Rivals waiting to pick up the parcels if RM can't deliver

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Rivals waiting to pick up the parcels if Royal Mail can't deliver

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009 ... ike-rivals" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

With a 24-hour strike set to upset mail deliveries in London on Wednesday, the union strife that continues to dog the Royal Mail management could benefit rivals targeting lucrative parts of its business such as internet deliveries.

The stoppage in the capital is the latest in a series of skirmishes across the country organised by members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) in its ongoing dispute with the management over pay, jobs and services.

Postal workers in East Anglia and parts of Scotland walked out today. The baton will be passed to colleagues in Stoke-on-Trent tomorrow, before reaching the capital on Wednesday. The union has also announced plans to ballot members for a national strike next month, threatening the worst disruption to mail deliveries for two years.

Industrial action at a national level could prove a major setback for Royal Mail Group's chief executive, Adam Crozier, who is battling to push through change at the group which turns over £10bn and employs 180,000 staff.

Competition from email and other carriers means Royal Mail is already handling 10m fewer letters a day than three years ago. But that has been mitigated by the success of its parcel delivery operation which has been boosted by the growth in internet shopping. UK shoppers spent an estimated £22.9bn online in the first six months of 2009, according to trade body IMRG, with the internet seen as the main driver of growth in the retail sector.

The localised nature of strike action to date means limited delays for Royal Mail's business customers, but if the whole network were to go down later this year it could have a serious impact on retailers who rely on it to deliver goods, particularly at Christmas.

"The reason businesses like mine exist is because of previous Royal Mail stoppages," said Brian Gaunt, chief executive of parcel carrier Home Delivery Network (HDN), which competes with the likes of Parcelnet and Rentokil's City Link for the volume not taken by the Royal Mail or its Parcelforce division. HDN includes the logistics arms of the Littlewoods and GUS home shopping businesses, merged under the ownership of the Barclay brothers.

HDN, which delivers goods for store groups such as Argos and Tesco, is also going through a painful modernisation. It has closed 11 sites and shed 600 staff, with the 6,500 remaining employees warned the restructuring is not yet complete. Around 35% of HDN's business still comes from associated brands such as Littlewoods and Kays, but it is reducing its dependence with recent contract wins such as Sainsbury's.

Gaunt said a national strike would open a window of opportunity for HDN. "Clients use the Royal Mail because it is cheap," he said. "Last May a customer left taking a contract for 40% of its business and placed it with the Royal Mail, but it was put back in the parcels sector in January after they were disappointed with the service over Christmas."

HDN is also involved in another venture that threatens the Royal Mail. It has invested in a joint venture with PayPoint to create an alternative network to the Post Office called Collect+. which aims to use 22,000 corner shops around the country. A trial is running in 1,200 shops and there are plans to reach 5,000 stores by December.

IMRG estimates 10% of parcels fail to reach the customer on the first attempt. Collect+ addresses this by allowing customers to designate their local shop as the delivery address. It is also being extended so individuals can post items through the network, with eBay traders seen as key customers.

The CWU has been emboldened by the government's decision to back down over legislation that would have seen reform pushed through at the Royal Mail and a 30% stake sold to the private sector. The dialogue with management is once again confrontational. "Royal Mail management is trying to crush the British postal service," said CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward. "This is just downsizing, there's nothing modern about it."

Royal Mail said the CWU has failed to engage in talks over its pay and modernisation plans: "It beggars belief that the Communication Workers Union would call on members to vote for a national strike which would damage customer confidence and undermine the entire UK postal industry."

[flaminmoses]

most of these companies have pickup points in strange areas out of the way.
when peope are not home to recieve their deliveries and they have to find out where to go to pick up their parcels they will think again about using the internet site.

from personal experience its a right pain.

also royal mail are shooting themselves and us in the foot by not opening all collection offices for reasonable hours

my local one shuts at 1pm which is a joke

sort it out you muppets

[k979aaa]

Yep all the rivals will pick them up and DUMP them into ROYALMAILS system as they all do already!.

[POSTMAN]

HDN, which delivers goods for store groups such as Argos and Tesco, is also going through a painful modernisation. It has closed 11 sites and shed 600 staff, with the 6,500 remaining employees warned the restructuring is not yet complete.

Oh,so we were right regarding what RM thinks modernisation means,everyones's at it.

[poopongjockmcploop]

qvc, amazon, lovefilm. Once they go what are we going to deliver? Pizza flyers?

[DGP1]

qvc, amazon, lovefilm. Once they go what are we going to deliver? Pizza flyers?

In answer to your question QVC, Amazon and Lovefilm because those 'rival' companies will just take those items and push them into the RM network.

PS. Amazon did go off to a rival company a while ago but came back for some reason