Royal Mail Q3 Quality of Service 1st Class misses target

No primary category set

After just two quarters of hitting their targets, the Royal Mail Q3 Quality of Service report reveals that they’ve dropped below the regulatory standard for the last quarter and delivered 91.9% of First Class post on time against a target of 93%.

Royal Mail had gone a straight 7 months of missing their First Class target before hitting it for the first two quarters of this financial year, we were hoping to see the standard met again this quarter but the target was missed by 1.1%

Royal Mail’s press email says that “92.9% of First Class mail was delivered the next working day in the first three quarters of the year. This is within the target range (target 93.0%) when allowing for the margin of error in sampling”. In other words, averaging two good quarters with one bad quarter means that allowing for a margin of error (+/-0.3) they’re claiming to have just about hit their target. The reality is that the last quarter wasn’t great and way below their average performance (92.22%) over the past 15 quarters.

The good news is that the Royal Mail Q3 Quality of Service 98.5% target for Second Class post to be delivered within the expected time of three working days was met.

Royal Mail normally report on their quarter’s performance rather than year to date performance and won’t thank me for pointing out that they missed their First Class target this quarter. However we’ve been tracking their quarterly performance for the past 15 months and so continue to base our numbers on the last quarter rather than their cumulative year to date performance.

It’s worth remembering that these figures don’t include the parcels business where, under the leadership of Rico Back, Royal Mail appear to be putting a lot of focus. It’s no secret that the letters business is in decline and that parcels are the future which is why the ongoing spat with the CWU needs to be resolved. However Royal Mail are under no obligation to report their parcels performance which is a shame as we suspect their results would be quite impressive compared to First Class letters.

“We are pleased with our performance so far this year. Our postmen and women work extremely hard to deliver high standards of service every day in all weathers to all our customers across the UK.”
– Roger Turvey, National Quality and Customer Director, Royal Mail

8 Responses

  1. Yes, parcels are the future. But a limit of 2kg (it’s not economical above that you all know) is not a future. RM need to game up with handling up to 5-10kgs & be competitive on price. Make it exclusive to Tracked services and boom two digit % increase in turnover.

  2. with the higher weight brackets
    we suspect its health and safety, and union involvement that stops royal mail competing

  3. It never ceases to amaze me how they get away with RM48 being 3 day delivery!! – er, shouldn’t RM48 by definition be 48 hour (2 day) delivery service. Can’t believe Trading Standards haven’t picked up on it!

  4. If you have an account like us we have an average of 1Kg meaning we can ship any items up to 20 kg and its charged at the 1kg rate as long as it is averaged over the year.
    So daily we have plenty of items at around 250 grams and the odd one at 7kg so even daily its still ok in the 1kg rate. if in any quarter you are over they inform you and you need to reassess ship larger another way for a few days.

RELATED POSTS..

Royal Mail announces nationwide locker service with Quadient

Royal Mail announces nationwide locker service with Quadient

Royal Mail 2020 - 2024 Stamp Prices

Royal Mail 2024 Stamp Prices

Royal Mail green surcharge doubles in 2024 price rises

Royal Mail green surcharge doubles in 2024 price rises

Royal Mail drop off at Collect+ stores

Royal Mail drop off at Collect+ stores

Royal Mail to prohibit all bladed items from April

Royal Mail to prohibit all bladed items from April

ChannelX Guide...

Featured in this article from the ChannelX Guide – companies that can help you grow and manage your business.

Register for Newsletter

Receive 5 newsletters per week

Gain access to all research

Be notified of upcoming events and webinars