New postal tariffs and New products for Bulk Mailers

After successful concluding negotiations with Royal Mail over changes to its postal rates, Guernsey Post has now resubmitted its 2011/2012 postal tariff to the Office of Utility of Regulation (OUR).

Whilst the postal tariff proposed by Guernsey Post shows an increase to Letter, Large Letter and Packet rates to the UK, these are significantly better than expected and much lower than the increases applied to Royal Mail's own domestic UK tariffs.

There is also good news for some Bulk Mail customers, as a new low cost Down Stream Access (DSA) service is launched.

Guernsey Post forewarned its customers of impending Royal Mail price increases in January 2011. However, as the extent of the increases at this time remained unclear, Guernsey Post and the OUR agreed to revisit the tariff after negotiations with Royal Mail had concluded. The new tariff continues to benefit from the extensive savings programme that was agreed with the OUR earlier in the year, and remains competitive in comparison with other mail operators.

Chief Executive of Guernsey Post Boley Smillie said:
"A deal with Royal Mail has now been finalised and I am confident that we have negotiated the very best possible agreement for all of our customers in a particularly challenging economic climate.

Recognising that our Bulk Mailers in particular are under intense pressure from a weak UK economy, market changes and uncertainty surrounding the UK government's attitude to LVCR, we are pleased to announce the launch of a new Downstream Access (DSA) service. This service, which is an alternative to our traditional bulk mail offering, could offer many of our customers' postal rates that are actually lower than our current Bulk Mail prices."

Guernsey Post's latest public tariff price proposal could see the cost of sending a Letter and Large Letter to the UK increase from 45p to 47p and from 58p to 61p respectively. Packet rate prices to the UK could also rise from £1.20 to £1.29 (100g).

The cost of a sending a local Letter, Large Letter and Packet will continue to remain unchanged. Furthermore Guernsey Post will hold international prices for bulk and public services despite an increase in charges from Royal Mail.

Subject to OUR approval, Guernsey Post hope to implement the new tariff proposal on 1st August 2011.