50% parcel increase

[TopperGas]

But therein lies both the conundrum and the solution.

Unfortunately, there are clear incentives for EP Group not to be transparent about its parcel profitability. If margins are presented as tight then it becomes far easier for RM to maintain a two-tier workforce and argue for a further watering down of the USO.

Greater transparency would raise uncomfortable questions about where the pressure is really coming from and why it continues to be passed onto staff rather than addressed at strategic level. If there is no real profit being made in parcels then why has the business literally spent billions on parcel automation, parcel hubs and parcel lockers in the first place?

I don’t disagree that there might be strategic reasons for EP wishing to be opaque with such figures. I also think your earlier analysis was insightful and on-the-money in many respects.

As I say, I think the solution is within the conundrum you set out — a business with a big enough marketshare can make large profits even on tiny margins, especially when you have a network that is already delivering to that exact street, road or house. RM’s “reach” enables it, in theory at least, to have the tightest-density parcel routes (and thus greater driver productivity and business profitability) of any other competitor, Amazon, DPD, Evri, etc, etc. Not sure I’ve articulated that particularly well but hopefully you see what I mean.2

The problem is EVRi etc are apparently paying their staff just 30p per delivered parcel, with RM anything up to a £1 for just attempted deliveries and also running costs of the vans on top.

[Smoothbackground]

The problem is EVRi etc are apparently paying their staff just 30p per delivered parcel, with RM anything up to a £1 for just attempted deliveries and also running costs of the vans on top.

Yes, it is a wider problem and one that needs addressing pronto by those in power. And not just to create a level playing field for RM and its competitors — It is only with the security and comparative comfort of a permanent job with RM that you realise how bad things are for people in the gig economy.

I may well be wrong, and if so I stand to be corrected, but I think the 30p figure bandied about is what the self-employed “lifestyle courier” actually makes (ie profit) once they’ve paid all their outgoings (road tax, insurances, fuel, motor vehicle maintenance costs, mobile data, work equipment, etc, etc).