With the result of the Royal Mail strike ballot being due in the next couple of hours, who is using alternative suppliers in the UK and how do you feel about their services?

We're heavy users of DX's hand delivery service. As a large B2B publisher we have significant coverage around the City (EC) and Canary Wharf areas which has always meant that we're a good fit for the usual footprints used by Citipost, CMS and previously Speedmail and we moved over to DX when the latter folded. As a result we now have access to DX's national network (predominantly high streets and other areas with a heavy concentration of businesses) which has enabled us to cut back on the volumes we're giving Royal Mail.

To date we've not had any delivery issues or noted any increase in queries from our customer service team. The expansion in coverage from the old Speedmail footprint, combined with a competitive rate, has seen some good savings for our business and we feel we're heading into the likely strikes in as good a position as is imaginable.

On an aside, the news today (albeit unconfirmed) that Amazon are moving to Hand Delivery Network is of personal interest as an occasional E-Bayer. I went over to HDN's site and saw that they offer a parcel service (Collect+: http://www.collectplus.co.uk/) in the UK for £3.99 up to 10kg. Okay, you have to drop off the parcel at a designated site and the recipient has to collect from one too, but they have a network of 3,000 'corner shops' for this purpose. Makes you wonder how many other people have now made the same discovery and will permanently move their parcel service over to HDN. The future for Royal Mail as a viable business is looking increasingly bleak.