Thousands of Londoners will not get post until after 6pm following Royal Mail redesign

Thousands of people across the UK may be waiting until after 5pm to get their post under the Royal Mail’s new proposals.

Hundreds of areas in the country could be affected, with London, Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland having post delivered by 6pm or later as the postal service looks to push back deliveries until later in the day to speed up delivery of parcels, the Telegraph reported.

For people shopping online late in the evening, later start times for postmen and postwomen for their rounds are aimed to give time for next day deliveries to arrive at the the Royal Mail’s sorting offices.

Certain parts of London like Southwark, Rotherhithe, Abbey Wood, and New Cross would be most affected. 

The Royal Mail said the figures were based on “high level” assumptions and no final decisions had been taken, according to the Telegraph. Letters would be delivered by 5pm at most instead of 4pm currently.

Moving to later delivery times would allow more post to be transported by train over lorries, reducing carbon emissions, the service said.

The proposed rules are subject to negotiations with the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) which represents over 100,000 postal workers.