By Pushkala Aripaka
(Reuters) -Royal Mail’s U.S. shipments are moving smoothly after the British post and parcel group had to adapt to Washington’s ending of tariff exemptions for low-value packages, the CEO of its owner International Distribution Services said on Monday.
The U.S. tariff relief for shipments under $800, known as the “de minimis” exemption, ceased on Friday, causing turmoil in postal services globally.
But Royal Mail, which had been among the more than 25 foreign postal services to have suspended mail to the U.S. in the run-up to the cutoff, resumed U.S. shipments on Thursday, a day before the deadline.
The new service “has been a complex process for us to get up”, IDS Group CEO Martin Seidenberg said. “However, we have done it in time.”
“Shipments are flowing, there’s no disruption – it’s working,” he said.
Royal Mail, whose iconic red post boxes with the Royal Crest dot Britain, has implemented a service where customers can send parcels by paying any duties upfront, as well as a handling fee to cover additional costs of clearance into the U.S.
Seidenberg was speaking after Royal Mail posted its first annual profit on an adjusted basis in three years amid efforts to boost volumes by modernizing operations and adding more lockers, as well as cutting costs.
“While this is very positive news, we shouldn’t get overexcited. There’s still more to do,” Seidenberg said, as IDS under its new Czech owners also works with British regulators to improve deliveries and affordability.
Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky’s EP Group closed its acquisition of IDS in June after committing to protect the more than 500-year-old Royal Mail and its workers and customers.
IDS, which comprises Royal Mail and the international parcels network GLS, logged adjusted operating profit of 278 million pounds ($375.6 million) for the year ended March 30, compared to a year-earlier loss of 28 million pounds.
($1 = 0.7402 pounds)
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Jan Harvey)
