WHILE some York firms which rely heavily on Royal Mail are receiving late postal deliveries, they are also being hit by new surcharges if they use the prepaid mail system.

Promotional Identity, of The Courtyard in Vine Street, York, produces catalogues which offer about 2,000 promotional products with order forms enclosed.

But late post now means delays all down the line.

David Gorwood, managing director, said: "A delay of six hours in the receipt of the instructions can translate into a 48-hour delay in delivery of an order."

Even worse news, he said, was notification from Royal Mail that it was imposing a 20 per cent surcharge on companies using the pre-paid mail system.

"PPIC is the service for bulk mailings where the postage is pre-paid 24 hours prior to posting. Royal Mail collection is free only if the postage is in excess of £250.

"We use this method for distributing our catalogues, one at 80p each in postage, the other at £3.36. I calculate that this will cost us nearly £4,700 in surcharges.

"How Royal Mail can suggest this 'still represents excellent value for money' is beyond belief.

"They must be the only company who find themselves able to penalise customers for placing bulk orders.

"Most suppliers would be keen to offer a lower price for bulk users of their product, especially when the service is pre-paid."

Updated: 11:28 Thursday, February 12, 2004