very interesting article seems to pretty well much support everything said on here, give it a read -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------On my last visit to the the UK (I live most of the year in France), I had lunch with Steve Lawson, editor for Hellmail the European postal news site, to ask him whether he felt the forthcoming review of postal services could deliver a plan to sort out the messy business known as postal deregulation.
Lawson was once a college lecturer and his stature lends itself rather well to the 'sloppy joe' look. His interests are extraordinarily wide-ranging. Comedy writer, VW fanatic, photographer, artist and journalist, Lawson has a massive appetite not just for bread pudding, but life.
"Steve, there seems to be a great deal of frustration felt by postal workers that they are not being allowed to provide the service that customers demand because Royal Mail is being forced to work to such tight financial restraints and the business is now only concentrating on areas that are profitable."
Lawson:
"The discussion as to whether Royal Mail is a service or a business has never actually been resolved. Instead it has been forced to adopt a target scheme, a benchmark that has shifted goalposts enormously since deregulation started. No one seemed able to decide how important early deliveries were either and with nothing concrete in the target criteria, Royal Mail was able to push deliveries back so late, business is often unable to respond and guarantee return post the next day."
I asked him if he felt this was directly the result of management used to a wholly commercial setting, and a government trying to force a postal service to modernise and become competitive.
"I would say so. To my mind, the word 'modernise' is a dangerous term anyway and implies that things will be better by default. I see little evidence of that. Chairman of Royal Mail Allan Leighton, has the commercial expertise, notably with ASDA, but that doesn't quite compare to postal services. Even his grand plan to talk to 'his people' via giant plasma screens seems to have fallen by the wayside since the postal strikes last year. I don't think he'd had much experience of a unionised workforce. It was an expensive gamble that wasn't too well received. As far as I know, they're not even used now. Lot of money behind that idea too."
"The trouble is, theory is one thing, but what we have now is a delivery service that is very poor in terms of time-keeping, and increasingly being provided by part-timers that Royal Mail seems to be finding difficult to vet. The image of casual workers hasn't changed in some 40 years and the newspapers seem awash with stories of part-time postal workers caught with bedrooms full of postal sacks after discovering just what the job entailed. This must be even more frustrating for its marketing department trying to boost Royal Mail's image. Its also frustrating for me too. I know Royal Mail is more than capable of delivering a top service but the framework no longer encourages that." he said.
Both Lawson and I talk to many postal workers including delivery office managers. Few full-time posts become vacant or are offered now and local budgets are so strict, opportunity for overtime has all but vanished. That means that the 'old school' of Royal Mail employees are simply returning to delivery offices when they run out of time. With the 'job and finish' culture removed, with it went good-will, apparently to the detriment of the service provided.
Delivering post can be back-breaking work too and with few posties equipped with powered trollies, even limiting the weight of postal bags (pouches) fails to take the sting out of it. Once you get to the delivery end, the commercial model evaporates. Extending walks in an effort to reduce the head-count has merely compounded the problem and deliveries now extend throughout the day, to the frustration of business which needs its post early.
Lawson went on:
"Customers are completely fed up with sound bites based on how well Royal Mail is performing when in reality, its a late and unpredictable service. The only thing that seems to live up to expectations is collections, but even those have been trimmed down. I do see the commercial reality that Royal Mail faces but I'm not convinced that postal services can be improved by the introduction of competition any way, or at least not in a way that will actually benefit customers."
Hellmail listens to many people inside and outside the business. It includes domestic customers, business customers, Citizens Advice, the old Postwatch, MPs, postal workers including those that have since left the business as well as independent consultants, and the same criticisms seem to prevail.
Hellmail was established by customers concerned that their needs were being sidelined. On that basis little has changed. Lawson still passionately believes that the country needs a punctual and reliable service alongside a localised banking service (an extended post office card account if you will) and all monitored by a strong consumer body to maintain high standards. If anything, he sees his role as more important than ever:
"We're a voice and I think thats important." he said. "We've tried to focus far more on Europe as a whole since last year. You can't look at UK postal services in isolation anymore. What one country does effects another now." he said. "Look at the Dutch and the Germans - it kicked up a real row over rates of pay."
I pointed out that Hellmail had occasionally come in for criticism too.
"Oh sure. I'm not too bothered by that. If it gets people discussing these issues then great. Controversy is no bad thing. The problem with all the bodies involved in postal deregulation is that they're all too frightened to speak up but quick to blame each other. Hellmail kicks up the dust constantly and I see that as a positive thing. Talk about it, shout about it. We can't afford to lose our postal service."
Chief Executive Adam Crozier went on record last year, saying that domestic customers were not Royal Mail customers and many inside the business say that as a result, the professionalism has gone out of the job. Crozier's remark reflected a massive shift in emphasis brought on by the 'postal liberalisation' agenda and now no one seems interested in domestic post. Later deliveries are forcing customers to rely on email more than ever and increasingly allowing rivals to beat Royal Mail on delivery times.
Competition in this context seems to be to make the service so bad that customers end up using the competition just to ensure items arrive at a reasonable hour. I don't see that as progress at all. The removal of Postwatch which at least provided regional support, seems to be almost part of a gagging excercise.
I asked Lawson whether he felt the abolition of Postwatch was a good thing:
"Postwatch actually did a great job but it was frustrated by lack of power to veto decisions and the push by Postcomm to stimulate competition by forcing Royal Mail's operating costs down. Again, the theory may have been sound but the plan has basically come to nothing and Royal Mail has become a shadow of what it once was - from the customers viewpoint. All thats really happened is that bulk mailers have saved money and the money spread around Europe. Most customers have actually lost out."
"It all depends on just how much power the new Consumer Focus can yeild. It could just prove to be a noisier but equally weak consumer body. We've yet to see how the new complaints procedures will work too. It seems to be based on a principle of imposing fines on operators that don't respond and deal with complaints, but policing that will be a nightmare."
And the forthcoming review of postal services?
"Ah the review yes. Chances are, it may just give us more of the same. Its worrying enough to see Mandelson brought in. It just convinces the electorate that things are not just bad, but really bad. This credit crunch won't help matters. Without money, I suspect that any changes will just centre on more regulation not less."
And what did he think would happen to the Post Office Card Account?
"Who knows. If Post Office Ltd loses it, the network will shrink even faster than this last wave of closures. With banks not as secure as people believed them to be, theres a big argument for expanding the role of post offices. For a lot of people, they just want a place locally that they can put their money and it be guaranteed. Shrinkage of the post office network will take that away. One things for sure, if the Post Office has actually lost the Card Account, the government will delay the annoucement until after the Glenrothes byelection, so if it goes quiet this month, I think we can draw our own conclusions. They might announce it this month, but it could influence voters and I doubt they'll risk that." he said.
I declined the offer of bread pudding to follow as I had a long journey ahead of me but I was pleased to catch up with Steve and I rather enjoyed that breakfast. It is also encouraging to know that he sees Hellmail as an important as I do and that we both agree the any forthcoming decisions on the future of postal services in the UK are likely to be crucial ones.
© Hellmail.co.uk (13 October 2008)
"why should it just be the bankers, politicians and the idle rich who get all the best things ? we demand a standard of living for our members that enables them to share in the fine wines and times that the likes of Cameron and his Eton buddies take for granted " - the late great Bob Crow RIP.
- also RM has gone less professional - shock , horror !