The UK's Royal Mail service is undergoing a lot of changes, but a proposal to pull away cost controls on commercial bulk mailing services is getting some resistance from the Direct Marketing Association.

In a statement, the DMA said a raise in commercial rates could make the channel vulnerable in the future, particularly since companies that send customers their bills or statements through the mail have already seen a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in their mailing costs.

"Granting a monopoly the ability to raise its prices without adequate safeguards is very dangerous and could drive more and more businesses away from mail, which is concerning as mail volumes are already declining year-on-year," said Mike Lordan, chief of operations for the DMA.

However, there are also bright spots in the Royal Mail story, as Russell Parsons pointed out in an article for MarketingWeek. The postal service announced in November that it had made significant progress in overhauling its finances. Following a £55 million loss in the six months preceding September 30, 2010, the organization was able to pull in £177 million in profit over the same period this year, Parsons noted.