Sell-Off Would Spell Death Knell For Royal Mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.hellmail.co.uk/postalnews/te ... 8&zoneid=3

09 September 2008 by Mark White - © Hellmail.co.uk

Next month will see the release of a new report which will assess the impact of postal liberalisation in the UK. It is widely being speculated that it could see the beginning of the sale of Royal Mail to private companies in an effort to establish more secure funding for the Universal Service

Steve Lawson, editor for Hellmail said:

"I'm sure any such plans will be described as 'partner arrangements'. Its become a ridiculous buzz-word and is rather inappropriately being used to sum up the loss to Royal Mail's revenue through downstream access, where rivals are able to snap up key contracts and at the same time use Royal Mail's delivery structure at a greatly reduced cost."

"There is of course the reality of a declining postal market, but both Postcomm and the government have struggled to find any real way foward on deregulation other than in bulk mail delivery and many critics argue that deregulation was introduced far too soon in the UK, and at a time when Royal Mail was in no way ready for such radical reforms. The Royal Mail pension deficit still looms like a dark cloud over the company, the result of a 13 year pension holiday by this and the previous Conservative government." he said.

With Royal Mail likely to report a continuation of losses on the Universal Service Obligation and another fall in mail volume as well as a reduction in door-to-door mail as pressure on the economy continues, the government will be desperate to find a solution for a rapidly shrinking postal service. Already some 2,500 post offices are to close, deliveries now reduced to one a day and still talk of more cuts and restructuring to Royal Mail's sorting network in order to reflect its falling share in the UK postal market.

"Royal Mail might still have a monopoly on postal provision in Britain, but how much of that is now profitable, particularly when Royal Mail is being left to pick up the cost of the USO? Its also rather easy to keep pushing Royal Mail to come up with new ideas and be 'innovative' but few if any have a clue as to what form that innovation should take. At the end of the day, Royal Mail delivers mail. There are only so many ways you can repackage that service. The company has already introduced online postage, and is pushing hard to promote the effectiveness of advertising by mail, but for domestic postal users, all this 'competition' has brought fewer post office counters, longer queues, fewer deliveries, later deliveries, and the prospect of selling off chunks of a service that most people used to be so proud of."

"Yes Royal Mail has to move with the times but even modernisation takes a while to implement and at the moment it seems to be lagging way behind the decline in the letters market as a whole. If and when it's full modernisation plan is finally realised, it will probably be far too late. Whatever decision is reached this Autumn, I hope it does not leave the country with the bill for the pension and the expensive parts of delivery, and the lucrative areas sold to large European operators. It would be a total disaster and the demise of a service that had worldwide respect." he said.

Selling Royal Mail under the guise of 'partnerships' would be an acknowledgment that both the postal regulator and government had run out of ideas and would also effectively herald the death-knell of the Royal Mail as we once knew it.

The fact that baseline services have been significantly scaled down since deregulation gives little encouragement that things would be any better if it were part-privatised. Again, the only winners would be bulk mailers. A once great postal service that we all owned, sold to the highest bidder.

© Hellmail.co.uk - Postal Industry News

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[TrueBlueTerrier]

Wow - have Hellmail really changed their core views on Royal Mail as they seem to be agreeing with the Union and workforce in more and more of their articles. It is certainly in my humble opinion a more balanced site than it was last year.

[pinstripe]

Wow - have Hellmail really changed their core views on Royal Mail as they seem to be agreeing with the Union and workforce in more and more of their articles. It is certainly in my humble opinion a more balanced site than it was last year.

Maybe they have had a tiff with Al & Adam. Or perhaps they will find more people to disagree with taking up the fight on the right side. I agree it is a total turn-a-round from last year.

[Night Tonic]

I wouldn't say its balanced TBT. if it was it would include RM's view on things and stuff about progress and free markets though to be fair to Hellmail it has never liked the idea of privatisation as an 'instant cure'.

[dvbuk55]

"Selling Royal Mail under the guise of 'partnerships' would be an acknowledgment that both the postal regulator and government had run out of ideas and would also effectively herald the death-knell of the Royal Mail as we once knew it"

The death knell started a long time ago, the service has been in decline since we started a five day week. New ideas are pulled out of the hat without any idea of the long term consequences. Strategies are trialled and implemented with or without union participation and the workforce are expected to pick up the pieces of disjointed exercises, usually in mediocrity.

The latest idea I've heard is "The Loop" - more apt than you may think - two men per van sharing a larger delivery and delivering parcels and specials within that given area - at face value it sounds OK, no more waiting for bags, no necessity for bag drops, no more using cars, toilet facilities,working up to your time etc.

Now the practicalities, big day heavy load, joe bloggs wants the docket but his ertswhile driver/passenger doesn't. Joe likes to come in early but his mate has a job getting his arse out of bed. 90 deliveries requires 45 vehicles, twice as many as we have available now. So! Only a partial conversion to the loop then. The workforce then is divided, two people per how many vans is available and the remainder coming in using the car sloping off whenever. There was also the suggestion that the driving/passenger duties be carried out by part timers and that full time officers be "office" bound preparing deliveries, then taking out "bits and bobs", the bloke who mentioned this nugget is a van driving delivery officer with over 20 years seniority and shall we say less than impressed with the plan.

[Big Daz]

So Hellmail like to pass the time of day stating the bleeding obvious?

[Big Daz]

There is no way GB and co are going down the private money in RM route as that means no more cheques from CWU and a complete betrayal of their National Policy Forum delegates who voted for publilcly owned RM Group the other month. This will hopefully be ratified at Labour conference in a couple of weeks. Also the policy proposal was agreed with party and government big wigs so any form of privatasation would be a complete U turn.


By influencing the Hoper review we might be able to stop cameron flogging royal mail to the highest bidder as the offical policy is wait for hooper review outcome before making any decisions.

[Night Tonic]

No way? Really??? You must have insight that no one else has then. RM has already said it would welcome private investment, Postcomm back it (and that means GB will, and with only the CWU to oppose it......

[Big Daz]

Obvisouly I must have!

[dvbuk55]

Obvisouly I must have!

Looks like the "insight" has affected the keyboard as well.

Gordon Brown doesn't give a toss about the CWU nor the cheques, not insignificant to us but chickenfeed to the Labour Party. Gordon Brown will be lucky if he has a seat at the next election let alone a Government. What price then the money that we have given when a Tory sits in the driving seat? The argument for a political fund is well meant and for some uses, practical, but it should not be used to bolster a government that totally ignores those who support it financially.

After the next election I suppose we will be shelling out more "get Labour back into power" money - and the wheel turns! Cynical? I suppose I am but then I've seen it all before.

[Big Daz]

Fair point Dvbuk55 but you overlook one crucial thing

Gb cant just dictate the policy of the Labour Policy, he can do it with government policy as prime minister but not with the Labour party as its leader.

The royal mail/post office policy made at the National Policy Forum along with all the other Policies made, go to labour conference for Ratification.

The following is from the NPF and we will know with 100% certainity within a fortnight if it gets adopted by Labour Conference to form part of its 2010 general manifesto.

Households and businesses in Britain should have access to reliable and high quality postal services underpinned by a strong universal service. We have set out a vision of a wholly publicly-owned, integrated Royal Mail Group in good health, providing customers with an excellent service and its employees with rewarding employment. The Government has established the Hooper Review to look at how the Royal Mail can succeed in a world where electronic and other forms of communication provide increasingly attractive alternatives to the mail and where there is a more competition in postal markets.

The Labour Government has provided significant financial support to the Post Office network. We recognise its contribution to the life of many communities, but also understand that the network, needs to adapt as peoples’ lifestyles change. To help create a network that is more viable for the future the Post Office is undertaking a significant rationalisation of its size. This has involved tough and difficult decisions. For the future the network needs to continue to develop new financial service products and seek out new business opportunities, such as biometric ID management for passports, driving licenses and potentially ID cards.

Labour has encouraged the spread of broadband. In line with the need to ensure continued innovation, the Labour Government will promote universal access to the faster generation of broadband for all citizens.

[BELIAL]

I am a number

[Big Daz]

You may have noticed that there is no flesh to that policy, just a broad policy open to interpretation.

Brown hasnt got the political bolloks for a sell off or anything similar.

[DGP1]

I am a number

I am not a number, I am a free man