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Guernsey Post saw another 11% drop in local mail rates last year with profits taking a hit as a result.
The Company said it made an operating profit of £1,269,000 for the financial year ending 31 March, 2018, which is down from £2,301,000 the previous year.
Despite that decrease, the Chairman of Guernsey Post said it was "our second best operating profit performance in over a decade."
Andrew Duquemin also said Guernsey Post's performance for the year has been "excellent."
"...considering the effect that digital substitution is continuing to have on our traditional letter volumes and the associated revenue and profitability. By way of illustration, local mail volumes alone experienced a decline of just over 11% in the past year. This rapid rate of decline underscores the critical importance of the reforms that we have introduced to the letters and parcels business in recent years. By merging our letter and parcel delivery network, the Company has been able to create and utilise capacity to handle the continued growth in on-island parcel delivery volumes without any investment in additional resourcing."
Guernsey Post said in it's annual report and accounts, which can be read here, that it has made a number of efficiencies, but it will do more towards "exploiting commercial opportunities."
Pictured l-r: Chairman Andrew Duquemin and Managing Director Boley Smilie.
Mr Duquemin said it is necessary to safeguard the future of Guernsey Post as less traditional post needs delivering. One way of doing that is to work more closely with other delivery agents such as Hermes, which often receives criticism via local social media sites for its services.
"The Board remains committed to mitigating, as far as possible, the decline in core volumes by continuing to strive for greater efficiencies and exploiting commercial opportunities, such as the continued growth of parcel delivery. In this regard, the Company has this year agreed a partnership with Hermes, seamlessly integrating a large proportion of their on-island parcel volumes into our existing infrastructure and delivery network and is hopeful of building this relationship further over the coming year. The Company will continue to pursue its strategy in growing its position as a market leader in on island parcel deliveries by focusing on best price, high levels of customer service and the extension of choice in terms of delivery options."
Pictured: Part of Guernsey Post's fleet which it uses for deliveries.
As well as the continuing decline in traditional mail volumes, as experienced by postal companies elsewhere, Guernsey Post has also had to put up with bad weather.
The Chairman said the last year affected Guernsey Post badly, with delivery delays caused by bad weather.
"In respect of our quality of service, I cannot recall there ever being such a sustained and poor run of bad weather that has caused numerous delays to our supply chain options in the delivery of our customers mail volumes. In the face of such challenges, the resolve and commitment of our staff to identify solutions and ensure our customer expectations were met and in many cases exceeded, merits special mention," said Mr Duquemin.
Despite that, Mr Duquemin said the posties hit their targets, exceptionally well.
"...with the exception of mail posted in the UK and delivered in Guernsey, elements of which were outside of our control, quality of service performance results for the year have again exceeded targets."
Pictured: One of Guernsey's post offices - on Smith Street.
There continues to be some good news for Guernsey Post though as some areas of the business grow, while the traditional mail volumes shrink. Although the firm continues to feel the after-effects of the loss of Low Value Consignment Relief, which gave them plenty of business, Guernsey Post works very closely with remaining online retailers to ensure they're meeting demands.
"Since 2012, which coincided with the loss of Low Value Consignment Relief, a key aspect of the Company’s strategy has been to focus on the retention and growth of the online personalised greeting card and gift sector. Each year since, the Company has underpinned the growth of the industry with competitive pricing, innovative postal products and exceeding expectations on quality of service. In 2018, it is likely that 95% of personalised greeting cards, destined for the UK, will be produced and posted from Guernsey, a statistic which neatly illustrates the success of our strategy," said Mr Duquemin.
Pictured top: Profits are down at Guernsey Post following continued declines in the traditional mail services.
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