BBC NEWS | UK | Sunday postal collections ended

Here we have another reduction in a public service.
BBC NEWS | UK | Sunday postal collections ended: "Sunday postal collections ended postman Mail has been collected on Sundays for 17 years The Royal Mail has ended Sunday postal collections after 17 years in what it says is a bid to improve efficiency. It says mail was collected from only a sixth of its 118,000 post boxes and just 50 business customers on Sundays. Accounting for just 1% of all mail posted, items collected on Sundays cost four times as much to process as those collected on other days. The Communication Workers Union says the move will erode postal services and cut the earning potential of staff. It comes as thousands of postal workers are set to start voting on a new deal on pay and conditions after a series of strikes. Royal Mail reintroduced a Sunday collection in 1990. Royal Mail says it is now operating in a competitive postal market and stopping the Sunday collection was a way of reducing costs 'with the minimum of disruption'. 'Given the disproportionate cost of providing Sunday collections, and the low importance many consumers attach to such collections, ceasing this service makes commercial sense,' it said. "