City Link is to join forces with independent postal operator Secured Mail in a collaborative mail service.
Under the deal, City Link will collect mail from customers at the same time as collecting parcels. Secured Mail will be responsible for sorting the mail and delivering into the Royal Mail network for final delivery.
Last year, Secured Mail took over the downstream access division of DHL Global Mail and now reckons it is the number three player in the wholesale DSA marketplace.
Tony Bannister, head of post at City Link said: “Until now, downstream access within post services has tended to benefit the very large businesses due to volume discounts. We believe that this partnership will bring these benefits to all types of customers and so will be of particular interest to those in the SME market.
“City Link already works with our customers to pick up their larger packets and parcels for delivery within the UK and abroad and so, as we are already at their premises, it makes complete sense for us to collect their post too. By providing this one-stop-shop approach, customers will benefit from time and effort efficiencies as well as using a cost-effective service; clearly something that we believe will be of significant interest to them.”
Mark Bigley, founder and chief executive of Secured Mail said: “By using the best bits of each company we will be able to focus on innovation in the postal industry, delivering excellent services to all businesses, including SMEs, across the UK.”
