Martins comment,,

[Mr Rush]

The end goal is surely to separate parcels from letters completely. This would allow RM to focus on growing their market share in the market that is actually growing. So just get on with that.

Dedicated parcel routes in all DO's. Tracked, SDs and anything that doesn't fit through a letter box goes out with a driver.
Without having to piss about with packets it makes delivering letters much quicker and imo easier. You could make some pretty big duties that you just eb and flow between one day to the next.

Would save allot of prep time as well.

None of this needs to be rocket science.

A great idea

If you want to shed tens of thousands of jobs that is

A great arguement.

If only tens of thousands hadn't left already. DOs are revolving doors now so it's not like you're really defending people's livelihoods - they can and do (rather promptly) go elsewhere to make a living.

Much as I'd like to return to walking and working off the pouch boxes in peace, I have no doubt splitting the operation would just even more rapidly run the job into the ground with ever longer duties. Personally, I think once over the ground is more the problem. My fantasy:

• rapid tie-down, deliver the letters and whatever packets are already in the unit for the first delivery (shorter than it is now, so reduced fatigue).
• return to unit for break (fatigue reduction)
• by which time the majority of packets have arrived and been sorted by crew on the indoor shift (a means of reducing fatigue)
• the packets and any new first class go out on the second - driver handles the large stuff, walker fills a bag with the small packets and the few letters (as already proposed to reduce fatigue)

For those that say the company isn't going to add more deliveries when they want to reduce them, well they're talking about reinstating removed duties, reinstating nightshifts, putting walkers on bicycles... why not bring back the second delivery?

[A2B]

A2B you should probably educate yourself on why RM are torpedoing letter delivery. It's nothing to do with it being unprofitable.

Why don't you educate me and everyone else?

[SkiSunday]

A2B you should probably educate yourself on why RM are torpedoing letter delivery. It's nothing to do with it being unprofitable.

Why don't you educate me and everyone else?

It's quite f***ing obvious if you look at what has happened to this job over the last 5 years is it not?

[A2B]

A2B you should probably educate yourself on why RM are torpedoing letter delivery. It's nothing to do with it being unprofitable.

Why don't you educate me and everyone else?

It's quite f***ing obvious if you look at what has happened to this job over the last 5 years is it not?

Obviously it's not obvious, educate us

[SkiSunday]

A2B you should probably educate yourself on why RM are torpedoing letter delivery. It's nothing to do with it being unprofitable.

Why don't you educate me and everyone else?

It's quite f***ing obvious if you look at what has happened to this job over the last 5 years is it not?

Obviously it's not obvious, educate us

[SMS1969]

I work in one of the pilot offices and it's an absolute unmitigated disaster.
When Ofcom allowed changes to the USO, there should have been a gradual evolution but they have turned the place upside down and after 2 months nothing is getting better, it's getting worse every day.
It's no good telling them, our line managers are like Hitler's SS men, they only obey orders and those higher up deny that the ship is sinking and are running around making changes onboard when everyone with eyes to see can see that the vessel is doomed.
As soon as that backpay comes though, I'm off, I was going to retire early in the new year, get another Xmas bonus, stamps and three paid public holidays.
But I can't stand this mess, I don't want to be part of it so that's it for me. There won't be any VRs either. people are already falling over themselves to get out.
Good luck to anyone who stays at RM beyond September.

A great post, sorry it’s so bad but you’ve let us know what the coal face is going through- we all know it’s going to be bad but to hear the actual damage is preparing us all for the fallout.

[A2B]

A2B you should probably educate yourself on why RM are torpedoing letter delivery. It's nothing to do with it being unprofitable.

Why don't you educate me and everyone else?

It's quite f***ing obvious if you look at what has happened to this job over the last 5 years is it not?

Obviously it's not obvious, educate us

I take it that's a no then?

[SkiSunday]

A2B you should probably educate yourself on why RM are torpedoing letter delivery. It's nothing to do with it being unprofitable.

Why don't you educate me and everyone else?

It's quite f***ing obvious if you look at what has happened to this job over the last 5 years is it not?

Obviously it's not obvious, educate us

I take it that's a no then?

Lol

[postslippete]

No competition for delivering mail, yet I suspect that RM are making a fortune out of it at the moment.

There's no competition because there's next to no profit in delivering letters.

The perception that letters make next to no profit is exactly what RM has spent years conditioning everyone to believe. But it’s not that letters are unprofitable, it’s that they are simply less profitable than parcels. RM has wanted to reform the USO for as long as I can remember, but they’ve never once said that they want to abandon letter delivery altogether because they still carry significant value. In 2023–24, Ofcom reported that Royal Mail made £3.7 billion in letter revenue and that’s still 40–45% of RM's total revenue. No business is going to voluntarily walk away from nearly half of its income when it is still bringing in billions!

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/res ... 384016&utm


I'm not sure where Ofcom have got their figures that USO reforms could save the company £250-500 million a year, but small efficiencies on deliveries can make substantial returns. I'm sure RM has already saved millions by chronically understaffing offices for the last 4 years. And has anyone actually worked out how much RM might be saving by having 17,000 new recruits on inferior pay, terms and cons working in the business instead of 17,000 legacy workers?? It has already marked a significant shift towards a two-tier workforce that the CWU are trying to reverse and by my calculations it would probably be saving the business over £100 million a year, if it wasn't for the high attrition rate - 25% leave within 90 days according to the CWU. For legacy staff who see themselves staying with Royal Mail (some are!), the two-tier issue is far more important than any short-term pay rise because if it is not properly addressed now then it will define the future of the workforce. And not in a good way.

And whilst the USO pilots might be a mess at the moment, lets not forget what happened when Single Daily Delivery was introduced in 2003. That change led to over 33,000 job losses, and within three years, Royal Mail was reportedly making over £2 million profit per day, reversing its daily losses of £1 million. By the time RM posted a record £537 million profit, a large chunk of that came directly from those cuts and efficiencies. Of course, we are delivering fewer letters than ever, but parcel volumes are actually not far off pandemic levels. Reduced mail delivery days and an explosion of parcels = big profits.

I honestly don't think the long-term aim is to kill off letter delivery entirely but push it far enough into the background that it no longer defines the business like it was. Whether that’s survivable for the average postie is anyone's guess.

[Mr Rush]

I honestly don't think the long-term aim is to kill off letter delivery entirely but push it far enough into the background that it no longer defines the business like it was.

Dan's entire ethos is buying up businesses that conventional wisdom has declared fully squozen but which he thinks have some drops left in them that the EP juicer can liberate. More oblique than the head-on analysis of buying RM to turn it into Evri, Gordon Gekko on the used car lot may think the letters side can still pass a few more MOTs with the right tuning. Nonetheless, David Cameron never did implement that happiness metric as an alternative to GDP, so it'll come down to whatever makes the most money.

[norris9]

Not sure how you can give letters a boost.... but I sure as heck don't understand why people still get the amount of letters they do, that is a mystery to me.

The amount of houses on my round that have letters daily is crazy to me. Not just 1 letter, but 3 - 7 letters daily. What information do people need that often and in that amount.

[clashcityrocker]

Dan's entire ethos is buying up businesses that conventional wisdom has declared fully squozen but which he thinks have some drops left in them that the EP juicer can liberate.

How old is that quote?
While it may have had some relevance when he was buying up power companies, how does it relate to any of his subsequent investments?
Sainsbury's, Casino, Footlocker, Le Monde, Macy's, Metro AG or West Ham?

[SkiSunday]

Dan's entire ethos is buying up businesses that conventional wisdom has declared fully squozen but which he thinks have some drops left in them that the EP juicer can liberate.

How old is that quote?
While it may have had some relevance when he was buying up power companies, how does it relate to any of his subsequent investments?
Sainsbury's, Casino, Footlocker, Le Monde, Macy's, Metro AG or West Ham?

It's Danny's M.O. why do you think he's a multi billionaire? These people don't accumulate that type of wealth by being upstanding ethical members of the human race lol.

[TopperGas]

Not sure how you can give letters a boost.... but I sure as heck don't understand why people still get the amount of letters they do, that is a mystery to me.

The amount of houses on my round that have letters daily is crazy to me. Not just 1 letter, but 3 - 7 letters daily. What information do people need that often and in that amount.

when you hand it to them they usually don't want it any way, just a pity the mail service doesn't operate a scheme similar to TPS for phone calls where you can block any mail unless you've agreed the companies can write to you with sales magazines etc.

[SpacePhoenix]

when you hand it to them they usually don't want it any way, just a pity the mail service doesn't operate a scheme similar to TPS for phone calls where you can block any mail unless you've agreed the companies can write to you with sales magazines etc.

That would probably be illegal due to the USO