Mail shake-up set to save more than £20,000 a year

South Norfolk Council is set to win more than £20,000 of savings after a shake-up in the way it gets some of its mail collected and sorted.

Recent legislation has enabled private sector providers to compete against Royal Mail for this area of its work - collection and sorting.

After a tendering process, South Norfolk Council will now use TNT Post UK Ltd for second-class items up to 100g. Larger items and first class mail will continue to go via Royal Mail.

Councillor Trevor Lewis, who leads for the council on resources said:

"This is excellent news for our residents, with savings of more than £20,000 a year expected and with no reduction in the level of service to them, or to the council.

"Letters will still be delivered by the Royal Mail staff, but TNT will deliver them pre-sorted to Royal Mail. This is a process already well used by other providers, as you will see if you look at the 'franking' on many of the letters you receive from large organisations.

"We made very sure before awarding this contract that it would not impact adversely on the quite separate Post Office Counters business which runs local Post Offices. This council is firmly against the closing of local Post Offices, which are at the heart of our communities.

"Post Offices are already subsidised by the Government, whereas Royal Mail is a commercially profitable operation."

He added:

"The contract has been awarded, initially for 12 months, after four firms were invited to tender, including the Royal Mail.

“TNT's work will be closely monitored and we have the option of going back to Royal Mail should TNT not meet the standards we expect. "We have always had a good service from Royal Mail, and we are sorry it was not willing to offer a competitive price to retain this part of our business."

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