Is the decline real ?

[hero22]

For years we have heard the losing a million a day story, mail is in fatal decline, USO is unsustainable and now we have Union Leadership telling us accept the changes or else!!!

It may well be true but how ? It seems most Posties across the UK have unsustainable rounds, parcels are always “through the roof” and mail always seems plentiful at least where we are. Maybe not Ist class but the amount of other mail i deliver daily always seems to stay pretty level. Before Covid my van share partner used to complain daily if parcels where 50 a day and we ended up leaving stuff. Now the same duties are separate vans as daily we take out between 120 to 200 parcels each. (Partner has since left).

The point is how does a company that has seen parcels quadruple , mass amounts of new builds go up across the Nation adding hundreds of thousands of new delivery points along with customers collects etc still be declining? And why are those that work the hardest expected to kill themselves even more for what’s really a wage cut ?( not those roles that go for nature walks u see on the Robin app all backpatting each other)

Seems the Union have decided its us who need to save the company but maybe someone can explain why we all need to have 3-4 managers in an office of 50 people or why they need to recieve such extortionate bonuses? Why are we always being fed the doomsday scenario? Maybe Martin can explain it.

[clashcityrocker]

The business model always relied upon the profitable work cross subsidising the unprofitable work.
The profitable work has dried up due to the internet leaving an unsustainable business.

A lot of parcels doesn't mean a lot of profit.

[hero22]

So the decline in 1st class mail has been so severe that the mass increase of parcels and the increase in new builds hasn’t been enough to sustain a profit ? Whats the profit for example on a delivered bank statement ?

Not saying your wrong, just have listened to so much scare mongering and have always wondered a out some of the issues i have stated. Seems nuts if a company is declining so rapidly to jeep hiring vans on a mass scale, hiring agency workers that cost far more and sustaining a bloated management structure

[britwrit]

The business model always relied upon the profitable work cross subsidising the unprofitable work.
The profitable work has dried up due to the internet leaving an unsustainable business.

A lot of parcels doesn't mean a lot of profit.

Amazon probably also distorts the market. Next day delivery isn't "free" like they claim with Prime but it's certainly a lot less than I'd pay otherwise.

[Wullie10]

Two points. RM was one of the hardest hit by the NI increase in Reeves first budget. The ageing workforce have high level of sickness ( Understandably). Not all the reasons obviously but two important issues.

[Delbhoy]

royal mail has got to start looking elsewhere for savings because the frontline workforce has nothing left to give. as hero22 says why is the company top-heavy in management not just in d.o,s all the ones in head office needs to be looked at. in my previous job once they squeezed the shop floor dry they went for middle management then worked up heard they saved a few bob.

[BenacreNick]

No.

[SpacePhoenix]

royal mail has got to start looking elsewhere for savings because the frontline workforce has nothing left to give. as hero22 says why is the company top-heavy in management not just in d.o,s all the ones in head office needs to be looked at. in my previous job once they squeezed the shop floor dry they went for middle management then worked up heard they saved a few bob.

They could make ALL managers in both MCs AND DOs into Team Leaders, just whatever the leadership allowance is on top of normal pay. Multiplied by however managers there are and that would be quite a bit of savings.

[britwrit]

royal mail has got to start looking elsewhere for savings because the frontline workforce has nothing left to give. as hero22 says why is the company top-heavy in management not just in d.o,s all the ones in head office needs to be looked at. in my previous job once they squeezed the shop floor dry they went for middle management then worked up heard they saved a few bob.

They could make ALL managers in both MCs AND DOs into Team Leaders, just whatever the leadership allowance is on top of normal pay. Multiplied by however managers there are and that would be quite a bit of savings.

Like with mine, I suspect a lot of sections in a MC pretty much run themselves. There's a core group of staff who've been there forever, they know what to do and get on with it. Maybe there's one or two people delegated to direct staff here or there but they're not even acting managers.

[taurus88]

The letters always made up the bulk of the revenue, though, and the idea that they were unprofitable was never entirely true. Some rounds in our office now get fewer items of mail in a week than they did in a day when I first started, and those rounds are all 50%+ bigger than they were back then.

[Splappy_McSplap]

Back in the day there were some deliveries where 5-6 bundles were guaranteed for a certain bag on a certain job.

Nowadays If I have more than one bundle for a given loop it's a heavy day.

However, also back then we had parcel drivers to take any big packets and one bag at a bag frame was sufficient for the entire delivery's packets...and tracked packets didn't even exist back then.

These days I have per round more tracked packets than the entire division had 10 years ago.

[funkflex55]

It's a game loads of companies play with their staff. Syphon off millions, lie about profits and tell the workers that the company is doing badly and that there maybe job losses or that they have to do more to help the company.

In some cases the staff can indeed do a bit more not that I'm saying they should have to. However, it's been said a few times, in this company, the frontline is already past maximum workload or close to it. Especially considering the very physical nature of the job.

So I fully expect this new delivery to method to absolute bollocks in loads of offices. 4 people cannot do the work, so maybe 3 can. Wtf

[Smoothbackground]

The only decline here is the supposedly declining profit, no? Not sure how though given our expansive network reach and the fact we’re delivering next door anyway. Profits must surely be through the roof? The volume of tracked certainly is! Two walks’ worth of packets at my gaff is now a standard 120 items each side even on a quiet day, roughly 240 items if you’re doing both sides — which I am — and that’s without specials, boxes, first class mail, CCs etc. It’s becoming more and more like my previous job with Amazon.

[toonshola]

The way the business and the union talk about declining mail volumes you would think we just trot out with a couple of dozen letters each day. This is not the case. There is still a torrent of absolutely unnecessary junk s**t that comes through the network every day, in the year of 2026 in the AI digital age it’s still quite shocking at the amount of physical paper mail we have to deliver and that’s before even thinking about the unaddressed door to door crap.
No question there has been some decline in mail in the last 15 years but enough for 3 posties to cover 4 deliveries? Or for us to care for the elderly as we walk round like Ward has fever dreams about? Not a chance.

[Mr Rush]

For years we have heard the losing a million a day story

A million a day is basically a stock phrase. It's easier to count the times we haven't. Note the datestamp...

The mail boss pointed out that the group was now both profitable and meeting its quality targets compared with as little as seven years ago, when it was losing more than £1m a day.

These days I have per round more tracked packets than the entire division had 10 years ago.

That's about right. We had a walkout in 2017 and management were able to get all the Tracked and Specials done. I think that was the last time that was possible. That must be around the same time they stopped putting the round purple stickers on them.