The Royal Mail's Inverness sorting centre. Picture: James MacKenzie
ROYAL Mail is doing its bit to spread key coronavirus lockdown messages after not only beginning to deliver a UK-wide letter from the UK government but also introducing a new postmark setting out life-saving social distancing tips.
Dropping on the UK’s door mats over the next week, the mailing will be going out to 30 million homes, and includes a letter from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, alongside a leaflet outlining the UK government’s advice. This includes an explanation of symptoms, hand hygiene guidance, rules on leaving the house, how to self-isolate with symptoms, and shielding for the most vulnerable.
The leaflet will also signpost online resources that can provide further guidance.
Last week, postmen and women also delivered 900,000 letters to those at very high risk of severe illness from coronavirus. The vital mailing provided guidance on "shielding", a measure to protect the clinically extremely vulnerable by minimising all interaction between themselves and others.
Rico Back, the Royal Mail Group's chief executive officer, said: “As the universal service provider, we are playing an important role in helping people, businesses and communities stay connected during this unprecedented crisis. We are playing our part in delivering important mailings from government, which will help every UK household manage the impact of coronavirus.
“Our postmen and women will also be supporting the fight against coronavirus by helping with the logistics for the delivery and return of coronavirus tests for frontline NHS staff. They are delivering letters and parcels for customers across the UK including prescriptions and hospital appointments – a lifeline for those who are not able to leave their homes. Their dedication is hugely appreciated by households, businesses and communities everywhere in these difficult circumstances.
“Royal Mail takes the health and safety of its colleagues, customers and the communities in which we operate very seriously.
"We have introduced a range of new social distancing measures to avoid contact during delivery.Where an item won’t fit through a customer’s letterbox, the postman or woman will place the item at the customer’s door, knock, and step aside to a safe distance while they retrieve their item. We are also temporarily not handing over hand-held devices to customers to capture signatures.
"Standard ways of working have been revised to ensure that, wherever possible, colleagues stay two metres apart. We have implemented a new rule that means there will only be one person in a Royal Mail delivery vehicle at any one time.”
To support the UK and Scottish Governments' messages on the importance of social distancing, the Royal Mail has deployed a new postmark across the UK.
The postmark leads with the message ‘Stay Home. Protect the NHS. Save Lives’. The postmark is applied to all stamped mail sent in the UK. Further government messaging is being incorporated across Royal Mail’s digital and social channels.
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