Northern Mail is poised to deliver new postal service

Apr 22 2009 by David Old, The Journal

FIRMS can save themselves money with the launch of a new localised postal service today.

Cramlington-based Northern Mail is taking on Royal Mail with its regionally-focused service, the first of its kind in the North of England.

And it is offering savings of up to four pence for every letter delivered. The launch comes off the back of a Governmental review of postal services last December, which recommended that independent mail outlets should be launched to work alongside Royal Mail.

Northern Mail’s parent company The Mailing House has been granted a postal operator’s licence by regulator Postcomm to provide national mail services.

It will also be eco-friendly as ‘mail miles’ will be kept to a minimum with the post sorted and delivered within the region. Any mail heading outside Northern England will be passed to Royal Mail to deliver at no extra cost.

Managing director Jill Peddie-Jones said: “We are extremely excited to be launching the first independent postal service for the North of England and we are urging businesses to support their local economy and switch to Northern Mail.

“As well as being a more cost effective option, our local service means that we provide a greener alternative and reduce the amount of miles that each letter travels.”

Northern Mail has been independently launched by the existing younger management team of The Mailing House Group, a direct mail company which has been established for 26 years.

Mrs Peddie-Jones said: “The Mailing House is a long-established company which has been providing direct mail services across the UK for almost three decades and we pride ourselves on our reliability and reputation.

“We have always been innovators and this is something which will be evident in the service that Northern Mail provides.”

It will use a unique tracking service with barcodes being scanned by postal workers at different points along the delivery route.

Mail will be collected from business premises up to six days a week.

The company has ambitious growth plans and aims to employ up to 50 staff within two years.

The North East Chamber of Commerce welcomed the new service. Head of policy, Ross Smith said: “Competition in postal services is healthy. It is encouraging to see a North East company has developed a service which can be useful to businesses in the region. We hope it is a great success.”

To find out more about the service, visit www.northernmail.co.uk