Postal Regulator Open To 'Reconsidering' Daily Deliveries

Jersey’s postal regulator says daily deliveries five days a week “may need to be reconsidered” in future.

The JCRA says it is open to a conversation with Jersey Post, citing “commercial pressures” and declining mail volumes as factors in whether the service will remain viable in the future.

While there are no immediate plans to change how often mail is delivered, the regulator says "processes have been put in place" for future changes as demand for the postal service changes.

The competition watchdog has been reviewing the way it regulates the postal service since October 2022, saying its rules hadn’t kept up with the times.

Under the current regulations Jersey Post is required to collect and deliver mail five days a week as a condition of its operating licence - but the JCRA says many islanders no longer send or receive post that often.

It is also scrapping any formal targets for how long it should take to send or receive mail between Jersey and the UK.

New targets set by the regulator only requires Jersey Post to deliver 90-95% of mail items within a day of receiving them at the sorting office

The JCRA's Chief Economist, Peter Hetherington, explained the change:

"We have changed the language and tried to make it clearer. So we are talking about the day of receipt and the day of dispatch.

The day of receipt is when Jersey Post receive the item and we expect it to be processed and dispatched again by the next day."

Other changes include setting up a “User Council” so customers can have a say in the way Jersey Post is run, and increased monitoring by the regulator.

The JCRA is also urging the government to update the island's postal law,  which has been in place since 2004, to make sure the postal service 'runs effectively'.

Mr Hetherington explained what he thinks needs to be done:

"The key things we have identified is; what value of services should be exempt from regulation? The role of regulation in respect to parcels is an expectation of consumer protection.

Interlinked with this is the Postal Policy, we would like the government to develop a policy and provide clarity on its objectives for the sector."

The UK postal service is regulated differently to Jersey, with rules set by Ofcom rather than politicians. The JCRA wouldn't comment on if it would like similar powers.

Some islanders have been critical of the service since daily mail flights were scrapped in August 2023, meaning all post is brought to and from the island by ferry.