Call for greetings industry to join in regulator’s stakeholder events for universal postal service review
Greetings industry fears for the postal service have been raised with the Ofcom team leading the review into Royal Mail’s operations and future obligations
The virtual meeting just a few days ago saw the GCA’s ceo Amanda Fergusson and council member David Byk, ceo of Swan Mill Group which owns Ling Design, GBCC and Penny Kennedy, share the concerns of the association’s 500 members across the UK.
The move came about following industry regulator Ofcom’s release of its The Future Of The Universal Postal Service review, which makes no bones about how the service risks becoming unsustainable as people are sending fewer letters and receiving more parcels, meaning reform is necessary to secure its long-term future.
Amanda and David shared an insight into the greetings industry and the massive impact postal service levels and stamp price increases are having on GCA members, and highlighted the “robust health” of the UK greetings industry, explaining the association’s annual report shows it is a world-leading creative industry contributing £1.5bn to the UK economy annually.
And Amanda pointed out they had “expressed concern that Ofcom’s comparison with other countries in the review document didn’t recognise that the British continue to send more cards per person than any other nation”, with Ofcom’s own research highlighting that 42% of UK consumers say that they only use Royal Mail to send greeting cards.
They highlighted that within the current review, the regulator states 74% of postal users rely on the post for sending and receiving letters and cards, and 65% of 16-34 year olds reported they too rely on the postal service for communicating with family and friends, showing how important it is to younger consumers too – with GCA data showing increased card sending among 16-24 year olds.
Amanda added: “While 89% cards are bought in bricks & mortar stores, as the GCA annual report shows, many publishers and retailers also take customer orders online and use Royal Mail to post these B2C orders – a reliable, regular and affordable postal service is crucial to these small businesses”
Ofcom’s role is to oversee the universal postal service, making sure it meets people’s needs while also considering its financial sustainability and efficiency and the team confirmed the review document was “pitched to spark debate”.
The current consultation closes on 3 April, 2024, after which they plan to review responses and make recommendations in a process that could take between 18 and 24 months, with some changes to the universal service obligation that requires Royal Mail to deliver letters six-days-week to all addresses in the UK for the same stamp price not needing legislation – but any decision to reduce it to five or even three days a week will need changes to the law.
David said: “There was robust discussion at the meeting about the Ofcom evidence that suggests the universal service obligation needs to change to better align with the needs of consumers and to ensure it can continue to be affordable and sustainable in the future.”
The greetings industry can get involved in the review process as Ofcom is holding stakeholder events in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast and London in March.
GCA council member David Falkner, the association’s lead on Royal Mail and co-owner of Cardology, will be representing the industry on the panel in London and the association is urging members to attend to make their voices heard – to attend please email ofcomevents@ofcom.org.uk.
Amanda added: “Please let us know by emailing hello@gca.cards if you plan to attend so we can share further detail on the key areas of concern we see ahead of the session.”
Ofcom is also inviting views and input on people’s assessment of the need to consider changes to the USO, and the range of options for change it has set out – click here to take part, with responses due by 3 April 2024.
