Queue lengths and strategy in London

Dear Mr Page

Thank you for your request for information received on 3 July 2009, which
we are considering under the Freedom of Information Act. Under the Act you
should expect a reply from us to be sent by 31 July 2009, which is twenty
working days from receipt of your request.

If for any reason we are unable to provide you with a full response within
that time, we will contact you explaining the reasons for this and giving a
revised date by which we will reply.

If in the mean time you have any questions or would like to contact us
about your request, please contact us by telephone 01252 806513 or
alternatively email or write to us at the address below. Please be assured
that we are giving this our attention and will get back to you shortly.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Moore
[Royal Mail Group request email]
Freedom of Information Unit, Post Office Ltd
PO Box 2060, Watford, WD18 8ZW

Royal Mail is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd. Registered in England
and Wales.
Registered number 4138203. Registered office at 148 Old Street, LONDON EC1V
9HQ

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Dear Mr Page

Our Ref: AJME - 7TLK9U

I am writing in response to your e-mail received by Post Office Limited on
03 July 2009 in relation to queue-time surveys at Post Office® branches,
which I am dealing with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act
2000. (the Act)

In your e-mail you have requested the following information;

Do you collect queue-time surveys or studies of your Post
Office Branches?
If so I wish to see the summary detail (i.e. information on
average time spent in queue for at least the past three survey
occasion) for London branches, preferably broken to a branch
level, and if not then at least into areas of London.
Assuming these data to exist, please provide those documents
which describe the strategy to manage queue times at Post Office
branches.

I shall respond to your requests for information individually using your
question in bold first.

Do you collect queue-time surveys or studies of your Post Office Branches?

Post Office Limited undertakes mystery shopper reports, titled EFFECT, at
all Crown branches, at our WHSmith partner branches and at a limited number
of branches within our agency network. A small section of these EFFECT
reports lends itself to the recording of the branch queue time; this
measurement in itself is a component part of the overall measure of
customer measure at a branch. In addition small samples of branches have in
previous financial years undertaken waiting time measurements.

If so I wish to see the summary detail (i.e. information on average time
spent in queue for at least the past three survey occasion) for London
branches, preferably broken to a branch level, and if not then at least
into areas of London.

Post Office Limited does hold some information relevant to your request,
although the information we hold is not summarised at area level for the
last three EFFECT reports. As I have previously mentioned we do hold a
small amount of queue time data, contained within EFFECT reports for those
branches within London taking part in the exercise, however I am unable to
provide you with queue time data for individual London branches due to the
reasons below.

The commercial interests of both Post Office Limited and Subpostmasters
would likely be prejudiced in the event that this information was
disclosed. EFFECT reports are produced monthly across a sample of Post
Office® branches and thus not all Post Office® branches receive them. Post
Office Limited uses these reports for management purposes only and they
help with the overall performance management of a Post Office® Branch.

The reports are produced at different times of the day, week and month and
as such are not directly indicative and show only a small snapshot of the
overall performance of an individual branch.

In addition, an example of how Post Office Limited’s interests would likely
be prejudiced by the disclosure of this information is how competitors
could react to the availability of the information. Competitors might
target their marketing or product offering in the catchment area of a
branch, utilising the information contained in the EFFECT report as a lever
for their activity affecting the commercial interests of both Post Office
Limited and its Subpostmasters.

In this respect Post Office Limited believes an exemption is provided in
Section 43 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act, concerning likely
prejudice to commercial interests. As information has been exempted under
Section 43 (2) of the Act, a public interest test applies and Post Office
Limited believes the balance of public interest is, in all circumstances of
the case, in favour of withholding the information.

Assuming these data to exist, please provide those documents which describe
the strategy to manage queue times at Post Office branches.

Post Office Limited does not hold information relevant to your request
however I can advise you that, Post Office Limited takes very seriously
it’s responsibilities towards customer care and we recognise what an
important element of overall customer satisfaction queuing times are.
Along with our mystery shopper reports that provide some data on queuing
times we have recently appointed a senior manager to focus on a number of
Crown branches within our network in order to review customer waiting
times.

The senior manager will be responsible for reviewing current approaches to
staff scheduling, staff training, branch opening hours, monitoring and
supervision. A key part of this project will be co-ordination and sharing
best practice between the Crown branches involved.

I am sorry that I cannot provide you with all the information you have
requested but I hope the information detailed above is of use. However if
you are dissatisfied with this response for any reason you do have a right
to request an internal review, in which case please write to The Head of
Information Compliance, Royal Mail Group, Company Secretary's Office , 100
Victoria Embankment, LONDON, EC4Y 0HQ. An internal panel will then review
the request, and you will be advised of the outcome.

If, having requested an internal review by Royal Mail, you are still not
satisfied with our response you also have a right of appeal to the
Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 700
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Peter Johnson,
Freedom of Information Advisor
Post Office Ltd
Watford Mail Centre
Ascot Road
Watford
WD18 1AA

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