British postal service dares to compete

The Scotsman - Business - Open mail warfare in 2006

IN JUST under a year, private companies will be able to hire postmen, put up their own post boxes, and collect, transport and deliver letters in the biggest shakeup of the British postal service in 350 years.

In a move ending the Royal Mail’s monopoly of the £4.5 billion letters market, the industry’s watchdog, Postcomm, yesterday announced the opening-up of the market...

...As well as the basic delivery services, companies could also be allowed to offer lower stamp prices, putting added pressure on Royal Mail to raise its game.

Big businesses are likely to be the first to take up the wider services, but Postcomm said benefits were also expected to feed through to domestic users...

There are still a few complications, of course, not least of which is that the government guys are currently exempt from VAT. And, of course, the unions are predicting dire things, simply dire. Read the linked article, by Nick Bevens, Scotsman Business Editor, for the lowdown on what promises to be a somewhat interesting transformation.