Overview
- Royal Mail has begun sending leaflets to millions of households this week as it rolls out a 2026 system that stops Saturday delivery for 2nd class letters and cards.
- Under the new alternating-weekday schedule households will typically receive 2nd class post on Monday, Wednesday and Friday one week and Tuesday and Thursday the next.
- Ofcom authorised the change and set revised targets that require 95% of 2nd class mail to arrive within three working days and 99% within five days as a backstop.
- First class deliveries remain six days a week and parcels continue to be delivered up to seven days a week, with stamp pricing and the one-price-goes-anywhere rule unchanged.
- Royal Mail says the model will save about £250m–£425m a year as letter volumes have fallen sharply over decades, a trend Ofcom cited when reforming the universal service obligation.