WE had hoped that the days of management madness at the Royal Mail ended when bosses ditched its meaningless new name, Consignia.

A three-year rescue package has seen the company return to profit. But the changes to the service in York - and potentially the rest of the country - suggest the Royal Mail is still all too capable of shooting itself in the foot.

The decision to replace two daily deliveries with one at lunchtime has left residents and traders fuming.

Already the late post is subverting York's ability to do business. Firms cannot process orders as quickly. High street banks revealed today that financial transactions were also being hampered.

The change is costing time and money, and could ultimately cost jobs. So today we launch a crusade to bring back the early delivery.

The Royal Mail is unique. No other firm plays the same universal role in the life of every other business.

Yet its bosses have shown a breathtaking lack of awareness of this fact. They introduced a change in working practices which have a profound implication for the commercial life of this city without consulting their customers.

The increasing impact of the later delivery emerged in the same week as a Postwatch survey showing that thousands of postboxes across Britain are emptied more than 15 minutes before the time shown for the last collection every day.

So we have earlier collections and later deliveries. This double downgrade of Royal Mail's service is a disgrace.

No one need suffer in silence, however. If you are hit by the change in York delivery times, complete our coupon and send it in. The more we receive, the more pressure we can exert.

And don't worry. We will deliver them to Royal Mail bosses by hand.

Updated: 10:01 Thursday, February 05, 2004