ONE OUT of every four letters posted last year failed to arrive as scheduled on the day after it was sent, according to the annual report on the quality of service provided by An Post.
With just 77 per cent of mail delivered last year within a day of being sent, compared to the target figure of 94 per cent, communications watchdog ComReg says An Post has a lot more work to do to bring its performance up to international standards.
However, the 77 per cent figure represents a five percentage point improvement on the previous year's performance.
The biggest improvement was for mail posted in Dublin for nationwide delivery, which saw an improvement of 7 per cent to 77 per cent next-day delivery. The same figure was recorded for mail posted outside the capital for delivery throughout the State, but this represented an improvement of just 2 per cent.
The worst performance was recorded for mail posted outside Dublin for delivery to the capital; 75 per cent of this mail arrived at its destination within a day of being sent.
Some 97 per cent of all mail was delivered within three working days, a performance which continues to fall short of the 99.5 per cent target set by ComReg.
Alex Chisholm, ComReg Commissioner, welcomed the improvement in An Post's service. "However, next-day delivery has improved by just six percentage points over the past five years, since monitoring of quality of service commenced, and the annual result still remains well short of the target of 94 per cent."
"Top quality postal services are an important and they are fundamental to Ireland's national competitiveness. Much more work needs to be done by An Post to bring next day delivery rates up to the standard of best practice," he added.
