I am increasingly aware of the increasing competition to Royal Mail by other postal companies. Residents generally rely on their local postie to deliver their mail, but companies such as TNT plan to expand in urban areas from 3,000 employees to 20,000 by 2017 and this will undoubtedly have a knock-on affect in more rural areas.

Royal Mail is heavily regulated yet there is a growth in unregulated postal companies which choose to deliver in cities because it’s much cheaper for them, which means higher profits. Royal Mail is charged with delivering the universal service obligation making it the same price to send a letter to anyone in the UK.

We’re not shy about competition but TNT can pick and choose when, where and what to deliver. I’m concerned that if this continues, it is rural communities which will have higher postage costs or worse services.

TNT is not introducing new jobs, it is replacing decent and well-paid Royal Mail jobs with zero-hours contracts at minimum wage and supporting a low-pay insecure job market. We need to make our elected representatives aware of this race to the bottom and ask them to help save the USO for us and future generations.

Keith Franklin, Political Officer, Western Counties Branch, Communication Workers Union.