Royal Mail claims success in price by size campaign

Royal Mail has hit back at claims that its new pricing system is confusing consumers, saying its &£10m advertising campaign to explain Pricing in Proportion is working.

The company has been slammed by baffled customers and industry watchdog Postwatch for failing to prepare post offices for the introduction of the new system, which launched on Monday. The pricing structure is now based on the shape and size of an item rather than just its weight.

But Royal Mail claims there has been no sign of the chaos that was predicted by critics. Director of pricing Lorna Clarkson says: “Customers are managing these changes extremely well. I am very confident that they will quickly get used to the new pricing structure. All the signs are that the communications plan is working with the messages about the changes getting through.”

Royal Mail believes the new system will more closely reflect the true cost of collecting, sorting and delivering mail, and will help it compete better against rival services following the liberalisation of the postal system at the start of this year.

A Postwatch survey at the start of this month found that a number of post offices were still unprepared despite Royal Mail’s biggest ever marketing campaign to alert the public to the changes.

But a spokesman for Royal Mail claims: “Post Offices around the country have said there were no long queues.

“The vast majority of people know about the changes and the majority understand them.”