The beginning of the end for Royal Mail ?

[Simster]

People use the 118 service?

Only the hard up section of the elderly population I'd imagine. And as grimsby said, the 118 process has completely failed these people.

 

[Stat Brother]

How long before legislation is passed to reduce Royal Mail's universal service obligation so it only has to process and deliver regular mail Monday to Friday ?

That has to be the way we are going.
I'd say at least 80-90% of the year I do 5 days work over 6 days.

Plus I don't think the Union would be able to stop it, irrespective of it being the start of the slippery slope.
I know the 'normal' people in my office would bite managements hand off to work week days and do away with the short term part time contract nonsense.

 

[SeagullSongs]

People use the 118 service?

This. I never saw the point. We have a few directories under the stairs and the internet is even more effective, so why would anyone use 118?

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Fair point, that was a massive f*** up. But I'd assume the cost has exploded because of the internet - there must be nothing like the volume that there once was.

And secondly, wasn't that a decision taken by the government in order to create a new competitive market? Removing the universal service obligation from RM wouldn't be doing anything like that.

The government want to privatise Royal Mail , from their viewpoint they want it to operate in a competitive market which could see the end of USO under the guise of letting Royal Mail compete on a level playing field with the cherry picking opposition.

 

[the wanderbus]

An Ofcom consultation proposes to scrap 1st and 2nd class postage. The regulator believes merging the two will result in a better service. Those wanting next day delivery will have to use special delivery at £5.90 a pop instead of chancing it with a 60p stamp. The present 60p/50p postage options will be replaced by a 53p jobbie which aims to deliver the letter within 2 working days. How long before legislation is passed to reduce Royal Mail's universal service obligation so it only has to process and deliver regular mail Monday to Friday ?

postcom are now the regulator & part of the report from them suggests that people would prefer to be able to pick their undeliverable stuff up in the evening to having a saturday delivery. After a recent conversation with a couple of royal mail directors I know that this would suit them down to the ground as none of the other delivery companies are obliged to deliver on a saturday and they see that as giving their competitors an unfair , due to costs, advantage. As a postman all I can say is RESULT.

 

[Stat Brother]

Not to mention doing away with bikes & the 'new' thing, that we all did anyway, about leaving parcels.

Why 6 units in a 15-20 mile radius when you can have one in the middle.

 

[Stat Brother]

If the Union dug it's heels in over 6 day weeks, it would break.

All things that make RM a better prospect to be privatised.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

postcom are now the regulator & part of the report from them suggests that people would prefer to be able to pick their undeliverable stuff up in the evening to having a saturday delivery. After a recent conversation with a couple of royal mail directors I know that this would suit them down to the ground as none of the other delivery companies are obliged to deliver on a saturday and they see that as giving their competitors an unfair , due to costs, advantage. As a postman all I can say is RESULT.

Postcomm was absorbed into Ofcom last October to reduce the number of quangos riding the gravy train.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Every single time i have ordered from amazon/amazonmarketplace in the last year or so:

If it's a royalmail delivery i receive it

If it's one of their competitors it's misdelivered, not delivered at all or i have to arrange redelivery/collection from somewhere bloody awkward.

Royalmail is not perfect but it is hugely preferable to the alternative

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Complaining about bank statements being put in the communal area, whilst using the internet? Unless you are in an internet cafe, I suggest you change the way you manage your finances.

 

[Arkwright]

Have one rate makes perfect sense with the volumes of post handled by Royal Mail it was be much easier to have one standard type of postage, also make my job easier running a village Post Office.

I was told the other day that Royal Mail have hit target for the last few months with 97% (I'm sure that was the figure) of First Class post being delivered the next day. In general Royal Mail do offer a First Class service.

 

[Stat Brother]

I was told the other day that Royal Mail have hit target for the last few months with 97% (I'm sure that was the figure) of First Class post being delivered the next day. In general Royal Mail do offer a First Class service.

Yep, I'm sure people will know better than me, I don't really pay that much attention to RM as a whole.
But I'm pretty sure are delivery hit rates are always 90+%, which is pretty impressive when you take into account the volume of mail we handle.

 

[Norman Potting]

postcom are now the regulator & part of the report from them suggests that people would prefer to be able to pick their undeliverable stuff up in the evening to having a saturday delivery. After a recent conversation with a couple of royal mail directors I know that this would suit them down to the ground as none of the other delivery companies are obliged to deliver on a saturday and they see that as giving their competitors an unfair , due to costs, advantage. As a postman all I can say is RESULT.

..And no problems in finishing early enough to get to games on a Saturday

 

[element]

RM has the infrastructure to deliver mail the next day to probably 99.99999999999% of addresses in the British Isles, and as posted elsewhere, manages it more than 97% of the time. My query is, why has this 're-organisation' been made a pigs-ear of? If the management and workers all pulled together, I'm sure the organisation could knock spots off all these JCL's, and deliver a service to be proud of, and for the future

 

[Stat Brother]

If the management and workers all pulled together

Absolutely physically impossible.

If you knew the level of 'entitlement' the staff have, you'd know why you are being silly.

Every new proposal that comes in, if it's pro staff it's embraced, if it's pro management it's completely ignored.
I would say the hardest job in the world would be an office manager for RM.

2 people have been sacked in 7 years, from my office, 1 for fraud which took ages and the other for being a front page news paedo now residing in Lewes.
Within that time there have been x amounts of fights, bullying, intimidation, physical and verbal abuse, policy and absentee abuses, going on unchecked. Think 1970's car plants.

The core of the staff are lifers and will not change, because they don't have to.
The managers seem unwilling or unable to move with their own policies, I assume for fear of making waves.

So we are left with an office of staff completely frustrated because they are doing the job as defined, knowing half the office are at home watching Sky Sports News.

Right I'm off to work now, in a job I really enjoy but not as much as I used to.

 

[APACHE]

When the public talk about the service RM offer, they should bear in mind that both Labour and Cons have over the past years driven down the service standards of Royal Mail. Like many other things in the UK the level of service has not been to bring up the new to the benchmark but to drive down the old to the new hence why much of Royal Mail's standards on delivery have been reduced.

 

[drew]

Maybe thats down to the banks sending them standard mail than the Royal mail TBH. If its sensitive it shouldnt be sent standard mail really. And anyway, who gets cheque books these days. Get with the times!

I thought the very same until the other day. I had to withdraw cash from HSBC above my daily limit (I needed cash so couldn't do a transfer over the internet) and went to our branch with my debit card. I was told I would need a cheque! Thought it wasn't that long ago the banks were trying to phase them out.

Bank Statements are delivered first class... as far as I am aware, thats how everyone gets them and everyone has got them.

I have a perfectly good letterbox on my door, the postie just decides to enter the building a dump the mail in easy access for everyone, during tradesmans hours anyone can enter the building, whats to stop them stealing my (and anyone elses in the block) bank statements?

After all, it would be my stupid fault if I didn't dispose of them correctly and they got nicked at the other end of the cycle.

I get them quicker than that online!

As regards your own post, perhaps, as others have said, you should complain to the post office. Presumably if you have a letter box then so do all the others in the block.

 

[Brian Fantana]

RM has the infrastructure to deliver mail the next day to probably 99.99999999999% of addresses in the British Isles, and as posted elsewhere, manages it more than 97% of the time. My query is, why has this 're-organisation' been made a pigs-ear of? If the management and workers all pulled together, I'm sure the organisation could knock spots off all these JCL's, and deliver a service to be proud of, and for the future

Putting aside the point about management and workers pulling together, you have to consider the sheer cost of re-organising and modernising a business of RM's size; especially considering the lack of capital investment that it is has traditionally received from the government.

 

[Hillian1]

All the time Royal Mail continues to be run by inherently institutionalised management it will run at a loss.

Only yesterday I had to deal with two issues that took a large part of my day:

Issue one was a large volume mailing totalling £165,000 which was being held at Woking because ONE of the THIRTY cages of mail was incorrectly marked and Royal Mail were adamant the "rules" were broken, we offered to send up a couple of guy's to put this situation right and were informed this was impossible due to Insurance and Health and Safety, Royal Mail offered to put it right at a cost of £150 but it would take a week. Wankers.

Issue two, which incidentally took longer to deal with, was FOUR extra items of mail Totalling £1.50 found in a sack at Gatwick.

I have to deal with both Royal Mail and the Downstream Access providers daily, it does not surprise me that the companies providing DSA solutions who are Limited companies are much easier to work with, find pro-active solutions to issues and generally have a good level of Customer Service where Royal Mails attitude is "rules is rules mate"

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I hate Royal Mail,

The company that believes it is acceptable for their employees to leave sensitive post (bank statements, chequebooks etc) in the communal area of a block of flats.

Unlike the private company that delivered Roz's passport to an address (with the same house number) three-quarters of a mile away and didn't bother to get a signature to confirm safe delivery.