Liberalisation of the UK’s postal services market began in 2004, but it was at the beginning of 2006 that deregulation was completed, giving small and medium-sized businesses the chance to shop around for a new service provider.
The high-profile changes in the market have been concentrated at the larger end of the market – deals such as those concluded earlier this year between Business Post and the Department for Work and Pensions, or between TNT and BT. But further down the scale, liberalisation has brought greater choice, increased flexibility and the prospect of lower prices.
There are now 18 licensed operators in the market, although Royal Mail remains the dominant player, accounting for 97 per cent of mail by volume. But the others are growing fast. Many have “access agreements” with Royal Mail, allowing them to collect and sort mail before feeding it into Royal Mail’s network for final delivery. The number of deliveries under these access agreements soared from 87 million in 2004-05 to 1.2 billion in 2005-06.
According to the postal services regulator, Postcomm, there are a few key questions you can look at to help you shop around among postal service providers. Answering them will give you a better sense of your key requirements, so you can see how different providers compare:
- How much mail do you send and what kind?
- Where are your dispatch points and how many are there?
- How bulky or heavy is your mail?
- What’s your priority – speed or cost?
- Can you cut costs by pre-sorting your own mail?
- Can you give advance notice of your mailings?
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