Signed-for deliveries under threat in Royal Mail shake-up and the end of a Saturday letter deliveries

[POSTMAN]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/s ... li=BBoPWjQ

Royal Mail is weighing plans to axe signed-for parcels under a sweeping review that could also signal the end of a Saturday letter deliveries as its new boss takes the battle to Amazon.

Simon Thompson, a former executive at Ocado and Apple, has launched a review of Royal Mail’s “whole product suite and offering”, The Telegraph has learned.

The six-month review will look at customer demand for tracked, signed-for and special deliveries.

Culling signed-for services will require a change to the law. The review keeps all options open with a final decision set to be made next year.

Keith Williams, Royal Mail chairman, has already suggested that Saturday deliveries could be axed as the postal monopoly battles with the terminal decline of letters - a change that would also require changes to legislation and support from Westminster MPs.

Letter volumes have fallen by almost a fifth compared with pre-pandemic figures two years ago, Royal Mail announced on Wednesday.

Ofcom, the postal regulator, has researched demand for a Saturday letters service. It found that the public would not suffer if deliveries were cut to five days a week. The move could save Royal Mail an estimated £225m.

Part of Mr Thompson’s review is understood to include an extension nationwide of a trial to deliver parcels on Sunday. A pilot was launched earlier this year to deliver parcels seven days a week - a first in the company’s 500-year history.

The likes of Amazon, Hermes and DPD have stolen market share from Royal Mail in recent years as more people shop online.

Royal Mail’s efforts to change were hampered by a series of rows with its powerful trade union the CWU during that time. Tensions between union bosses and the company’s senior management played a key role in the surprise departure of German chief executive Rico Back in spring last year.

Mr Williams, however, subsequently struck a deal with the unions to introduce greater automation and invest in large sorting offices to keep up with the demand for parcels.

Royal Mail’s turnaround in fortunes has been a significant boon for Daniel Kretinsky, the media-shy billionaire investor dubbed the “Czech sphinx”. Mr Kretinsky began stakebuilding in Royal Mail 18 months ago and is now the company’s biggest shareholder.

Royal Mail shares have surged since Mr Back’s exit, netting Mr Kretinsky a hundreds of millions of pounds of paper profit on his investment. The company has reclaimed its spot on the FTSE 100.

Shares closed at 516.2p, down 2.7pc, valuing the company at almost £5.2bn.

There were 2bn addressed letters posted between April and June this year, Royal Mail said on Wednesday as its bosses prepared for its annual shareholder meeting.

Although higher than the 1.6bn mark noted this time last year when Britain was in the grip of the first lockdown, it is 18pc lower than the number two years ago.

Royal Mail revenue was 12pc higher compared with the same quarter last year. Parcel volumes decreased 13pc, however, compared with a surge in the first three months of the pandemic last year.

[2yearpostie]

This crap again? We all know culling the Saturday service dont work as our trial showed last year.

[POSTMAN]

The six-month review will look at customer demand for tracked, signed-for and special deliveries.

None of this makes sense, to me anyway.

[POSTMAN]

This crap again? We all know culling the Saturday service dont work as our trial showed last year.

What trial?

[2yearpostie]

This crap again? We all know culling the Saturday service dont work as our trial showed last year.

What trial?

Was it Last summer we were told to only take our packets and oversized on a Saturday and leave the mail, then prep the mail in when we got back, we did it for around 5 weeks i think, Upshot was it took the same amount of time as taking the mail as well.

[POSTMAN]

This crap again? We all know culling the Saturday service dont work as our trial showed last year.

What trial?

Was it Last summer we were told to only take our packets and oversized on a Saturday and leave the mail, then prep the mail in when we got back, we did it for around 5 weeks i think, Upshot was it took the same amount of time as taking the mail as well.

Genuinely don't remember that.
And I know for a fact if my office did that, we would piss the day as that is easy as s**t.
Would have thought most offices as well.

Edit: Found the thread about it, still can't rem much lol...
viewtopic.php?f=71&t=95730

[Woody Guthrie]

And I know for a fact if my office did that, we would piss the day as that is easy as s**t.

One guy taking the parcels for two duties when the parcels were through the roof was the idea but it never really panned out because it was all voluntary and nobody wanted to have Saturday off just to get creamed on the Monday with two days mail and all Monday's parcels.

Would be a different ball game this time I suspect.

[Rommagic]

Different ball game as less parcels because no lockdown and they save the money and deliver letters on a Monday.

[Rommagic]

How many jobs? 10,000 or more?.

[2yearpostie]

Surely the union hasn't agreed to job losses in 'the way forward plan' for this to happen?

[SpacePhoenix]

I can't see signed-for being done away with as we'd loose customers.

[Woody Guthrie]

Surely the union hasn't agreed to job losses in 'the way forward plan' for this to happen?

The union has overseen countless thousands of job losses in the past 10 years.
As long as they're voluntary apparently they don't count.

[Grumpyoldmailman]

Upshot was it took the same amount of time as taking the mail as well.

It didn’t up here, if u finished later than 11 you were doing something wrong.

[clashcityrocker]

I can't see signed-for being done away with as we'd lose customers.

Why?
To who?

[Grumpyoldmailman]

I can't see signed-for being done away with as we'd loose customers.

It’s an outdated practice, a gps scan and a photo if required is all that’s needed. Our PDA’s will never be handed over to a member of the public again.