§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for Industry what is the estimated cost to the Post Office, in the current financial year, of the postcode system; and what it will be in 1976–77 and 1977–78.
§ Mr. Gregor MackenzieThis is a matter for the Post Office, which tells me that the estimated cost of the upkeep of the postcode system, which involves in particular the allocation of postcodes to new addresses and the production of postcode directories, is £0.6 million for the current financial year and £0.5 million for each of the following two years.
§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for Industry what proportion of letters is estimated to include the postcode in the address; and how this effects delivery.
§ Mr. Gregor MackenzieThis is a matter for the Post Office, which tells me that it estimates the public usage of post-codes300W on average to be 45 per cent. Twelve offices now have automatic code sorting equipment in use and these handle 10 million items a week.
§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for Industry if he will issue a general direction to the Post Office to discontinue the postcode system.
§ Mr. Gregor MackenzieNo. This would not be an appropriate subject for a general direction, and in any case postcodes allow optimum use of automatic letter sorting equipment and so reduce costs and save manpower in sorting offices.