Postcomm to hold three public meetings in Scotland
19 September 2002
Postcomm, the postal services regulator, is to hold a series of public meetings over three days in Scotland to explain the effect of competition in postal services - which will begin on 1 January next year - to answer questions about postal matters and to listen to any public concerns.
The meetings, which all start at 7pm, are at:
- Aberdeen, on Monday 30 September, at the Copthorne Hotel, 122 Huntley Street
- Inverness, on Tuesday 1 October, at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel, Church Street, and
- Oban, on Wednesday 2 October, at the Royal Hotel, Argyll Square.
To begin with, postal competition will largely be restricted to bulk mail – things like telephone bills, bank statements and mailings from charities. But it will also open the way for other organisations to deliver post. You may find your milkman delivering letters or the local bus company delivering parcels.
Royal Mail will continue to provide a UK-wide universal service – deliveries and collections six days a week to every household and business, at the same price – so the traditional delivery service is here to stay.
Because of the remoteness of some houses, Scotland has the highest number of addresses in the UK where mail is delivered less than six times a week or is left, for example, in a roadside box or at a neighbour’s house instead of being taken to the front door. Postcomm has been consulting on a proposed framework for deciding on exceptions to the universal service and the public meetings will give users in Scotland the chance to put their views direct to Postcomm.
As postal competition unfolds, there are many other issues that Postcomm has to consider. For example:
- What do people want to see in terms of the universal service?
- What more needs to be done to help the network of post offices, particularly in rural areas?
Postcomm commissioners and staff will be on hand to discuss these and other questions and to listen.
