From Kevin Keen, chief executive officer, Jersey Post.
YOU have published various letters about Jersey Post recently.

As chief executive of this company owned by the people of the Island and one that requires their trust and support I am deeply sorry that we appear to have upset so many of your readers.

To put our problems into context I would ask them to take note of a few relevant numbers. In 2010 we delivered around 500,000 items of mail per week to 43,000 Jersey addresses, most without a problem.

Of course, in some cases our people have to rely on others to be able to do their job properly, be it Royal Mail (who have numerous problems of their own), UK Customs (who are now more vigilant than ever), the person or business who addressed the piece of mail in the first place, even the weather.

In addition and in an effort to reduce costs we have made substantial changes to the way we do things which have had their share of teething problems.

Please do not take this as me saying all the mistakes our customers suffer are somebody else’s fault, management recognise that we do make our share and as I have already said we are deeply sorry for that.

We understand just how frustrating it can be for an important letter or parcel to be delayed or go missing and we are determined to reduce errors to the smallest number economically possible.

As I say above, Jersey Post is owned by the public who are represented by the Treasury Minister. While Senator Ozouf is a supportive long-term shareholder he rightly demands that we take appropriate action to be efficient and not become a burden on the tax payer.

Direction of the company is delegated to a board of highly experienced people who hold executive management to account and do not hesitate to make changes if our performance is not up to scratch. Furthermore, the States of Jersey has appointed the JCRA to regulate us, who also bring considerable challenge and oversight to our activities.

Turning now to the specific complaints which have been raised by your readers:
Two-tier service
This service was introduced in 2010, its intention was to allow us to balance peak seasonal and daily mail flows and to give customers a lower cost if their mail was not urgent which would help us reduce the high cost of overtime. We recognise though, that the two-tier system has proved unpopular with some customers and it has caused a number of operational problems. I can confirm therefore that we are reviewing the system and expect to reach some conclusions about its future which will be announced in the first quarter of 2012.

Saturday deliveries
Over the last five years mail has declined by around 30% and the decision to reduce the number of delivery days was reluctantly taken to address the increasing cost of this problem. The costs of delivering one, two or three pieces of mail to a household are pretty much the same, but obviously the income we receive is very different.

In order to make this change we needed to obtain the permission of the independent regulator of post in the Island, the JCRA, who carried out a comprehensive review and public consultation before approving it. On balance it was decided that delivering business mail arriving on a Monday morning on Tuesday would cause more problems than delaying mail that arrived on a Saturday. It was a difficult decision due to its impacts on our residential customers but in the end it was decided to cease delivery on a Saturday.

Items being delayed at customs in the UK
I was very sorry to hear of the problems caused by UK customs for Kim Taylor, and that we did not identify this risk to her before the special delivery service was sold. I understand the item has now been delivered by Royal Mail. We have made changes to our staff training to deal with this and will make sure customers are better informed in future.

Your readers should be aware though, that UK customs are determined to collect more VAT as evidenced by the proposed abolition of Low Value Consignment Relief next year and should also note that gifts (such as the £59 iPod mentioned in the reader’s letter) could also be subject to VAT because the gift limit is usually £40. We have been told by HMRC that they are intending to inspect many more parcels in 2012 (with the resulting delay) and that not only could recipients have to pay 20% VAT but also an £8 Royal Mail collection fee. For obvious reasons Jersey Post is extremely unhappy about this, not least because of the dramatic impact it will have on the local fulfilment industry that accounts for over half of our volume.

Parcel deliveries
We also recognise the problems caused to customers when they are not home to receive parcels or signed for items, this also creates extra costs for Jersey Post so I am as determined to find an alternative as our customers are. We are looking at a number of options and hope to make some real progress on this issue in 2012.

Conclusions
I joined Jersey Post full time in August of this year and have made many changes already. There will be more change in 2012 to get our service levels up while keeping our costs down. I recognise though that for the readers that have written to your paper, that so far, it is too little and too slow. All I can ask is that they bear with us and carry on providing feedback.
We are planning an Islandwide survey in the coming weeks which will give the whole of Jersey the chance to have their say, from which we want to find out about any other problems and hopefully where our dedicated people occasionally get things right.

Furthermore and in part, by way of tangible apology for the problems in 2011, we have reduced the cost of many local and UK stamps until 10 December. Please be assured that the team who work here (including me) completely understand that our jobs depend on tangible improvements in 2012, something we are determined to deliver correctly and on time.
Postal Headquarters, Rue des Prés Trading Estate, St Saviour.