How to return Royal Mail to its world-leading glory days

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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SIR – I was appalled, but not surprised, to read that Royal Mail staff have boasted of their "Spanish practices" on the internet (report, September 13).

Royal Mail was once the world's leading innovator in communications. Initially providing government deliveries under Henry VII, it was launched to the public in 1635 and introduced the first adhesive postage stamp in 1840. In the same year, its Uniform Penny Post established the universal service obligation that, to this day, ensures that a letter can be delivered anyone in Britain at the same price.

Royal Mail's practices were copied across the planet. Yet the firm has been hamstrung in the post-war period by primitive, union-led working practices which ensure that it is far less efficient than its overseas equivalents. The pointless introduction of a second-class service created unnecessary work for the organisation, as letters have to be separated and deliberately delayed. Its sorting offices are massively overstaffed and large numbers of jobs could be replaced by machines. Out on the street, the average British postman delivers 97,993 letters a year, compared with 108,810 in Sweden, 128,049 in France, and 184,119 in Australia.

Lord Mandelson's seemingly aborted attempt to part-privatise the Royal Mail was nearly the solution, but his desire to sell it to a foreign rival, such as TNT, is unappealing. Far better would be a Thatcher-style share sell-off to the public – which would surely be a good way to inject some excitement into the stock market, which those of us without gold-plated public sector pensions have to rely upon.

Then, with a new management team dedicated to efficiency, the thousands of troublemakers and energy vampires on the payroll would be swiftly replaced with those who want to work.

Jane Taylor
Newcastle

[TrueBlueTerrier]

and in a Union meeting I asked why we did the Union not attack these articles as it puts us in a bad light and here is the evidence.

Come on Union stick up for us when such blatant lies and propaganda are told. I must just send a strongly worded letter off to the Telegraph now.

[keo]

I noticed in this Torygraph article the picture which proves though that not much has changed within the postal system set up since 1929.......... There are 5 managers watching 1 guy loading the plane

[steven100]

To return Royal Mail to its glory days must extend the walks, take away all the workers conditions, pay pitences to them and give out large bonuses to our HARD WORKING MANAGERS, this will bring back the glory days.

[mailsort6]

To tell you the truth I am fed-up of the media going about these 'spanish practices', I am sure other companies use the term motivation. If a postie works in an office and the manager wants the work to be cleared as quickly as possible some managers would allow posties to change their breaks, take their breaks at the end of their duty and so on. I have been at RM for nearly 30 years and I can remember managers saying to posties decades ago ""your time is your own ", (some old school managers might still be like this?) This meant get the job done qucikly within time and make sure the office is completely cleared then you can go (does any one else remember this?). The way the new managers are nowadays there is no motivation and they fail to realise that it is the posties that have a wealth of experience. The older managers know this they usually leave the posties alone to get on with the job because the know that the job will get done (which means they will get no grief from their senior managers), but these new managers (with less than 10 year experience) they just bully and harass us posties and tell us to change the way we work and really mess things up and this is why some of them get total grief from their senior managers. Some of them need to sit down and talk to the older managers and get some lessons on how to motivate your staff and how to show dignity and respect to your staff. I am not a management hater but there are some older managers out there that do know their job and I have the most respect for these type of managers the bully and harassing type I have no time for and if they disrepect me, I am going to disrepect them because I am not putting up with this type of behaviour from no one at work.

[tailfly12]

Well said mailsort6.

[Phantom]

98k letters per year??? try a bit harder love, like 300k+ per year! Some people just pull the figures out of their arses!!! Utter shite

[deltaforce]

Royal mail employs 68000 staff on actual delivering letter. Thats 75 million per day devide by 68000 staff = roughly 1100 item per day x 6 days per week x 52 weeks per year. I make that 343000 items per delivery postperson per year.Makes us top of the class.

[DGP1]

I deliver about 1500 pieces of mail per day so by her reckoning I should stop after about 11 weeks but the numbers are open to abuse eg. counting every person who works for RM (including all those managers who seem to do nothing other than break strikes) and using RMs own counting figures.

[dongash]

WHAT MORE CAN YOU EXPECT FROM THE TELEGRAPH? I WORKED FOR THE NHS FOR 10 YEARS AND THE LAST 20 YEARS+ FOR ROYAL MAIL AND I AM STILL A LAZY BASTARD!!! I GUESS YOU JUST CAN'T WIN ,CAN YOU? I HAVEN'T FIDDLED MY EXPENSES ETC, BUT I AM STILL POND LIFE! WHERE HAVE I GONE WRONG? :cfo :cfo :cfo :cfo :cfo :cfo

[k979aaa]

WHAT MORE CAN YOU EXPECT FROM THE TELEGRAPH? I WORKED FOR THE NHS FOR 10 YEARS AND THE LAST 20 YEARS+ FOR ROYAL MAIL AND I AM STILL A LAZY BASTARD!!! I GUESS YOU JUST CAN'T WIN ,CAN YOU? I HAVEN'T FIDDLED MY EXPENSES ETC, BUT I AM STILL POND LIFE! WHERE HAVE I GONE WRONG? :cfo :cfo :cfo :cfo :cfo :cfo

Guess you don't shake hands with the elite and the movers and shakers :mfo and corrupt and decadent of our sad high society!.

[ade@cambs]

Spanish practices....and what about the managers who come in and do one hours work on the computer because thats all they have and spend the rest of the time playing games. Or wait for the delivery staff to go out and then have their daily pool tournament.

[k979aaa]

Board meeting and five pounds of Semtex oh and invite NEW LABOUR and the whole cabinet as well as lord :mfo !.

[opgpat]

98,000 letters per year? WTF? That's LESS than one letter per house per day. Total bollocks.