On Thu, 21 Sep 2006 00:57:41 +0100 Frank Erskine wrote :
What puzzles me is that the Royal Mail, as it faces direct
competition, reduces its standards. One wonders whether this is being
imposed by HMG to make "competition" easier for the newcomers.

No, the other way round I think. It's meant to make the cost of postage
reflect the cost of handling so that RM can keep down the cost of the
cheaper to handle mail which would otherwise migrate to the
competition. We spend several thousand a year on postage some of our
items have gone up significantly, others down: CD and paperwork up from
31p to 41p, DVD box/manual/CD down from 82p to 61p. And the discounts
for franked mail have gone up.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk