Majority of businesses satisfied with MaltaPost services

The majority of businesses in Malta - 83% - are satisfied with the overall quality of postal services provided by MaltaPost, a survey by The Malta Communications Authority has revealed.

The Malta Communications Authority (MCA) today published the results of its latest business community’s perception of postal services survey.

The survey interviewed both micro, small, medium and large businesses, employing up to nine, 10 to 49, and more than 50 employees respectively.

All interviews were carried out through random sampling between April and May 2017 with the individuals responsible for handling the mail of each respective organisation.

57% of business respondents claimed to have received the same volume of addressed letters, consistent with findings from previous research carried out in 2014.

When asked about sent letters, the majority of smaller businesses claimed to have sent the same volume of addressed letters (49%), while the proportion of respondents who claimed to have sent more letters, decreased from 7% in 2014 to 4% in 2017.

Those respondents who claimed to have sent more letters, cited reasons such as marketing campaigns (40%) and an increasing client base.

The majority (86%) pointed to email as the reason for sending fewer letters, followed by online payments (21%) and eBusiness solutions (such as websites) and messaging services (9% and 13% respectively).

Larger businesses tended to make heavier use of postal services when compared to smaller businesses.

9% of respondents from this sample claimed to have sent more letters in the 12 months preceding the survey, citing a growing client-base as the main reason. The majority of respondents who claimed to have sent fewer letters within the same period, mainly used email as substitute, similar to smaller businesses.

Respondents were asked if they would find a 5-day delivery week acceptable, instead of the current 6-day schedule. In 2014 33% replied in the positive whereas in 2017 this figure stood at 44%.

Respondents were then asked which day, Monday or Saturday, they would prefer to remove delivery from. 80% of respondents claimed that they would prefer to remove delivery on Saturday, therefore leaving a Monday to Friday delivery schedule.

86% of respondents who claimed that a 5-day week would not be acceptable were willing to pay higher postal prices in order to maintain a 6-day schedule.

Both samples were asked which non-postal alternatives they would adopt in the case of a 5-10% price increase. The majority of medium and large businesses, like respondents from the overall sample, would switch to email, however medium and large businesses were also more likely to have no alternative than overall businesses (20% vs. 12%).

Operators other than MaltaPost were used to send letters by both samples, with medium and large businesses more likely to make use of other operators.

When compared to smaller businesses and bulk mailers, large businesses showed the greatest openness towards the idea of a two-day lead-time, whereby a letter is delivered two days after it is posted, as opposed to the current D+1 delivery service offered by MaltaPost.

Unlike their smaller counterparts, larger businesses were more likely to send a parcel (42% vs. 24%). Respondents from both samples who did send parcels were similarly and evenly distributed across those who made exclusive or inclusive use of either MaltaPost or alternative operators.

Respondents were asked if, in the 12 months preceding the survey, they had made a formal complaint with MaltaPost about any aspect of postal services. 8% claimed to have done so, with the majority of respondents having lodged a complaint once. Complaints mainly related to loss (48%) and misdelivery (31%).

Larger businesses were also more likely to visit the MaltaPost website than respondents from the overall sample and were also likely to visit more frequently. Respondents from both samples claimed to have mainly visited the website to search for post-codes and information about prices.