SPEED OF DOCUMENT DELIVERY OVERSEAS: A COMPARATIVE SURVEY OF AIRSTREAM AND MULTIMAIL, FEBRUARY—APRIL 1987

In February 1986 the British Library Document Supply Centre (BLDSC) carried out a survey to monitor the speed of document delivery by the Post Office's airmail service and shortly afterwards, in an attempt to improve on the times recorded, started to use TNT's bulk‐mailing service, Multimail. Multimail's performance was monitored in July 1986 and found to be inferior to that of the Post Office. In the meantime the Post Office had introduced the bulk‐mailing service, Airstream, and in February—April 1987, as part of the constant search for a cost‐effective method of despatch, BLDSC monitored the two services simultaneously in order to assess their current levels of performance.