How to save Royal Mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how ... royal-mail

Blessed postmen
I’m struck by parallels between the Church of England and Royal Mail. Both institutions are embedded in our social fabric yet strangely reluctant to play that role in modern Britain. Both have leaders who communicate no coherent vision. Neither seems to value their key workers, whether parish priests or posties. And both are fading in significance, having failed to consolidate the opportunity of the pandemic when their role might have become all the more central.

But if the Church is currently quiescent, it’s all kicking off at Royal Mail. After the Communication Workers Union voted for strike action, management retorted with a threat to split off GLS, the profitable international parcels business, from the troublesome domestic universal-delivery service which is driving losses of £1 million a day after a period in which productivity has ‘gone backwards’, according to chief executive Simon Thompson, amid worsening labour relations. Local service cutbacks, like parish church closures, must follow.

To which my man in the sorting office with a big trolley says: ‘This is what happens when you forget your core business… All the energy went into GLS while successive managements hoped [domestic] Royal Mail would muddle through, old-fashioned and unloved. Compare Deutsche Post DHL, a privatised jewel of German industry and a technology leader as well as a vital national service. In Germany, the dominant union is a partner in the business. In Royal Mail, managers and unions despise each other – and there’s a history of management greed over bonuses that makes matters worse.’

But can Royal Mail ever be turned around, I ask my source, or is the future all about gig-economy white-van men with dodgy satnavs? Oh yes, he says passionately, ‘If you can restore pride, be clear about what you do – connecting every house and business every day – and have the humility to realise it’s all about postmen and women, not management structures, it can be done!’ I’ve told him he ought to be a bishop.

[roadrunner bill]

Save royal mail... what bullshit.... they been saying the same nonsense for the last 25 years....

No one believes them any more..

Royal mail are making s**t loads of profit.. for millionaire arse holes...