Martin Walsh has provided an update 24/3.

[needadvice]

What exactly do you think they are doing - building the business up and diversifying because the letter business had run its course. The unit cost of delivering letters is not coming down (going up with everything else including wages) and the revenue from letters are down because the volumes have been dropping for decades.

They have been gradually not making enough on letters for decades but it might have gone into Red; parcels are subsidising the whole business but even those will reach optimum.

It is a hard business to run and manage as it is, then add intransigent workforce and an archaic Union...

The status quo of pre-privatisation cannot be returned to; even then the profit was not mega compared to the revenue.

Who will buy such an handicap of a business and who will run it without wanting mega mega salary and bonuses? The government certainly will not want to run it but they need a good and (profitable) postal service as a going concern - it is in the national interest!

Royal mail can just sit tight - continue the executive actions and watch the CWU implode and lose members or given the boot off the shop floor.

Strikes - so what? We have had those and unless they call for many days or a full week - it will not achieve much and a lot might not even take part.

RM should call their bluff and impose a pay deal from next financial year!

Just to make a point regarding your first couple of paragraphs concerning letters.

RM still makes 40% of earnings/profits from letters

Thompson I believe stated this & yet still bemoaned this fact in the courier recently.

And 40% earnings through letters is massive, everyone knows it. I would understand if the figure was around 20% but 40% is a big business in itself

[nikrad]

So you’re telling me that the uk won’t have a postal service going forward! If we enter admin government will have to step in as they did with the banking sector yes terms might become unfavourable but we would still have to be paid minimum wage! So we could end up worse off but talk of hundreds of thousands on the dole is frankly scaremongering.

[redlen]

Who said anything about hundreds of thousands on the dole??

[nikrad]

Maybe I miss read previous posts. If so I apologise the point I’m trying to make is that the uk will still need a universal postal service whatever shape that takes.

[redlen]

And that might not be Royal Mail as a brand name

That is why the Postal Services Act changed the definition and holder of the USO to Postal Operator

Daniel Kretinsky scares the hell out of me as the majority shareholder just waiting to pounce.
And he has the money to back it up

[postieblueshirt]

And that might not be Royal Mail as a brand name

That is why the Postal Services Act changed the definition and holder of the USO to Postal Operator

Daniel Kretinsky scares the hell out of me as the majority shareholder just waiting to pounce.
And he has the money to back it up

I get the thought of kretinsky scaring people but.....is he known as a bad business owner? Does he take much to do with the running of the businesses he owns? Does anyone know anything about him? Or is it the fact he's secretive and doesn't appear in the media often? I mean who owns us now who's on this board? Nobody knows....

[datasaint]

And 40% earnings through letters is massive, everyone knows it. I would understand if the figure was around 20% but 40% is a big business in itself

40% of revenue may come from letters, but what is the actual profit on that?

I would guess not a lot, especially when most rural deliveries will be loss making.

If you consider half of the cost of revenue goes towards paying staff, that takes that figure to 20%, then other costs associated with fuel/maintenance/vehicles/uniform you're probably looking at a 10% profit.

With ever declining letters it's obvious it's only going one way and that's to obsolescence.

[redlen]

The majority of letter traffic now is DSA so not covered under the USO as they have specific dates to be delivered

[needadvice]

And 40% earnings through letters is massive, everyone knows it. I would understand if the figure was around 20% but 40% is a big business in itself

40% of revenue may come from letters, but what is the actual profit on that?

I would guess not a lot, especially when most rural deliveries will be loss making.

If you consider half of the cost of revenue goes towards paying staff, that takes that figure to 20%, then other costs associated with fuel/maintenance/vehicles/uniform you're probably looking at a 10% profit.

With ever declining letters it's obvious it's only going one way and that's to obsolescence.

How about we talk about the future competition of parcels and the new couriers that will appear in the next 5 years. At least with letters, we have zero competition

[Moose67]

Got to my third delivery point this morning 09-00 Amazon had already been I think the powers that be are missing a trick

[redlen]

You have hit the nail on the head and dont know how Royal Mail has gotten away with it for so long. Probably because there is no competition. If I were British Telecom/British Gas would be up in arms

The law states you cannot have a state monopoly provider of a service and remain that monopoly provider post privatization.

British Telecom had to separate with Open Reach and British Gas with Transco

An option for the government is to open its delivery and distribution network with deliveries and logistics and have their own employees on Royal Mail premises. That will provide direct competition and no need for added property costs. They could also share the USO. You see the Local Post Office in W H Smith as an example or in your local TESCO .

[A2B]

Got to my third delivery point this morning 09-00 Amazon had already been I think the powers that be are missing a trick

And my Amazon deliveries have started arriving after 9pm which has resulted in me cancelling Prime.

[sweepster70]

You really have to look at privatisation royal mail 1516 to 2013 and was privatised 2013 says it all does it not!

The problem isn't privatisation perse, the problem is what is now a privatised company being held back from operating in an efficient and profitable manner and not being allowed to provide a relevant product for the customer.

A company being held back by a self serving union that wants to retain a pointless, anachronistic and inefficient 'public service' in the form of the 6 day letters USO which requires a bloated workforce to deliver an increasingly irrelevant 'public service'

The union are not acting in the best interests of their membership, all the union are interested in is RM remaining as personnel heavy as possible so there's no reduction in income from union membership subs.

What are you talking about? The USO was part of the deal for privatisation, set out by the government. If there was no USO there would be quite a few people who wouldn't receive anything as the not so bloated other private companies have no will to deliver to everywhere in the United Kingdom as it would be far too expensive and eat into their profits.
If it wasn't for the collectiveness of the membership and the CWU as our representatives, we would be another Amazon, Evri, Dpd etc, already.
You only have to look at Royal Mail's intended direction and it is not good. Walk through the new hub in Warrington and you will see the majority of people are from poorer foreign countries, just like all the gig economy employers, where the employees are on minimum wage with very poor t and c's. That's where we're headed if Royal Mail have their way.

[redlen]

Not looking for a fight but

We all know Royal Mail is understaffed to a point it is collapsing.

Instead of demonizing agency workers why does the CWU not fight to get them contracts and alleviate the pressure? They can increase the CWU membership that way as well

[sweepster70]

Not looking for a fight but

We all know Royal Mail is understaffed to a point it is collapsing.

Instead of demonizing agency workers why does the CWU not fight to get them contracts and alleviate the pressure? They can increase the CWU membership that way as well

With the new contracts and t and c's being offered, Royal Mail will be just another company and the turnover very high.
I believe the average person changes jobs every 4-5 years now. If they come up against a bullying line manager, they would just move on even quicker. Would that employee want to join a union?