Express reply
Page 22
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THE RHA Express Parcels Functional Group has suggested that members write to you answering criticisms of express carriers' services contained in your issue of 16 June.
What your survey highlights is, that success in overnight parcel deliveries, calls for a very dedicated spirit of service on the part of a large number of people who together make up the distribution chain.
The entrepreneurial flair of Tony Capper, the founder of ANC (mentioned in your article) lay precisely in creating a network which places great emphasis on personal responsibility at the "local" level, where every depot is autonomous and highly motivated. The links which the ANC organisation then forged between depots are so strong and the feeling of national identity is so great that the work of collecting and delivering parcels is performed with a kind of missionary zeal.
As you reported it: "ANC had made a mistake but redeemed itself just in time and at its own expence." This well illustrates the point I am making. With a million consignments passing through the system every year we can perhaps be happy that you judged us on the way that, without prompting, one small misrouted parcel was rushed through to its destination on time.
John S. Probert ANC (Dorset)