It was said to be a privatisation too far…the one Baroness Thatcher backed away from, and the one which couldn’t be done. Why? For several reasons. The postal unions were and they remain very strong, and a great deal of political capital would need to be invested in a struggle for hearts and minds. For some reason the British public have a special affection for the drooling idiots who open children’s birthday cards looking for money and drop packages just to see how high they will bounce.

It used to be said when they handled parcels, of course, that the easiest way to break a concrete block was to post it somewhere.

The other main reason was economy. Why would small rural post rounds be kept if they were uneconomical? That element of required subsidy then made the project unviable. But no longer. Technology has caught up – at least in Germany.

German publisher Georg von Holtzbrinck has teamed up with private logistics companies to create a ‘hybrid mail’ service using the internet for quicker delivery at a lower cost, according to weekly news magazine WirtschaftsWoche (very German).

According to the magazine, Berlin’s Pin Mail, Freiburg’s Arriva, Main-Post Logistik from Würzburg, and Netherlands service Post TNT are meeting this week to discuss plans to the combination of e-mail with traditional “snail mail” that could revolutionise postal services. Pin Mail have been running their own version since July.

The meeting in Berlin on Thursday will focus on rolling out the idea across Germany, and initially target small and medium-sized companies. The online service is in direct competition with Deutsche Post, and electronically sends bills, contract correspondence and so on to letter portals where they will be printed and delivered regionally. In theory this allows them to reduce transport costs and deliver nationwide within 24 hours. Assuming everything goes smoothly then the model will presumably be opened to domestic customers.

Germany doesn’t have our UK laws preventing direct competition with the Royal Mail, and this has enabled private companies to challenge a state monopoly with all of its inherent advantages of incumbency and infrastructure. A system like this would be a good business model to try in the UK as well as being very welcome here in Gibraltar – where to send a letter quickly to the UK it is often worth your while popping across the border and posting it in Spain.