Royal Mail under fire for 'putting parcels before mail'

Royal Mail is under increasing pressure to prove that letters, including critically timed direct mail, are being left back at the sorting office as it prioritises its more profitable parcels business.

According to the BBC, the Business & Trade Committee of MPs has rifled off a letter to the company calling for commitments to improve what it describes as “chaos”.

The letter comes after hundreds of people contacted the BBC to claim parcels were being prioritised while letters were being stored up so that they could be delivered in batches.

The company is legally required to deliver letters every day in most areas but it has admitted there are service delays in over 100 postcodes. However, it claims this is due to storms and higher rates of staff sickness.

Yet, when questioned by Decision Marketing why no one in our office postcode had received mail for nearly a week, one postal worker told us: “We have 35 staff in our local sorting office but at least half are off sick. That is mainly because managers made everyone bust a gut over the Christmas period. We simply do not have the posties to deliver to your door every day.”

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Business & Trade Committee chair Liam Byrne said he had seen the comments made by viewers and wanted reassurance from the company that things would improve.

“Is there any truth to the stories that they are prioritising parcels instead of letters? Is there any truth that they’re batching up letters in big piles before they embark on deliveries to houses?

“We’re going to need to see a plan on the table now to reassure us that this service is going to be stood back up to what the nation expects.”

In the letter to Royal Mail, the committee raised “significant concerns” about reports of “failures in service” that go beyond normal seasonal pressures.

It has demanded “categorical assurance” that parcels are not being prioritised over letters, and has given the company until March 2 to provide commitments to address the “chaos”.

Royal Mail claimed it only prioritised parcels when it was necessary to clear bulky items from sorting offices for health and safety reasons. It insisted it was normal for people to receive a number of items at the same time, creating a perception of “batching”.

Ofcom told the BBC it expected to see meaningful change from Royal Mail soon and that, if that does not happen, “fines are likely to continue”.

On LinkedIn, one commentator said: “It’s all about trust. Once trust in a service disappears, the consequences are inevitable. The ongoing challenges at Royal Mail are not just operational they risk undermining confidence in one of the UK’s oldest and most vital communications channels.

“Businesses, brands, and the industry rely on reliability. Now more than ever, we need constructive dialogue and practical solutions to restore trust and keep this essential channel viable… or make room for a healthy competitor.

Another wrote: “Despite the denials from RM management, there is enough evidence from end users and postal workers from several parts of the country to support the claim that parcels are prioritised over letters…”