ABSTRACT
British Rail's future earnings from parcels will depend, among other things, upon the overall growth or decline in parcels traffic. The advantage of a parcels service which operates over a large part of the country is that it deals with sufficient traffic for it to be able to establish a direct link, whether by road or rail, between one important town and another. However, this can only be achieved at the price of sorting the parcels at either end of their trunk haul, and of extra loading and unloading. Any parcels network therefore entails considerable expense, and will only be competitive where the volume of traffic is insufficient for firms to supply their customers direct. As this has become increasingly possible, the publicly owned parcels systems have lost business. The principal explanation is the reduction in revenue from the Post Office for carrying parcels as a result of the mechanisation of sorting, and the consequent alteration of its transport requirements.
