1st January 2006 brought an end to postal regulation and full competition was introduced into the UK’s mail system. Ending Royal Mail’s 350 year monopoly, other organisations can now act as postal operators and collect, sort and distribute mail in the UK (if they have been licensed by Postcomm, the industry regulator), offering a choice of mail services and products.
Licenses to operate in this area concern mail weighing up to 350g and costing up to £1. All license holders, of which there are currently 49 (including Royal Mail), have minimum obligations on conveyance and delivery, integrity and guarantees.
The new products provided by the licensed operators vary significantly in terms of pricing and where in the UK they can deliver, however there are two key services: (downstream) access and end-to-end.
Downstream access eliminates Royal Mail outward mail centres, providing collection, sortation and logistics directly into Royal Mail inward mail centres for final mile delivery to consumers.
With end-to-end, Royal Mail centres are eliminated completely with collection, sortation and logistics provided directly from one business to another.
Wherever Royal Mail offers mailers discounts based on volume (including Mailsort, Walksort and Presstream), there is an alternative to achieve even greater postal savings.
To find out how much you could save please do contact us.
