Amanda Fergusson, GCA ceo, involved in high-level talks with postal operator
The GCA’s ceo Amanda Fergusson is fronting a campaign on behalf of the greeting card industry to safeguard the current six day a week delivery service from Royal Mail.
“The Royal Mail postal service we enjoy in the UK is unique, loved by consumers, and key to a buoyant greeting card market. We need to do all we can to protect it and have our industry’s views heard,” Amanda told PG Buzz.
At a high-level meeting convened by Royal Mail, which took place at the end of last week, Amanda joined executives from the CBI (Confederation Of British Industry) and FSB (Federation Of Small Businesses) to discover worrying potential changes to the UK’s postal delivery service, with a possible cut to five days a week or even just a three-day service being discussed.
This comes as a result of research by Royal Mail and Ofcom into how the service is being used and the possible effects of reducing the current six days a week delivery service – but Amanda stressed the findings do not reflect the importance to the general public of knowing they can send cards to loved ones safe in the knowledge they will arrive in good time.
She added: “While I was pleased to be invited to the meeting, especially as talks are at an early stage, I am concerned that Royal Mail’s review feels very parcel-focused, and I don’t want this to come at the cost of losing the Royal Mail’s fantastic USP – the local postie delivering six days a week and daily collection from our red postboxes, both of which are such important parts of people’s life in the UK.”
Following the meeting, Amanda sent a hard-hitting letter to Royal Mail setting out the industry’s strengths as well as its main concerns.
“We understand the challenges Royal Mail is facing with the huge decline in business letters as invoicing and marketing is done online, however the sending of greeting cards in the UK is not declining, and one of the main reasons UK consumers continue to send and receive more greeting cards per capita than any other nation is due to the simple, reliable postal service offered by Royal Mail,” she wrote.
Leaving the Royal Mail team in no doubt, Amanda stressed that a move to a five day a week Royal Mail delivery, with Saturday delivery under threat, does “not meet the needs of our industry”.
She explained: “We know from members selling b2c that Friday is the busiest day as consumers buy and post next-day greeting cards for the weekend.”
As for any suggestion to reduce to just a three-day delivery, Amanda stated in her letter that “this would be a disaster for the greeting card industry – we know from other countries that reducing deliveries leads quickly to a down-turn in greeting card sending”.
She also explained that complicating, or increasing the cost of stamps will also have a negative effect on volumes.
Pulling no punches, Amanda wrote: “Increases in stamp costs have been a factor in the reduction of volume of posted Christmas cards. Also, we know from our colleagues overseas that when stamp prices become complicated, such as the increases in costs for size variations, it switches off consumers in huge numbers.”
On the positive side, Amanda acknowledged that the introduction of the new barcoded stamps, which means Royal Mail will be able differentiate between consumer and business letters for the first time, is a step forward in the understanding of social mail-sending patterns.
She also gave her endorsement to a consumer-friendly address-finding app, recognising this would be a great boost for social mail, adding: “It would be good to explore the opportunities for this and other ways to work together to re-focus the consumer on social mail.”
With both sides keen for the discussions to continue, a follow-up meeting is to be arranged between the GCA and the Royal Mail.
“It is so important we keep this dialogue going,” Amanda told PG Buzz. “I am very keen to hear from anyone in the industry, be it publisher members, retailers or trade suppliers, who would like to share their input on this crucial postal issue.”
Anyone wishing to get in touch with Amanda can do so by emailing her on amanda@gca.cards over the next week.
Top: The GCA is fighting to retain Royal Mail’s six day a week delivery service
