Adam Crozier, chief executive of Royal Mail, says: "The first thing I do every day is check how we performed last night. Any mail centre that failed to meet quality of service targets is on a conference call with me to explain what happened and whether they have a plan to put it right."

The introduction of private sector disciplines was one of Mr Crozier's first actions on being appointed to run the UK's state-owned postal company just before Christmas two years ago. Then, Royal Mail was losing £1m ($1.9m) a day. Now, it is making a profit of £1m a day.