Royal Mail issues delivery warning to 62 UK postcodes this weekend | UK | News
Royal Mail has issued a warning that postcodes across the UK will experience delivery delays this weekend. The postal service generally aims to deliver letters and packages six days a week.
However, it has been subject to criticism due to increased stamp costs as well as disruptions in delivery. Weekend delivery and pickup services are planned for today, Saturday, March 21, while package deliveries are scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, March 22. But multiple delivery offices confirmed delays, causing a domino effect in certain postcodes.
Royal Mail said: “We aim to deliver to all addresses where we receive mail six days a week. In a small number of local offices this may not be temporarily possible due to local issues such as high levels of sickness absence, resourcing or other local factors. In these cases we will rotate deliveries to minimize delay to individual customers.”
“We are also providing targeted support to these offices to overcome the challenges they face and return our service to the high standards our customers would normally receive.”
He added: “We apologize for any inconvenience caused and thank you for your understanding.” There are outages at 25 delivery offices across the country this weekend.
This affects households and businesses in 62 postcode areas. Areas affected include Birmingham, Leicester, Grimsby, Oxford, Pontefract and Whitechapel.
The company was fined £21 million last October for failing to meet first and second class delivery standards in its previous financial year. In fiscal year 2024-25, only 77% of first-class mail and 92.5% of second-class mail were delivered on time; this fell short of the respective targets of 93% and 98.5%.
The development comes as Royal Mail prepares to increase stamp prices next month. From 6 April, the price of First Class stamps will be £1.80, while the price of Second Class stamps will rise to 91p.
In 2020 the cost of a First Class stamp was 76p. Next month customers will be charged £1.80 (a 10p increase), representing a 137% increase over six years. Prices for First Class stamps have increased eightfold since 2020, according to Citizens Advice.
Richard Travers, Royal Mail’s general manager of letters, said: “We always consider price changes very carefully, balancing affordability with the increasing cost of delivering mail.
“On average, adults in the UK now spend just £6.50 on stamps each year, and 70% fewer letters are sent than 20 years ago.
“Meanwhile, the number of addresses we deliver to across the UK has increased from four million to 32 million.”
