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Quality of Service FAQs
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Why does Royal Mail measure quality of service for Access mail?
Royal Mail Wholesale and its customers recognise the importance of having an independent measure of quality to promote the efficient operation of the market in postal services and to enable a performance measure for the medium of post, which competes in the wider communications market.

It is also a regulatory condition for Royal Mail to measure Access quality of service from handover to Royal Mail through to the final delivery address (handover to delivery). The discrete measurement of Access handover to delivery quality of service commenced in April 2007.
How is Access quality of service measured?

This is managed by an independent research company using a combination of posting and recipient panelists and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices. Spectos is the current supplier of the independent survey measurement. 


Spectos organises the anonymised seeding of sending customers' mail and has a group of receiving panelists who record when seed items are delivered. All of Spectos' work is performed on a completely independent, confidential and statistically valid basis.

How is Royal Mail's performance measured?

Spectos arranges for participating customers to insert seed items containing RFID devices into their live mail. Royal Mail mail centres are fitted with gates that interact with the individual RFID devices and record the time and date each time the seed items pass by them. This information is sent to the independent research supplier and used to measure the point at which mail is handed over from the carrier to Royal Mail. Independent panelists recruited by the supplier record the date and time of delivery. Access mail may occasionally need to be held by Royal Mail at inward mail centres when contractual conditions have not been met by the posting customer or their carrier. In such circumstances Royal Mail would advise the independent research supplier and any affected seeds may be removed from the survey.

Who decides where sample items are sent?

Spectos uses the industry specification to determine a statistically valid sample base in terms of mail type, volumes, formats and geography.

Is this measure independent from Royal Mail?

Yes. Spectos manages the survey and produce the results completely independently of Royal Mail.  Individual performance results are provided independently by the supplier to customers participating in the survey.  Consolidated national results are published on the Royal Mail Wholesale website and reported to Ofcom each quarter.

As a contract holder, if I want to become an Access quality of service sample poster what do I have to do?

Please speak to your Account Director in the first instance.  Your details will be passed to Spectos, who will contact you to discuss how your mail may be included in the QofS survey and measured.


For non-Royal Mail contract holders, please contact Spectos directly by email: dsa.support@mailagents.uk