On what plane of existence does Ofcom’s Natalie Black exist, do you suppose? One where a kick in the teeth qualifies as an encouraging pat on the back? Where a service costs more and provides less but somehow qualifies as better? There is such a world, in Alice in Wonderland, but government regulators are not meant to be in the business of fantasy.
Yet Ofcom, the regulator of, among other things, the postal service, engaged this year in what it unblushingly described as a consultation exercise about whether postage costs should go up again and delivery slots go down.
My own encounters with actual people who still send things by post – like birthday cards - elicited a robust and sometimes unprintable response to these developments. Yet wonderfully, Ofcom’s own findings have somehow encouraged it to go further with the project of undermining the postal service and presenting it as a welcome reform. Miraculously, the BBC parroted this formula; its news report described the changes to postal services as “reforms”.
Yesterday Ofcom confirmed that second class post would be delivered on alternate days – two or three a week – and no longer on Saturdays. On the bright side Natalie is absolutely insisting that Royal Mail should deliver first class mail six days a week, which is good of her, given that a first class stamp now costs £1.70, and that’s before you’ve been beguiled into sending it by special delivery, guaranteed next morning, just in case the first class service is less than first class.
The sheer pleasure of opening a physical letter is being turned into an unaffordable luxury
Ofcom says that the plans, which would still require letters to be delivered within three working days of collection, could help Royal Mail save £250-£425million a year. Natalie Black’s observation was: "These changes are in the best interests of consumers and businesses, as urgent reform of the postal service is necessary to give it the best chance of survival.” Come again, Natalie? In the best interests of consumers? By which, I suppose, she means the people who send letters.
Look, in 2020, just five years ago, a first class stamp cost 76p; this year it costs £1.70; similarly but less dramatically, the price of a second class stamp rose from 65p to 87p. In the same five year period, deliveries have become more unreliable.
If you make a service cost far more and provide far less, why, fewer people will use it. Most businesses grasp that, but not Ofcom, it seems
So it really sucks when Natalie and the Royal Mail tell us that fewer people are using the postal service so that justifies the changes. Memo to Ofcom: if you make a service cost far more and provide far less, why, fewer people will use it. Most businesses grasp that, but not, it seems the government regulator. So, if you want to know why Royal Mail handled 7 billion letters last year as opposed to 20 billion 20 years ago, don’t just think smartphones, texts, emails; think price and service.
The changes come months after the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský’s EP Group completed a £3.6bn takeover of International Distributions Services (IDS), the owner of Royal Mail. Naturally he wants looser obligations; naturally he would like to provide second class post for just two or three days a week; he’s in the business of profit. But Ofcom isn’t.
The Communication Workers’ Union argues that the proposed changes are not a solution to Royal Mail's problems and could lead to job losses and a decline in service quality: this is less of a warning than a statement of the obvious. If only this Labour government could have listened to the union; instead, the Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds has registered no interest whatever in safeguarding a service that, a century ago, would have enabled any of us to send a card in the morning inviting a friend to lunch, and to expect a reply by return. We can only dream now of the vanished efficiency that Anthony Trollope presided over at the Post Office. But obviously, the Conservatives caused the problem in the first place by ill-thought through privatisation, splitting off the Post Office from Royal Mail.
Natalie Black is not a stupid woman; rather, she’s formidably well qualified, being a former Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific, former Deputy Head of the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit and a Visiting Professor in Practice at the LSE School of Public Policy. If you want someone to address the problems of cyber-security or AI, look no further.
But plainly her ease with digital technology and artificial intelligence hasn’t equipped her to deal with the problems of ordinary people who would rather like to send their friends a birthday or Christmas card but can’t afford first class stamps; who want occasionally to send a thank you letter to a host; who would like to maintain the sheer physical reliability of an actual letter to a friend but now can’t rely on the second class post.
Most of us depend on emails or social media contact but there are lots of us who also want to communicate physically, by post. The sheer pleasure of opening a physical letter is being turned into an unaffordable luxury by a regulator which is manifestly out of touch with the public it’s meant to serve.
Next up, Ofcom is proposing a consultation on the increase in stamp prices. How will that work out, do you reckon?
Melanie McDonagh is a columnist for The Standard
