Royal Mail halts Sunday collections

Updated 14.12 Sun Oct 28 2007

Keywords: post, Royal Mail

Post will not be collected on Sundays as part of the Royal Mail's drive to cut costs and improve efficiency.

The company had been delivering mail on Sundays for the past 17 years.

Consumer watchdog Postwatch said it recently conducted research and found little demand for a Sunday collection service

Royal Mail said these collections accounted for less than 1 per cent of the total, but cost four times as much to handle.

A spokesman said that more than 80 per cent of post boxes did not have a Sunday collection anyway, adding that most countries in Europe, including France and Germany, did not collect Sundays.

He said: "The Royal Mail operates in a fully competitive market and we have to reduce our costs to improve efficiency and enable us to compete successfully."

Consumer watchdog Postwatch said it recently conducted research and found little demand amongst the public for a Sunday collection service.