Mail competition is 'no benefit'

[POSTMAN]

The whole shabang wasn't broke and they tried to fecking fix it,what a farce!!!!

[Big Daz]

to establish how best to create the incentives for Royal Mail to modernise its operation, providing a stable financial future".



Well paid workforce?

[k979aaa]

From the BBC news site
'Stable future'
The core problem for the Royal Mail is that while it has lost business in the lucrative bulk mail collection and sorting market, it still has to uphold the universal mail delivery service, which struggles to make a profit.
Looking towards the final report, the panel said it needed "to establish how best to create the incentives for Royal Mail to modernise its operation, providing a stable financial future".
Mail industry analyst David Stubbs said that one possible solution would be other firms taking over delivery work in the more remote parts of the UK, and being paid a subsidy to do so.

so how would subsidizing other people to deliver it make it any better?

At one time we the post office use to subsidze the uk government is now not the time for the uk govenment to subsidze the royalmail!. THAT'S COMPETITION FOR YOU!.

[johno47]

Absolutely amazing, the goverment commission a report to tell them something that we all knew in the first place would happen, why didnt they commission this report before they allowed competition to enter the business, all the problems that we have got now are because of the business being opened up to competition and the fact that as Postman says they are trying to fix something that wasnt broke, these sort of things really do p**s me off, goverment panders all the time to big business, and they tell us that these two numnuts :cfo and :lfo are worth the money they pay them, why, have they built the business up from scratch, NO, they are just slash and burn merchants trying to earn their fat bonuses off our backs, nothing but a pair of leaches.

[apple]

spend most of my time these days just shaking my head in amazement

[Big Daz]

From the review document


Royal Mail forecasts that, in 2009‐10, there will be 446 million items
of mail handled end‐to‐end by alternative carriers, rising to 4.4 billion
items by 2016‐17.

Postcomm’s estimate is more modest: 200 million items by 2009‐10,
compared with 35 million in 2006‐721.

Labour Relations
66. Any business facing such significant changes as Royal Mail needs effective
engagement with the unions. In its submission to the panel, the
Communications Workers Union recognised the need for Royal Mail to
modernise its operations and improve efficiency. It also acknowledged
that the necessary changes would entail a significant reduction in jobs,
while making a strong case for maintaining employees’ terms and
conditions of service.
67. There is evidence to show that industrial action can accelerate a decline
in the postal market. Over the past decade, disputes between Royal
Mail’s management and the Communication Workers Union have had a
major impact on the company’s ability to implement change and make
progress in transforming the business. In 1996, the total number of
employee days spent in dispute was 818,612. There were 84,664 in 2003
and 314,626 in 2007.
68. Industrial action in recent years has promoted discussion about the
reliability and cost of postal services to boardroom level in major
companies. There is evidence to suggest that some companies using the
postal service for transactions and advertising have since decided to use
other media on a permanent basis.

[BELIAL]

Well facts is facts ,but did anyone catch Huttons slightly sinister comment on the review," this highlights why we need to push ahead with a radical transformation of RM"(para)
Never let it be said facts or common sense stood in the way of the fly boys raiding the piggy bank. They listen so carefully but still pick your pocket

[Big Daz]

Radical?

Does that mean we will no longer collect,sort and deliver mail?

[heapsy]

Nothing in the report posted above surprises me really. The whole thing was akin to taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut, me thinks.

[DGP1]

66. Any business facing such significant changes as Royal Mail needs effective
engagement with the unions. In its submission to the panel, the
Communications Workers Union recognised the need for Royal Mail to
modernise its operations and improve efficiency. It also acknowledged
that the necessary changes would entail a significant reduction in jobs,
while making a strong case for maintaining employees’ terms and
conditions of service.

Why should the union go along with the managements view/proposals, my office is falling apart because we don't have enough people to deliver the mail all because the union just blindly follows whatever their Labour masters say

[BELIAL]

Radical?

Does that mean we will no longer collect,sort and deliver mail?

Not sure, think we will but probably on a franchise basis ,paying fees to TNT ,UK mail ,Business post,etc.
It's a bugger ain't it those cables and pipes don't need a roof over their heads, don't raise families and never need to eat, ain't we useless?

[BELIAL]

66. Any business facing such significant changes as Royal Mail needs effective
engagement with the unions. In its submission to the panel, the
Communications Workers Union recognised the need for Royal Mail to
modernise its operations and improve efficiency. It also acknowledged
that the necessary changes would entail a significant reduction in jobs,
while making a strong case for maintaining employees’ terms and
conditions of service.

Why should the union go along with the managements view/proposals, my office is falling apart because we don't have enough people to deliver the mail all because the union just blindly follows whatever their Labour masters say

Think they might have achieved effective engagement with the union, it's just the workforce that are out of the loop

[F0zziebear]

Firstly come clown from the Telecoms sector headed this report and claims that the postal market is and will go through the same process. No it won't. Having been on the other side it is financially unworkable to enter a declining / stagnant market at best. Remember these companies are based elsewhere in Europe and their own markets are being threatened. They are better off investing in devleoping markets in the Far East and India. The only possible threat I see is coming from America, possibly with FedEx owning Uk Mail (but they currently have no E2E ambitions).

The VAT issue is an interesting one, though again any barriers being removed in the Uk will have to be applied across Europe which shoots TNT & DHL in the foot.

I could have saved the government millions on this report along with the rest of you by pointing out the blindingly obvious. Sometimes you have to make yourself busy otherwise some time and motion study merchant from a consultancy may unearth that you're not doing very much.

F0zz

[britwrit]

Gordon has to call an election by May 2010. With Labour just suffering its worst mid-term elections in 40 years, common sense would indicate that the government isn't going to do anything rash. Surely, with Iraq and the 10p fiasco and the continuing uproar over post office closures, a wise man would let this report moulder until 2011 or so.

So basically it's privatization FULL STEAM AHEAD!...

[Big Daz]

Came across the following on the BBC comments section for this story

Added: Tuesday, 6 May, 2008, 16:28 GMT 17:28 UK

Has anyone seen a commemorative stamp on mail, apart from at Christmas, for several years? I never get any - so why does Royal Mail issue over 12 sets a year each with 6-10 stamps in and with several commemorative sheets and booklets. Is this to make money from stamp collectors?
As a philatelist I have given up collecting UK as they are now regarded internationally as "rogue", i.e. stamps not really for postage but are to boost revenue for the postal adminstration. Bad for Britain surely?

Simon Hall, London SE


Profit before service yet again due to the crazy set up of a open market!