Having campaigned relentlessly to encourage greeting card and gift industry folk to sign a Greeting Card Association-backed petition calling for MPs to scrutinise changes to the postal service, some 14,500 signatures have been received, crossing the 10,000 threshold which mandates a response from government.
Despite Royal Mail’s claims that it should be allowed to reduce second class postal deliveries to two days per week, as well as cutting Saturday deliveries altogether, over 14,500 UK voters have joined the GCA’s call for proper parliamentary scrutiny of any proposed changes in order to keep the Royal Mail service reliable, national and affordable.
The petition, which also calls on MPs to regulate the price of first-class mail (which went up to £1.70 on Monday 7 April) and mandate that Royal Mail meet existing delivery targets before changing the Universal Service Obligation (USO), must now receive a formal response from the government.
“Our members are deeply concerned that they’re being railroaded into accepting reforms that will make the Royal Mail service they depend on, less reliable and affordable,” states Amanda Fergusson, chief executive of the GCA. “We now look forward to receiving a formal government response to the petition.”
She continues: “We know a postal service that’s a mere shadow of the service Royal Mail should be delivering, will cause real damage to small businesses,consumers, high streets and communities.”
Currently, the Royal Mail’s regulator, Ofcom, is consulting on the proposed changes, setting a 10 April deadline for responses, but has made it clear it can make changes to the USO without any involvement from MPs.
The GCA has also stepped up its social media campaign with a new hard-hitting series of posts on Instagram.
They highlight the concern caused by the current uncertainty over Royal Mail’s ownership and the threat to the price and reliability of the postal service if they are allowed to dilute it.
Top: With the postal service currently under threat, the GCA is waiting for a formal response from the government following its petition.
