Sell or Shut!

[Running Man]

Any thoughts on Richard Barker's presentation at yesterday's WTL?
I know that he put it very professionally with phrases such as "selling our way to profit" rather than achieving "profit through cost cutting" but for me the message was much simpler than that.
He may as well have said to us "if you lot don't do a better job selling our financial services this year then you're all out of a job next March".
Have I simplified the message too much are my thoughts similar to other people?
Comments about customers not wanting to buy if they've waited in a big queue or about our staff feeling stressed when faced with a queue all day count for absolutely nothing when they come from our senior managers. These are simply observations that our counter staff and the more observant office managers have been making for at least three years. To suddenly announce this as radical new thinking is an insult to our intelligence and however Richard may flaunt his commitment to sorting out the problem, he readily admits that there is no money to spend on extra manpower at the sharp end.
I am now totally convinced that this is 'The Beginning of The End' for the Crown Office network and the sooner they come clean with the real business plan then the sooner our teams can start to plan for their futures, preferably in a business run by managers who have some idea of how to run a company successfully. This obviously eliminates any part of Royal Mail Group as Royal Mail too are clearly on the road to oblivion.

[billyhayes]

Agree 100%.

The thing that gets me is the middle management visitors we get who either;

A) know they are talking utter crap when they say "conversations at the counter will save us" sort of pep talks

or even worse

B) really BELIEVE that what they are saying above will actually work!

I also feel pity. If any of you have ever read "When The Wind Blows" by Raymond Briggs you may understand this...


W.T.W.B. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post Office Ltd

There is the threat of global thermonuclear war. ----------------------------------------------- There is the threat of a global recession.
Hilda puts the washing on the line, it'll sort itself out. ----------------------------------------- POL managers bury their heads in the sand, it'll sort itself out.
Jim Bloggs paints his windows white, that will help. -------------------------------------------- The Crown Network has a lick of paint, that will help.
The Bomb has hit its target. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The recession hits.
Hilda runs out into the garden to save her washing. -------------------------------------------- Alan Cook runs for the hills to save his payout.
The Bloggs' futile shelter can't save them from Fallout. ---------------------------------------- Cuts of £10million worth of frontline staff and managers is futile.
The Bloggs' start to suffer Radiation Sickness. -------------------------------------------------- Staff sickness goes through the roof.
Their gums begin to bleed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Er.. See above!
Their hair starts falling out. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Staff pull their hair out in frustration.
They s**t and piss blood. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Senior managers don't give a s**t. They think WE are taking the bloody piss!
In the last minutes of life Jim and Hilda turn to the common prayer for comfort. --------- In the last _______ of life, staff are asked to look to the WTL TV for comfort!


It is just a matter of when, people. Prepare yourselves. Protect and Survive!

[The BFO]

It is all rather depressing. But the solution is near at hand – a Conference Call on Friday, where we can ‘ask Richard a question’. I am sure he is a very nice man, and his family no doubt love him, but he appears to me to be completely clueless…

[Mr Love Pants]

It is all rather depressing. But the solution is near at hand – a Conference Call on Friday, where we can ‘ask Richard a question’. I am sure he is a very nice man, and his family no doubt love him, but he appears to me to be completely clueless…

anyone out there in counter land going to ask Dick ( sorry Richard ) a question

[Running Man]

Excellent analogy once again from Billy.
I haven't read the book but it does seem to fit perfectly with the way we run our business presently.
Questions for Richard? I think there will be plenty of good honest questions however I'm not so sure there will be plenty of good honest answers!
I think we have been actively 'managing the decline' since the overtime cuts and most of the temporary contracts were 'sacked' last September and I think we will continue to manage the decline until a large number of Crown Offices (if not all) are closed or converted early next year.
The writing has been on the wall for a long time and Alan Cook has scarpered before his wonderful five year plan comes to nothing. His replacement, David Smith, seems to have done a good job at Parcelforce Worldwide for Royal Mail Group but I think it's far too late for him to salvage anything for the future of Crown Offices.
Every POL senior manager since the David Mills era has noted that, at the end of the day, it is far cheaper to run a sub-office or a franchised office than it can ever be to run a Crown Office and I fear that 2010-2011 is the financial year when this fact finally makes the Crown Office network unsustainable.
Richard's video, I believe, was the first serious attempt by POL at making our people aware of what is likely to happen.

[The BFO]

I think we will continue to manage the decline until a large number of Crown Offices (if not all) are closed or converted early next year.
it is far cheaper to run a sub-office or a franchised office than it can ever be to run a Crown Office and I fear that 2010-2011 is the financial year when this fact finally makes the Crown Office network unsustainable.

I am inclined to agree. The only thing that might save us is who would want to take over our ‘cast offs’? Given that the majority of our customers are poor and do not have the money to spend on our profitable products I am not at all sure either way. Many ex-Crown Offices in this part of the country have been taken over by a succession of organisations who have failed to make them profitable. Which brings us back to where we have been for all of the 34 years I have been in the business: Are we there to provide a service or make a profit? If we are simply to make money, then why do we continue with unprofitable products? The ‘save the business’ line always amuses me. From what? If we are closed, who serves the little old ladies, Green Giro customers etc?

I suppose in the end it will be the politicians and society in general that will decide.

[The BFO]

It is all rather depressing. But the solution is near at hand – a Conference Call on Friday, where we can ‘ask Richard a question’. I am sure he is a very nice man, and his family no doubt love him, but he appears to me to be completely clueless…

anyone out there in counter land going to ask Dick ( sorry Richard ) a question

Richard, given your obvious incompetence, when will you be resigning?

[simjan]

Unless it is very quite we will not have anyone available to take the call, If I hadn't looked on here I would not have been told anything about it.

[counter man]

Our boss told us about it in the WTL on Tuesday and asked one of us if they wanted to sit in....Sadly I had the afternoon off ( and a life outside) or I would have...but I dont think anyone did. Rather sad really but there it is!

[goggins69]

Although our office had a member of staff happy to take part in the conference call our manager decided to take it herself. The content of the call will never be reported back to us accurately

[Running Man]

Totally out of order that your manager made the call!
Today's call was specifically for counter staff to raise THEIR concerns and not for BMs to have a moan. BMs have enough opportunities to raise their concerns individually to the CAM, on the daily conference calls or last week on the national conference call that WAS the perfect chance for BMs to raise their concerns.
I think Richard Barker will be livid if and when he finds out that BMs have 'hijacked' the call and denied their teams the chance to ask their own questions.
The chap from our office stayed on for the full hour and a half and says that RB had a really tough time of it! It seems our counter staff did not hold back with some good straight questions that, according to our man, RB did not answer very well at all. (No surprise there!!).
Lack of staff/ hours/ manpower seems to have been the biggest issue by far and, given that we absolutely no money (plenty can be found for Financial Specialists courses, workshops and get togethers strangely enough) it will be very interesting to see what Richard actually does to address these concerns that have been a problem since about September last year.

[simjan]

Was told friday morning about the call, went on for 15 mins. Did I miss something or did he say anything. ie We have plans to reduce the queue, but wouldn't say, the only ways I can see they can reduce the queue is, put some machines in, or leave it too late and the customers will be queueing elsewhere

[counter man]

Maybe I dont get it....but what can they do to reduce waiting times??? No money = no staff.... no staff = more customers waiting longer. What options in terms of machines?? Post and go's are notorious in breaking down ...so Ive had a couple of thoughts to

few suggstions to make money...
Make recorded a focus product...takes the same amount of time as special but a waste of time for us and customers!
Bring back a charge for proof of posting

reduce waiting time.....
ditch the queue and CMS systems and revert back to individual queue...would stop those colleagues who like the occasional wander after serving...or feel the need to sort their AP receipts...for the fifth time...
I remember we used to get the same customers waiting for the same clerk...and it was a good sign who was doing all the work! Only downside is you couldnt " time" it right to call a good looking customer!

Wouldnt it be good if the call was made into a podcast to be downloaded and listened to at our leisure! We will probably get a diluted version on the TV screens!

[The BFO]

but what can they do to reduce waiting times???

1. Financial Service Specialist and ‘Meeter and Greeters’ on the Counter
2. Reduce Managerial grades and replace with counter serving staff
3. Cut out non customer facing activity – Conference Calls, ‘Warm Ups’ etc.
4. Monitor Staff performance by the amount of work they do via Horizon Data
5. Do away with the Monday and Tuesday morning farce and reschedule to counter serving
6. Single Queue in every office, no specialist positions – including Travel Money.

[Mr Love Pants]

but what can they do to reduce waiting times???

1. Financial Service Specialist and ‘Meeter and Greeters’ on the Counter
2. Reduce Managerial grades and replace with counter serving staff
3. Cut out non customer facing activity – Conference Calls, ‘Warm Ups’ etc.
4. Monitor Staff performance by the amount of work they do via Horizon Data
5. Do away with the Monday and Tuesday morning farce and reschedule to counter serving
6. Single Queue in every office, no specialist positions – including Travel Money.

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