Rivals deliver new blow to Royal Mail

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 19 Oct 2008, 03:24

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/bu ... 4606587.jp

PRIVATE postal companies are rapidly gaining ground on the Royal Mail in Scotland, with one firm tripling its business since the start of the year.

Figures to be released on Friday by TNT Post UK, the British subsidiary of the Dutch postal giant, will show private operators have seized a large slice of the business delivery market over the past 12 months as more firms move away from the Royal Mail.

TNT Post will reveal it has tripled its business clients in Scotland to 300 since January.

It has also doubled the number of letters and packages it carries north of the border from 4.5m to nine million in the past 12 months.

The company says its services are proving particularly popular among Scotland's army of small and medium-sized businesses which are looking to trim their costs.

The figures will make grim reading for the Royal Mail, which has faced mounting competition from firms such as TNT Post and DX since the UK postal market was liberalised in 2006. It posted a loss of £279m in May.

The Government has commissioned an independent review from Richard Hooper into the future of the UK postal market. It could be published as early as this month. Private postal companies, including TNT Post, are urging the Government to break up the market further amid claims the Royal Mail still maintains a monopoly in certain areas.

TNT Post says it wants to launch a nationwide "end-to-end" service, where it will handle post at every stage, from pick up to delivery, but it is currently prevented from doing so because of unfair barriers in certain parts of the market.

Most private operators still pay the Royal Mail to deliver mail over the "final mile".

Nick Wells, chief executive of TNT Post, said: "Competition in the postal market is delivering benefits but we can do more if we have the right regulatory environment and a level playing field."

In particular, private operators are pressuring the Government to end the Royal Mail's VAT exemption, which they say excludes them from accessing 40% of the business mail market. They say organisations such as charities and banks, which cannot reclaim VAT, are automatically beyond their reach because of the different VAT rules for the Royal Mail, and private operators.

But the Hooper review is likely to lead to a clash between the private sector and unions if it adopts Postcomm's controversial recommendation earlier this year to privatise Royal Mail.

There are particular concerns over what will happen to the operator's gaping pensions black hole, which is expected to have widened to £5bn amid the recent market turmoil, if private investors are allowed to take equity stakes in the company.

It has been suggested that private investors will not have to take on liability for the pensions deficit in order to encourage interest in the struggling group.

Post by **Lounge Lizard** » 19 Oct 2008, 06:19

No doubt 'Scotlamd on Sunday' with the lazyness that is all too common in journalism now just reprinted a press release TNT had kindly sent them. Sadly few readers scanning through the story will notice that it refers to "business clients" only, they won't realise that TNT is only picking up the easier business in Scotland that it had already got south of the border, and they won't get round to thinking that TNT have no wish to take on the 'fianl mile' to residences in the highlands and islands let alone in Glasgow or Edinburgh.

johno47 · Post by **johno47** » 19 Oct 2008, 10:55

On this level playing field that TNT want, i wonder if they will then start delivering to the many rural out of the way places that we do..

not me · Post by **not me** » 19 Oct 2008, 11:17

its great,we lose all these customers
then we will lose our VAT status
then we will lose more
we will still deliver to them all but make less money

heapsy · Post by **heapsy** » 21 Oct 2008, 17:49

johno47 wrote:On this level playing field that TNT want, i wonder if they will then start delivering to the many rural out of the way places that we do..

Don't be silly, that will never happen.

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 21 Oct 2008, 17:59

heapsy wrote:
johno47 wrote:On this level playing field that TNT want, i wonder if they will then start delivering to the many rural out of the way places that we do..
Don't be silly, that will never happen.

TNT, UK MAIL et al can't even deliver the bloody mail to the correct mailcenter meny time's i have recived mail stamped mail recived out of course condition 9 access!.

Post by **plodsie** » 22 Oct 2008, 00:01

Somewhere the connection has been lost that the more RM lose, the worst the service will become, the more expensive the postage will become, the less post offices there will be. Once RM do go bust as seems likely if things remain the way they are then TNT have 2 choices: Either bugger off and leave the UK postal service in absolute chaos, or offer to buy or lease RM buildings and their staff and charge whatever the hell they want, to keep costs down they will probably not bother delivering to any homes either, if you want your post you come and get it, unless you are a business customer who will receive 1 delivery a day. TNT post will then become a private monopoly who will try and sell the least profitable parts to other smaller franchises. There will be no post-offices either with only once red pillar boxes that are now orange for you to drop the mail in that is emptied once a day. There will also be no return to sender without paying for the privilege. If you want to send a parcel you will have to drop it off at the depot with a credit card or cash (the correct amount, no change will be given). If you have underpaid the postage there will be no surcharge, your item will be destroyed or opened to check for cash which will go to the government. There will be no universal service, only a dutch company running the British postal service. It's Mandy's dream, it's our nightmare.

heapsy · Post by **heapsy** » 22 Oct 2008, 20:00

k979aaa wrote:
heapsy wrote:
johno47 wrote:On this level playing field that TNT want, i wonder if they will then start delivering to the many rural out of the way places that we do..
Don't be silly, that will never happen.
TNT, UK MAIL et al can't even deliver the bloody mail to the correct mailcenter meny time's i have recived mail stamped mail recived out of course condition 9 access!.

Ahh, so thats what that message means...

seen that on a few items in our office. You learn something every day ya know

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 22 Oct 2008, 21:02

heapsy wrote:
k979aaa wrote:
heapsy wrote:
johno47 wrote:On this level playing field that TNT want, i wonder if they will then start delivering to the many rural out of the way places that we do..
Don't be silly, that will never happen.
TNT, UK MAIL et al can't even deliver the bloody mail to the correct mailcenter meny time's i have recived mail stamped mail recived out of course condition 9 access!.
Ahh, so thats what that message means... seen that on a few items in our office. You learn something every day ya know

The thing is do the public or the company's that send the mail out to these CHARLATAN'S ( T.N.T , UK MAIL, DHL, ) et al. It is time we told it like it is and it anit pretty infact it is SH*TTY. :lfo :cfo :mfo