How has the market changed over the years?

According to the JCRA: “The nature of postal service delivery has changed dramatically in recent years. There are approximately 40,000 postal addresses in Jersey. Traditional postal service users sending or receiving letters, or businesses sending transactional mail have, and are continuing to, decline, with most respondents to the consumer research sending under three letters a month. There is, however, a growth side to the sector which is seeing an increasing number of parcels and packets coming to the Island because of increased use of online shopping, with nearly 50% of respondents receiving one or two parcels every week.”

How does the JCRA test Jersey Post’s services? 

The method used is a simple one: they sent 4,242 items in the post and measured when they arrived. While that may sound like a lot, it was only 0.03% of the letters and parcels handled by Jersey Post that year.

How did the tests go? 

The results are broken down by month and by route: Jersey to Jersey, Jersey to the UK, UK to Jersey, Guernsey to Jersey, and Jersey to Guernsey. 

Overall, none of these routes fully hit their targets, with those starting or arriving off-island being the worst affected. 

The report suspended its targets from January to March 2022 because the pandemic was still affecting their service, and December does not feature in the report either. 

Mail from Guernsey to Jersey was the slowest – only 58.5% of next-day deliveries were delivered on time, missing the JCRA’s target of 82%. That same route was particularly badly affected at the strt of 2022, with only 11.1% of next-day deliveries arriving in time in January. This figure rose to25.8% in February and 54.7% in March. 

Mail between Jersey and Guernsey doesn’t fly directly between the islands, but instead travels via East Midlands Airport, where they are loaded onto the next day’s morning flight. 

The JCRA’s Chief Economist, Peter Hetherington, said that the delay was down to five network failures like planes arriving late, not flying at all, or technical issues. He added that staffing and capacity issues in the UK are not reported on but affect the services, adding: “When they occur, they cause the mail not to be loaded correctly or to be held up until the following day.” 

Delivery speed from Jersey to the UK also fell short of its target, arriving on time 70.1% of the time against a target of 82%. 

Mail sent from the UK to Jersey is harder to record – and it was affected by 18 days of strikes in the UK. There are no next-day figures, but only 68.95% of mail was delivered within three days. 

Pictured: Jersey Post Chair Alan Merry and Chief Executive Mark Siviter (James Jeune)

Only Jersey-to-Jersey mail and Jersey-to-Guernsey mail came close to meeting its targets for next-day deliveries. Jersey-to-Jersey items arrived on time 91.6% of the time (against a 95% target) and items sent to Guernsey arrived on time 80.5% of the time (against an 82% target). 

The goal for Jersey-to-Jersey mail is for 99% of items to arrive within three days, a goal that Jersey Post met with an annual figure of 99.4%. 

Staff recruitment and retention issues, UK strikes, and the lingering effect of Covid all affected how quickly items were delivered. 

Another challenge: moving from letters to parcels 

Jersey’s postal services reflected international trends (and islanders’ shopping habits), recording a 9% decrease in letters and a 25.5% increase in parcels being sent. 

But parcels are more challenging to process – they are bulkier, making them harder to store, transport and deliver, and while many letters can be sorted by a machine, parcels need to be sorted manually.  

What do people think of Jersey Post? 

In addition to delivery times, the report also records satisfaction levels with Jersey Post. 

It shows a decrease in complaints about parcels and a slight increase in complaints about letters compared to the last few years. There were, on average, four complaints per month per 50,000 letters and 20.8 complaints per month per 50,000 parcels. 

The JCRA’s survey found that islanders continue to support postal workers.

The authors said in their report that there is “still massive support for Jersey Post, your workforce, the challenges you have overcome and the efforts that have been made since the pandemic in order to keep the community connected”, adding that workers are “the face of Jersey Post” and “highly valued by a wide cross-section of the community”.

What’s next? 

Jersey Post recently reported a £6.6 million loss in 2022, due to supply chain disruption, workforce shortages, the war in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis, and industrial unrest.

Survey respondents also acknowledged that the industry is changing and that Jersey Post needs to adapt. 

The next steps for Jersey Post set out in the report include “e-tags” in street collection boxes to monitor their use. The report also mentions a new “satellite unit” in St Brelade, aimed at serving the West of the island. 

The findings from the Quality of Service report were taken into account by the JCRA as they formulated what Mr Hetherington described as a “refined regime” for Jersey Post.

In a ‘Draft Decision’ published last week, the JCRA has now set out a number of proposed changes to Jersey Post’s operating licence, which include: updates to the regulatory framework which they say will ensure “effective supervision”, updated quality of service expectations “to reflect how the market is changing”, and support for what’s known as the ‘universal service obligation’ – the requirement to make deliveries six days a week and have a network of post offices.

Islanders can add public comments to the consultation on the JCRA website.