Late post hard on small business

A small business lobby group is 'deeply dismayed' by reports that Royal Mail failed to hit any of its 15 performance targets during the three months to June.

The Forum of Private Business (FPB), which sits on Postwatch's small business group, said Royal Mail's failure to get its act together is undermining small business.

Chief Executive of the FPB, Nick Goulding, said: "The Royal Mail's appalling lack of reliability, reflected in its abject failure to hit any of its performance targets, is inflicting serious costs on the small business community.

"The increasing lateness of the daily delivery is totally unacceptable. Moreover the decision by Royal Mail to rationalise their financial problems by introducing changes to sorting, transport and deliveries has clearly increased the problems experienced by businesses.

"The Royal Mail has considerable work to do to rebuild confidence particularly in light of the closure of 2000 post offices and the scrapping of the second daily delivery. The FPB is deeply dismayed by these performance statistics and demands an immediate improvement in the Royal Mail's services."

Analysis of calls received by FPB member services showed a significant increase in complaints about the Royal Mail's service over the last three years.

One FPB member said: "It is bad enough that the post doesn't arrive until around 3.30 in the afternoon, but to then be asked to pay an extra £6.95 to ensure that it arrives at 9am the next day is adding insult to injury."