Royal Mail’s bosses always sounded embarrassed about missing targets for delivering regulated letters and parcels on time. But they never appeared fearful of what Ofcom’s investigation would bring. Now one can see why. It turns out that the fine for falling short of required service standards – and falling short by a country mile, note – is a paltry £5.6m.
To put the sum in context, Royal Mail’s revenues last year were £7.4bn and the company put the effect of strikes at £200m, a figure that carries a proper thump. Nor is this a case of a strike-related add-on from Ofcom. The regulator adjusted for industrial action, plus other special factors, and still reckoned Royal Mail fell below standards by “a significant and unexplained margin”. You bet: the adjusted figure for on-time delivery of first-class mail was 82% compared with a target of 93%.
