DM26 - Is it working?

[Thommo44]

'
Give it enough time and I reckon letter delivery will eventually be once a week, unless a very expensive premium is paid. I saw a TV program once where instead of letters being delivered, people had to collect them from what iirc was a post office, maybe something like that will happen long term.'

Considering post offices are closing down left, right and centre I highly doubt people are going to go to post offices to pick up mail. In big population centres it would also be ridiculous, unfeasible and unrealistic for people queuing up for access to their post. Even alternative places to pick up your mail simply wouldn't have the capacity, infrastructure or security to accommodate this.

You are correct that in the long term Royal Mail will aim for a higher premium to be paid for postal delivery. Letters are covered by special delivery 1pm items at present with a premium fee but there is also a trend with small packets that used to be defined as letters to be tracked as well. Long term Royal Mail will want more letters with a tracked service so they can charge a more premium fee. This may mean that first class for example becomes a tracked item but Off com would have to authorise this.

Essentially what will happen is mail will continue to decline and there will be further reduction on mail delivery days. There will not be a place where you pick your mail up because of what I outlined earlier. Junk Mail/Dss mail is still a huge revenue earner for businesses. Sending a letter accrues more business than most forms of advertising so it will not die as quickly as people are expecting.

In terms of letters being modernised it may be that letters are digitised and every person has a digital account where they can be accessed from home. But the idea of a physical place where you pick up mail is not going to happen. If this was the case you might as well just have people turn up the depot every day for their post. In fact that is what is happening throughout the country anyway

They could do something similar to parcel lockers, letters on a carousel like a vending machine, with the option for delivery at a premium

[reddevils]

That is just not practical whatsoever. There is still too much mail for that to be even considered a remote possibility. Loading it would be a logistical nightmare. Imagine loading a locker/carousel with mail in the pouring rain. I don't fancy the survival rate of the letters. It would have to be an indoors but it is still a ludicrous situation that is not realistic.
Mail would have to decline by a significant margin, were talking in the region of 70-80 percent but even then I do not think the idea could ever be entertained. Plus if mail does decline by that margin letters will have became a premium product that will be delivered with the parcels.

[scotchy1962]

In 1995 i lived and worked in Canada, it was a small town about the size of where i live here. All letters and parcels were delivered to a locker system and a P739 type card left in the locker to collect any parcel.
I know things have ramped up since then in terms of parcels, but they had a locker system working over 30yrs ago.
So it is feasible.

[reddevils]

Yes you are talking about a small town not big population centres.
You know, the areas where most people actually live!
Just like DM26 may work in a small office in the middle of nowhere It is when you meet the big population centres where it all goes tits up.
Replicating something that works in one area does not guarantee success in another.

[WalkerX]

We’re trialing it and it’s an absolute f***ing s**t show. There’s an ulterior motive to all of this. I’m certain.

Yes, it’s to pi55 enough legacy contracts off so they leave.

Exactly this. "Hostile Environment"

[WalkerX]

We’re trialing it and it’s an absolute f***ing s**t show. There’s an ulterior motive to all of this. I’m certain.

It's a stealth attack on the USO

They'll go back to OFCOM and say, look, we tried, and it hasn't worked; time to remove the USO and reduce the letters business, or dump it

They wouldn`t need to spend all this money on this long drawn out subterfuge if they just gave VR to everyone that wants it. One hit. Recoup later down the line.

[Mr Rush]

They wouldn`t need to spend all this money on this long drawn out subterfuge if they just gave VR to everyone that wants it. One hit. Recoup later down the line.

They'd rather be a Scooby Doo villain in a bed sheet scaring people off than give VR to anyone who isn't a manager.

[scotchy1962]

Yes you are talking about a small town not big population centres.
You know, the areas where most people actually live!
Just like DM26 may work in a small office in the middle of nowhere It is when you meet the big population centres where it all goes tits up.
Replicating something that works in one area does not guarantee success in another.

It was used everywhere, in the bigger populations they just broke it down into smaller areas.
It is probably the only way forward with the letters business or certainly most of the letters.
No solution for the parcels and i fancy nobody has a real answer for them.

[Delbhoy]

Yes you are talking about a small town not big population centres.
You know, the areas where most people actually live!
Just like DM26 may work in a small office in the middle of nowhere It is when you meet the big population centres where it all goes tits up.
Replicating something that works in one area does not guarantee success in another.

It was used everywhere, in the bigger populations they just broke it down into smaller areas.
It is probably the only way forward with the letters business or certainly most of the letters.
No solution for the parcels and i fancy nobody has a real answer for them.

seen that when out visiting. the bottom of the flats were post boxes with flat numbers on them post was in/out in minutes.

[yubin282]

Where a trial office, but haven't actually started working in pods yet.

Mail has started arriving segregated 1st and 2nd class (when the MC bothers to sort it at all)

We get to vote on "innovative duty patterns" (but really its only 1 pattern, that none of us want)

We don't have enough drivers and too many non-drivers (give us VR please)

Both Rep and sub-Rep looking for other jobs, its gonna be great.

[SpacePhoenix]

Where a trial office, but haven't actually started working in pods yet.

Mail has started arriving segregated 1st and 2nd class (when the MC bothers to sort it at all)

We get to vote on "innovative duty patterns" (but really its only 1 pattern, that none of us want)

We don't have enough drivers and too many non-drivers (give us VR please)

Both Rep and sub-Rep looking for other jobs, its gonna be great.

We've been sending the 1C and 2C manual letters and flats in separate trays to both DOs and other MCs for a few months now. We've recently started sending T24 and T48 letters and flats in separate trays as well. For the mech the 1C and 2C gets run together, whatever gets released by the DTS gets Walk Sequenced (Wave 1) or Walk Sorted (Wave 2). Anything that is released by the DTS is due for delivery.

[yubin282]

Yes i know, but when the MC doesn't bother to sort the mail by machine and just crash sorts it into DO's.

Then 2nd class mail ends up in the frame that could stay at the MC/machine for another day or 2.

I had 4 2nd class letters (sorted loose from the IPS) for the same address. So they're getting a 1st class service for 2nd class prices.

[SpacePhoenix]

Yes i know, but when the MC doesn't bother to sort the mail by machine and just crash sorts it into DO's.

Then 2nd class mail ends up in the frame that could stay at the MC/machine for another day or 2.

I had 4 2nd class letters (sorted loose from the IPS) for the same address. So they're getting a 1st class service for 2nd class prices.

Does it have two orange barcodes on it?

[yubin282]

Yes i know, but when the MC doesn't bother to sort the mail by machine and just crash sorts it into DO's.

Then 2nd class mail ends up in the frame that could stay at the MC/machine for another day or 2.

I had 4 2nd class letters (sorted loose from the IPS) for the same address. So they're getting a 1st class service for 2nd class prices.

No idea to be honest,
Does it have two orange barcodes on it?

[yubin282]

Yes i know, but when the MC doesn't bother to sort the mail by machine and just crash sorts it into DO's.

Then 2nd class mail ends up in the frame that could stay at the MC/machine for another day or 2.

I had 4 2nd class letters (sorted loose from the IPS) for the same address. So they're getting a 1st class service for 2nd class prices.

No idea to be honest,
Does it have two orange barcodes on it?