Majority of Maltese businesses still find a 6-day postal schedule necessary

Joanna Demarco Monday, 8 January 2018, 10:43 Last update: about 7 years ago

A study conducted by the Malta Communications Authority has shown that businesses in Malta were not too pleased with the idea of a 5-day postal schedule week, and many were also willing to pay higher postal price in order to maintain the 6-days schedule.

Despite the perception that snail mail is on its way out, the MCA’s latest business perception survey published last week, which is representative of the Maltese business community, shows otherwise.

Currently, MaltaPost delivers mail on a 6-day schedule, between Monday to Saturday. When asked whether they would find a 5-day delivery week acceptable, only 44 per cent replied they would. Moreover, 86 per cent of those who deemed a 6-day schedule necessary said that they were willing to pay higher postal prices in order to maintain a 6-day schedule.

Asked whether they would prefer Monday or Saturday to be removed if the schedule were to shorten, 80 per cent of respondents replied that they preferred removing Saturday from the schedule, rather than Monday.

The study also showed that in the past three years, postal services in Malta were not that much in decline when it comes to businesses. The majority of respondents (57 per cent) claimed to have received the same volume of addressed letters, consistent with findings from precious research carried out in 2014.

When asked about sent letters, the majority of respondents claimed to have sent the same volume of addressed letters (49 per cent), while the proportion of respondents who claimed to have sent more letters decreased from 7 per cent in 2014 to 4 per cent in 2017.

Those respondents who claimed to have sent more letters, cited reasons such as marketing campaigns (40 per cent) and an increasing client-base (33 per cent). When it comes to those who sent fewer letters, the majority cited email as the reason for doing so (86 per cent). Other reasons are all linked with the digital platform, and include online payments, eBusiness solutions and messaging services.

83 per cent of the respondents claimed to be satisfied with the overall quality of postal services as provided by MaltaPost, the report stated, with only eight per cent claiming to have lodged a complaint in the 12 months preceding the survey.