London: In a zone all of its own!
Postcomm has now begun consulting on zonal pricing. On 20 February 2007 – following numerous exchanges with Postcomm over information to support their application – Royal Mail submitted a revised zonal pricing application. This ‘modified the pricing structure and the discount and surcharge levels proposed, [but] all other aspects of the application remained unchanged’.
Specifically, the revised application ‘merged’ rural zones D and E, and created a new ‘Greater London’ zone approximating to the area within the M25 motorway. As in the original proposal, discounts would be given to bulk business mail customers for deliveries to higher density zones [outside Greater London] where delivery costs are lower than average, and surcharges made for deliveries to low density zones where delivery costs are higher than average.
According to Royal Mail, a surcharge would be necessary in the Greater London zone (covering AL, BR, CR, DA E, EC, EN, HA, IG, KT, N, NW, RM, SE, SM, SW, UB, TW, W, WC, WD) to reflect the cost differences between locations that were not caused by geographical factors but by the amount that it costs to supply the relevant resource – principally pay rates, but also inward Mail Centre costs, indoor delivery office work and other delivery office costs.
The pricing differentials now appear thus:
Revised price differentials proposed by Royal Mail Zones:
The consultation is open until 7th May and all customers are encouraged to respond. Further details can be found at www.postcomm.gov.uk
Specifically, the revised application ‘merged’ rural zones D and E, and created a new ‘Greater London’ zone approximating to the area within the M25 motorway. As in the original proposal, discounts would be given to bulk business mail customers for deliveries to higher density zones [outside Greater London] where delivery costs are lower than average, and surcharges made for deliveries to low density zones where delivery costs are higher than average.
According to Royal Mail, a surcharge would be necessary in the Greater London zone (covering AL, BR, CR, DA E, EC, EN, HA, IG, KT, N, NW, RM, SE, SM, SW, UB, TW, W, WC, WD) to reflect the cost differences between locations that were not caused by geographical factors but by the amount that it costs to supply the relevant resource – principally pay rates, but also inward Mail Centre costs, indoor delivery office work and other delivery office costs.
The pricing differentials now appear thus:
Revised price differentials proposed by Royal Mail Zones:
| A | B | C | D | LONDON |
| -4.9% | -2.0% | -1.7% | +4.8% | +2.5% |
The consultation is open until 7th May and all customers are encouraged to respond. Further details can be found at www.postcomm.gov.uk
Labels: Consultation, Postcomm, Zonal Pricing
posted by Postwatch at 8:13 am
3 Comments:
These proposals apply to "bulk Business mailings"
I suppose one's first reaction is to wonder if this is a preliminary in anyway towards moving from the universal service obligation to deliver anywhere in ther UK at a fixed price, for ordinary customers.
Spwaking of which what level of posting qualifies one as a "bulk mailer"?
You would be termed a 'bulk mailer' if you use one of Royal Mail's bulk mail products such as Mailsort, Presstream, Walksort or Cleanmail. The lowest entry point for a bulk mailing is 4,000 (letter sized) items on Mailsort whilst 1,000 items will allow you to access Cleanmail.
Your initial reaction is understandable. There is potential that customers will believe that this is the first stage in all services being priced on a geographical basis, however, this is not possible as social mail products (i.e. first/second class) are within the universal service and therefore cannot be priced other than on a uniform basis.
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