Consignia rethinks £14 delivery charge
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Your support makes all the difference.Consignia will rethink its highly controversial plan to charge £14 a week to deliver post before 9am after the company's chairman admitted he had not been briefed on the scheme.
Allan Leighton, who became part-time head of the state-owned company earlier this year, said management would now consider the option of charging £5 or £10 a week.
Fourteen areas selected for the trial are will receive no second post from today as part of a shake-up of services aimed at stemming losses of £1.2m a day.
The former Asda boss said he was unaware of the plan to charge £14 a week when the news broke in the media to a chorus of condemnation from MPs and business organisations last week. Mr Leighton said the new system was aimed at covering costs, but should also give value for money. He conceded that £14 was a lot of money for small businesses.
The scheme is part of a three-year plan aimed at returning the Consignia group to profitability. By reorganising deliveries to provide customers with one morning delivery, the Royal Mail expects to save about £350m gross a year.
At present, the second post accounts for about 20 per cent of delivery costs, but carries only 4 per cent of the mail.
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