Online retail giant Amazon has decided to move its second class mailings contract away from the Royal Mail, it has been announced.
The contract is said to be worth £8 million to the Royal Mail and has been moved due to high costs.
Confirming the decision this afternoon, the Royal Mail said the loss of the contract was the result of its failure to modernise, which it claims is in part due to workers' opposition for the organisation to do so.
The Royal Mail said it is "very proud" to work with Amazon and described the loss of the second class mailings contract as "significant".
"Royal Mail's higher costs, directly caused by our failure to fully modernise our operations, are costing us business. It's vital that we urgently change and modernise if we are to be able to compete against more efficient rivals who have already done so," a statement said.
"At the same time our customers are being threatened with disruption because of strikes - strikes which are aimed at preventing exactly the modernisation that could keep our big customers on board."
The statement added: "Customers like Amazon are critical to us, and to our competitors. They represent an important area of growth in a market which is otherwise declining as fewer items of mail are sent."
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