Royal Mail has scrapped its Saturday post deliveries

Royal Mail has temporarily scrapped its Saturday postal delivery service due to the coronavirus crisis.

Royal Mail classically delivers Monday to Saturday, with Sundays being post-free days every week.

Now, with the global health crisis still taking hold of the UK, Saturdays are also being taken off your postman’s schedule.

The essential service has admitted it's struggling due to "significantly high" staff absence rates and has taken to stripping back its services.

This means that as of May 2nd, letters will not be delivered on weekends.

However, special delivery, tracked, and most other parcels will still be delivered on the usual days.

Saturday collections from businesses, Post Offices and post boxes will also remain unchanged.

Shane O’Riordain, managing director of marketing, regulation and corporate affairs at Royal Mail said, “We understand the importance of the postal service in keeping the UK connected at this time.

"We have also listened to our hard-working colleagues who have asked us to ease the additional burden on them if possible.

"As a result, we are making some temporary changes to postal services. We have been in dialogue with the government and Ofcom since the beginning of this crisis. We will keep the temporary change in Saturday postal arrangements under review.”

The Royal Mail website also explains that postal deliveries to places where people at higher risk of coronavirus live have been altered in order to ensure the wellbeing of vulnerable members of society.

‘We recognise that post is important to the elderly, particularly those away from their friends and families in care homes. Therefore, to support the effort to keep the mail moving but prevent the spread of Coronavirus, we are making arrangements to deliver to a central point (e.g. reception) rather than individual addresses within care homes,’ Royal Mail explains.