The Commission for Communications Regulation today published the findings of its 2005 postal business and residential surveys. Both surveys provide a valuable insight into how the postal market is performing as well as pointing to emerging trends. The key findings include:
Business Survey
• The bulk of Irish businesses continue to rely solely on An Post with only about 12% using An Post as well as other service providers.
• Businesses spent an average of almost €6000 on postal services with An Post in 2005.
• Awareness of postal service providers other than An Post is relatively low. *
• Financial services companies are the greatest users of postal services.
• Almost one in five (18%) respondents has made a complaint to any organisation about postal services in the last twelve months with 56% of complainants believing that their complaint was dealt with badly.
Residential Survey
• On average 9 items of mail are delivered to each home address every week. The 45-54 age group receive over 11 items and those with home internet access receive the highest average weekly volumes with 13 items.
• Unaddressed direct mail volumes have increased to a greater extent than specifically addressed direct mail.
• On average 5 items of mail were posted weekly by Irish households. Employed people and those with home internet access post the most.
• At the time of the survey (August 2005) 55% of respondents were satisfied with the general cost of postage and 1 in 5 respondents had used operators other than An Post.
• About 3 in 5 respondents are satisfied with mail delivery times and post box collection times but residents of Dublin are most likely to be dissatisfied.
Commenting on the findings, ComReg Commissioner Mr Mike Byrne said:
“For consumers and businesses, it is imperative that Ireland’s postal sector is competitive and provides a high quality service to consumers. The ComReg surveys are very useful as they provide information to consumers about the postal sector as it embraces further liberalisation.
* LINK to full list of all authorised providers of postal services
Business Survey
Research was undertaken by Millward Brown IMS. Telephone interviews were conducted with a sample of 500 businesses in the Republic of Ireland in November 2005.
Residential Survey
Research was undertaken by Amárach Consulting. The research contained in this report is based on a survey of 1,008 adults throughout Ireland, aged 15-74. The survey was conducted from 8 August to 1 September 2005, and the results have been weighted up to the total adult population aged 15-74 using the most recent CSO statistics.
2005 Postal Services Survey IMS Business
2005 Residential Postal Services Survey
