Greetings industry urged to ensure regulator understands concerns over Royal Mail review
Everyone across the greeting card community is being urged to take part in Ofcom’s stakeholder events to ensure the industry regulator is aware of the depth of feeling about its Royal Mail review.
This morning, 5 March, was the first roundtable in Belfast, and there are three others scheduled for London, Cardiff, and Edinburgh over the next couple of weeks with both in-person and online attendance available.
Cardology co-owner and GCA council member David Falkner is on the panel for the London event on Thursday, 14 March, 2pm-4.30pm, with Cardiff on Monday, 18 March, and Thursday, 21 March for Edinburgh.
RSVP deadlines are a week before each event and to register to attend either online or in person, please email ofcomevents@ofcom.org.uk.
“Over the past year, Cardology has been integral to the formation and delivery of the GCA’s game-changing #Cardmitment campaign,” David explained. “As a small publisher with competing demands on our time we’re often asked why this gets our attention?
“With Ofcom telling us 42% of Royal Mail customers now only use the service to send greeting cards, there really isn’t an alternative – securing the optimum conditions for card sending matters as much to our customers as to our own businesses, and we see it as our duty to be there for them.
“That’s why I’ll be on the panel for Ofcom’s London call, recognising we all need a thriving national, reliable and affordable postal service and that card publishers who actively listen to their customers are particularly well-placed to inform this debate.”
The news of the latest stamp price increase which kicks in on 2 April and Panorama’s evidence in last week’s TV programme that parcels get priority has made Ofcom’s The Future Of The Universal Postal Service review even more timely as it has posited options including allowing Royal Mail to slash letter deliveries to just three days a week – which the government has said it will not support but the postal giant has been agitating for cuts to its legally-binding universal service obligation where it must deliver letters across the UK six days a week for the same price.
The GCA has been battling hard to highlight the importance of a reliable, regular, and affordable postal service to members along with saving Saturday deliveries, pulling out all the stops with the media, mps and other interested parties, including meetings with Ofcom, and it’s now time for the rest of the industry that relies on greeting cards being delivered on time and for a reasonable price to get involved in the fight.
Amanda Fergusson, ceo of the GCA, said: “It is vitally important everyone in the industry makes their voice heard. The GCA recognises that Royal Mail is a business that needs to make money, but consumers and small business owners need a reliable, affordable and national postal service.
“After a deep and considered analysis of Ofcom’s consultation document, and following the service issues highlighted again by the Panorama tv programme last Monday and above-inflation stamp price rises announced last Friday, the GCA is concerned this review doesn’t properly reflect the considerable support for the USO in its present form from consumers, and the need to stablise the service before change can be properly assessed.
“We urge members to register for these events and contact their mps to highlight their concerns. The immediate priority is that politicians on all sides demand Royal Mail and Ofcom get back to the day job – ensuring the vital, thriving postal service Brits demand is put back on track with no excuses.”
The GCA has also been strengthening its links with other interested parties on this matter, including the Independent Retailers’ Confederation, whose members include British Independent Retailers’ Association, Booksellers Association, National Federation Of SubPostmasters, and Association Of Convenience Stores, as well as various consumer groups.
Anyone in the greetings industry who is planning to attend one of roundtables, either in person or online, is asked to let Amanda know on amanda@gca.cards. To attend people need to apply at least a week in advance – London, 14 March; Cardiff, 18 March; Edinburgh, 21 March – by emailing ofcomevents@ofcom.org.uk.
