The numbers are damning. New data obtained from Ofcom, the communications regulator, shows that Royal Mail hit just 75% of its first-class delivery target in the last quarter. That is a 20-point slump from the regulator's 93% minimum. The postal service now faces the humiliating prospect of being declared 'in default' for the third consecutive year. Sources inside the company say the crisis is not a blip, it is structural. The universal service obligation is failing. And the public is paying the price.
I have seen the internal briefings. They paint a grim picture of underinvestment, a chronic shortage of postal workers and a management culture that has lost sight of the mission. One former senior manager told me: 'They are running a 19th century model with 21st century costs. The trucks are old, the sorting centres are crumbling, and no one wants to work night shifts for minimum wage.' The result: letters that should arrive in one day are taking three, four or even five. Bills go unpaid. Medical appointments are missed. Small businesses that rely on cash flow through invoices are squeezed.
Ofcom has already fined Royal Mail £5.6 million for missing targets last year. But fines do not fix broken systems. The parent company, International Distributions Services, has made it clear it wants to offload the universal service obligation. They argue that with letter volumes down 60% since 2011, the old model is unsustainable. They want to cut deliveries to five days a week, or introduce a 'delayed' second-class service. Critics call it a backdoor privatisation of the postal service. The government, which still owns 30% of the shares, is caught in the middle. The Business Secretary has called the performance 'unacceptable' but has offered no plan beyond 'talks' with the regulator.
Let me be clear. This is not a management problem to be solved by a new CEO. It is a national infrastructure failure. Royal Mail is not just a company. It is a public trust. It is the reason your grandmother gets her pension statement, your hospital receives blood samples and your local democracy gets its ballot papers. When that trust erodes, something deeper breaks. I have tracked this decline for three years. The documents I have seen show that even the most basic maintenance of sorting machines has been deferred. Postmen are expected to walk 20 miles a day in driving rain to clear backlogs. The workforce is exhausted. Morale is in the gutter.
There is no magic bullet. The short-term fix is to invest billions in automation and hire 10,000 new staff. The long-term fix is to rethink the universal service for the 21st century. But that requires political courage that no government has shown. They kick the can down the road while the piles of undelivered mail grow. The regulator talks about 'enforcement action' but has no power to force investment. The company talks about 'modernisation' but means cuts. And the public talks about nothing because they have learned to expect less. That is the real scandal. Not that the mail is late. But that we have accepted it.
I will keep digging. There are more documents to come. And more questions for the men in suits who ran Royal Mail into the ground.
