Seventy-two per cent of UK consumers say they don’t think Royal Mail should be privatised, a new survey shows. Further, only six per cent are in favour of partial privatisation and less than five per cent favour full privatisation.

The survey, commissioned by online hybrid mail service, CFH Docmail, found a great deal of support for Royal Mail, despite recent staff strikes, with some 79 per cent of respondents considering the UK postal operator to be trustworthy and 66 per cent viewing it as reliable. Confirming the public’s positive view of their local postman, 89 per cent of the 548 respondents saw the postie as trustworthy.

Some 87 per cent of survey respondents said they enjoy receiving mail and many want critical documents delivered in no other way. Despite recent efforts by banks and utilities, 62 per cent of the public said they still want a paper copy of their statements and bills posted through the door, while a massive 82 per cent want communication from their doctor to be by post – this despite all of the respondents being Internet enabled.

This preference for post may be driven by the perceived higher security of an envelope, with 32 per cent of respondents seeing the post as more secure than online compared to only 12 per cent believing online delivery to be more secure.