how much longer???

[bensonhedge]

with the uncertainty of the future of royal mail and how technology will change and keep evolving will postmen/women still be needed in say 15 years time.heard in certain countries they are testing this epost system out.is there a future for us? yes packets/parcels is an expanding product but whatabout traditional mail? what do people think???

[memo232]

They will always need people to deliver parcels, but much fewer than at present

[Lincox]

Who would have thought 30 years ago that the mining industry would be decimated, yet within a few years Madam Thatcher brought it to its knees and it has never been able to recover despite the vast seams that still lie below the surface. The postal service has also been brought to its knees by a Labour Government, and the new Coalition will complete the killing. There is no future as far as mass jobs are concerned in the parcel business. royal Mail will be unable to compete against companies with lower overheads and the army of distributors that deliver in personal vehicles. No private company is going to provide a regular delivery service of mail to rural communities. It just does not pay. Therefore unless we have a postal service that is subsidised by the tax payer for the benefit of all then I am afraid that in a very short space of time the number of jobs in our industry will fall dramatically and like the coal mining industry, never to recover.

[krussel]

You can never say for certain but when I started over 20 years ago they said the fax machine would wipe out the letter. Then it was the paperless office with email and now sms texting.

Although the old fashioned hand written letters are now pretty much exclusive of the elderly the rise in promotional media has increased year upon year. Sadly this has been all but wiped out for RM by the unfairness of DSA but the need for this kind of mail keeps growing.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

There will always be posties maybe not as many but we will always need someone to deliver physical letters (unless Scotty really can beam me up)

Just off the top of my head.

1. Final demand letters are easier to bin if they come by email. Track them by a legally recognised system people cannot claim no receipt.

2. Personal touch works for social as well as marketing mail.

3. E fulfilment (Moonpig cards, Ebay Posters etc)

4. Tickets for concerts (more security methods can be used on physical tickets than emailed ones).

5. There will always be those that cant get or don't want broadband - a system has to remain in place for them.

6. D2D marketing - we hate it but I can see if protecting the service in the long run, also D2D by email is easy to delete without reading. To bin physical D2Ds you have to handle them giving the sales teams a window of opportunity no matter how small.

[wacko74]

The vast majority of what we deliver now isn't "traditional mail" anyway... its advertising in various forms, brochures, catologues, free prize draws etc and there will always be a market for advertising.

[somerset]

See SKY is now asking custumers if they wish to carry on receiving mag or download it on the internet ? Don,t knock it ! More lost revenue.

[chunk]

Who would have thought 30 years ago that the mining industry would be decimated, yet within a few years Madam Thatcher brought it to its knees and it has never been able to recover despite the vast seams that still lie below the surface. The postal service has also been brought to its knees by a Labour Government, and the new Coalition will complete the killing. There is no future as far as mass jobs are concerned in the parcel business. royal Mail will be unable to compete against companies with lower overheads and the army of distributors that deliver in personal vehicles. No private company is going to provide a regular delivery service of mail to rural communities. It just does not pay. Therefore unless we have a postal service that is subsidised by the tax payer for the benefit of all then I am afraid that in a very short space of time the number of jobs in our industry will fall dramatically and like the coal mining industry, never to recover.

A lot of what you say is true except that it cant happen to post the way it happened to coal.
Thatcher imported cheap coal from abroad and opened up more gas and nuclear production. and instantly killed our industry.

Mail being a service rather than a resource means theres no threat of mail being imported from Europe.
i think we can compete with TNT and the like. without the DSA subsidy that they get nobody in the country would
have ever seen a letter on their mat with TNT on in !

The main danger to us (as you say) will be having to maintain the universal service obligation while having to please share holders who are only profit focused.

[krussel]

The main danger to us (as you say) will be having to maintain the universal service obligation while having to please share holders who are only profit focused.

Yep you've hit the nail on the head. If the goverment (like the French) had any balls it would ease the DSA, even for a year or two and give us a chance to recover, modernise and then really take on the likes of TNT on a one 2 one basis.

This is a crazy situation that we now find ourselves in whereupon the only delivery competition is ourselves handling the competitors mail. Its rather like kicking yourself in the nuts.

Stupidly Joe public has no benefit from the DSA system as they do not generate another work to qualify. Funny but these type of actions have also been seen before to break the once strong Unions in the coal industry .

Quote from Max Boyce “Its them that must take the blame , the price of coals the same”

[Lincox]

Resource or Service, if there is no subsidy/backing from Government then as a public entity just as British Coal was, Royal Mail cannot provide a nationwide service. This will only mean that those who can afford to pay for that service will have any use for it. In other words a massive loss of households that advertisers will no longer have access to via Royal Mail, so where will they go. Doesnt take much thought for that one.