Our new Mailmark Economy Service launched on 4 January 2021, introducing a lower priced Access letters delivery service which defers the delivery of non-time critical letters by up to three days.

Following its consultation in December 2020, on the appropriate regulatory treatment of the service, Ofcom has decided that the service is to be subject to regulation and price controlled from 5 April 2021. Under UK law , this service will become VAT-exempt with effect from that date.

For Wholesale customers who participate in seeding as part of Kantar’s Quality of Service survey under the new service, each month we will provide a breakdown of your D+5 Quality of Service figures in your performance packs. All Wholesale customers are eligible to participate in this survey and we encourage you to do so, if you do not already take part.  If you wish to participate, please speak to your Account Director, who will ensure your details are passed to Kantar for them to contact you and provide further details on how your Mailmark Economy service volume may be included in the survey.

Additionally, we will be publishing the national D+5 Quality of Service figures for the service, as well as a breakdown of the fall to earth delivery profile by day.  We will begin reporting for volume posted in Q2 (i.e. July to September). The information will be published two months after quarter end on the Wholesale QoS page an also on the Royal Mail website.  

We welcome Ofcom’s decision to treat this as a regulated and price controlled product.  We view this is a good outcome for the mail industry in providing a wider choice of services to all our customers. If you have any queries regarding the Mailmark Economy Service please contact your Account Director.