Second post 'will go' in cuts

Mark Benham12 April 2012

The second post is almost certain to be scrapped and thousands of postal jobs in London will be axed, under sweeping £1.2 billion cost-cutting measures at the Post Office.

However, the news of job losses was immediately met with threats of industrial action should it involve compulsory redundancies.

Consignia, formerly known as the Post Office, is believed to have concluded that ending second deliveries is an essential step to keep the business profitable.

Pilot schemes are being lined up for 15 locations nationwide under which customers who want more than one basic delivery a day would pay more.

An industry source told the Evening Standard: "Consignia is already talking with the unions and the industry watchdog about pilot sites which would meet the demands of our licence. They would give business customers a regular morning delivery while residential customers would get mail later in the day."

The company has admitted it is in financial crisis with operating costs running ahead of revenue. For every £1 paid for deliveries, it costs Consignia £1.05 to deliver the mail.

A Post Office spokesman today appeared to confirm the likelihood of such a move saying a review of second post was a "major option". The spokesman said: "What we want is a situation where people understand exactly what they will get when they pay for a 19p or 26p stamp.

"People who want more than the standard service will have to pay for that service." The public's reaction to such a radical change would be crucial at a time when new rivals in letter delivering are being granted licenses to go head-to-head with Consignia's Royal Mail arm.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in