Business and Trade Committee, Liam Byrne, had said he was "very concerned" over reports of "significant failures" in Royal Mail's letter service.

Earlier in February, the committee had written to Royal Mail, external asking for commitments to improve what it described as "chaos" in some postal areas since Christmas.

Announcing the latest price increase, Royal Mail's managing director of letters, Richard Travers, said: "We always consider price changes very carefully, balancing affordability with the rising cost of delivering mail.

"On average, UK adults now spend just £6.50 each year on stamps and there are 70% fewer letters sent than 20 years ago," he added.

"In the meantime, the number of addresses we deliver to has increased by four million to 32 million addresses across the UK."

Royal Mail was bought by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky's EP Group last April.

Ten years ago, a first class stamp cost 64p while a second class stamp was 55p.

The jump in stamp prices over the past few years, together with Royal Mail's poor delivery performance, has angered many consumer groups.

Last year, Royal Mail was fined £21m by the regulator Ofcom after it found almost a quarter of first-class post arrived late.

That followed an investigation by Ofcom after Royal Mail missed its targets for both first and second-class post in 2024-25.

Reacting to the latest rise in stamp prices, Anne Pardoe, head of policy at Citizens Advice, said the price of stamps "can't be treated as a dial that is turned up without a clear justification for consumers, forcing people to dig deeper into their pockets for a failing service".

"More than half a decade has gone by since the company met its delivery targets and people still face a gamble, with many uncertain if their important documents or letters like medical appointments will arrive on time," she added.

"Higher prices must come with higher standards - increases should be tied to Royal Mail's performance on the doorstep."

Royal Mail staff say they were told to hide post to look like delivery targets met



Postal workers from across the UK have told the BBC they are being asked to move or hide mail from senior bosses so it looks like delivery targets are being met.

They told BBC Your Voice they are often told by managers "take the mail for a ride" when they raise that they have too many parcels to have time to deliver letters as well.

Since we first published allegations from postal workers saying they were consistently asked to prioritise parcels, signs have popped up in many delivery offices reminding staff first class mail must be delivered.

But with no extra employees, overtime slashed, and continued pressure to deliver parcels, they say it is often not possible to take the post as well.

The delays are causing big problems for the public, who say they are missing hospital appointments and other important letters.

One customer, so frustrated by the delays, now takes the bus every weekend to his local delivery office to pick up his mail himself.

Ten postal workers from different delivery offices, who spoke to us on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs, told the BBC that "take the mail for a ride" was a common phrase in their workplace.

One worker said: "Say we have a senior manager coming in from outside the delivery office, any mail that has been left would get hidden by the line managers.

"It gets put into a york (a trolley) and taken somewhere, and brought back to you the next day."

He explained that when someone raises the fact that they have too many parcels to deliver to be able to take out the post as well, "they'll quite often just say 'take the mail for a ride'".

"If someone comes in from the outside it looks like you've cleared the round, when in actual fact you'll be bringing it straight back when you finish.

"It's embarrassing and deceitful," he adds.

A postal worker in Wales said: "It just means that our boss can say that all rounds went out the door, knowing full well they are not going to be delivered."

Another worker said taking the mail for a ride meant "if inspections were carried out at the delivery office the first class mail would not be in the frame.

"This meant the round could be classed as complete… to manipulate the delivery success of the office."

A fourth worker said: "They are just trying to cover themselves, it means that posties are having to take the first class out on a daily basis even knowing that they are just going to bring it back."

Royal Mail's owner, Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, said on Tuesday that he was "deeply sorry" for any letters that arrived late, but denied that the quality of the postal service had declined.

Another postie, who the BBC is calling Jessica, said Kretinsky and Royal Mail bosses were "denying [her] every single day".

"[With] the stress and pressure we are under to hit certain targets with tracked parcels, it's disgusting that [Kretinsky] is running with this narrative, that they're not really failing on the letters," she said.

Jessica was adamant that Royal Mail's proposed reforms to USO would not work, and "from a customer's point of view it's only going to get worse".

"We're already struggling with people going off sick, with stress, leaving, that's only going to get worse as well."