Competition and change in postal services in the UK

This paper examines the effect of competition in postal services in the UK and its impact on Royal Mail, particularly on the management and strategies it has implemented to make itself more competitive. There has been much discussion recently about the advantages and disadvantages of introducing competition into postal services. Postcomm, the postal services regulator, has recently announced a three-stage opening up of the UK postal markets. One of the problems faced by Royal Mail as it faces increased competition, increased losses and the loss of benefit payments in the post offices is that it is having to restructure its business and become more competitive in order to survive.