help me please ! :)

[emtyler]

hi, i jus wondered, im doin a project debate on royal mail workers union and the effects of privatisaion, do you know what effects its will haveon the staff and customers x

[POSTMAN]

This is not spam,we've been getting a lot.

[emtyler]

im takin part in a debate in class for my course work ad i have to act as being for the privitisation and argue its negatives and possitives...if anyone could help? xxxx

[mandelsons_toenail]

POSITIVES

None

NEGATIVES

Later deliveries, posties out delivering till tea time
More expensive to send letters and parcels
3 day a week deliveries in the end
You will have to pay as a business to receive mail before lunch



Im a postie of a number of years now. The service is laughable. We do our best but our goodwill and patience has expired

[emtyler]

thanx so much...wat about effects on staff... u urself maybe? x

[Lateagainpostie]

thanx so much...wat about effects on staff... u urself maybe? x

All you have to do is look at what privatisationahs done to other former public companies,prices will go through the roof, service will suffer for profit, there will no doubt be redundancies, and people in rural areas will probably have to fetch their mail from a nearby Post Office or only get a delivery twice or three times a week ( think buses).

Mangement will not be safe either, instead of early starts to get mail out to people, it will become a 9-5 job, companies will put more effort into electronic mail and electronic billing, in ten years time the postie you see today will almost have disappeared to be replaced by a scruffy individual delivering packets and working 60 hrs a week to make a decent living, ( think todays self employed couriers).

Hopefully by then I will have a decent pension and be entitled to a decent amount of redundancy money.

[emtyler]

OK THANX..SO I DONT HAVE MUCH ARGUMENT FOR DEFENDING IT DO I LOL XXX

[seanocelt]

Just to add, feel free to tell all, the service they have all "as members of the public" been used to, has been taken for granted for so long, now it will be "pay for it or get used to a 3rd world service". I have lived in the USA plus 2 European and an Asian country, and they cannot TOUCH the service that we have taken as normal.Decline is IN THE POST...literally!

[Lateagainpostie]

OK THANX..SO I DONT HAVE MUCH ARGUMENT FOR DEFENDING IT DO I LOL XXX

Sorry to disappoint, but the agreement we signed up to, is in effect a nail in the coffin, selling off Royal Mail is the final nail.

[BELIAL]

OK THANX..SO I DONT HAVE MUCH ARGUMENT FOR DEFENDING IT DO I LOL XXX

That depends on your position. If you consider things from the standpoint of a wealthy potential purchaser there are many advantages.

1 The opportunity of acquiring a vast amount of public assets at a bargain basement price

2 A ready made business with a captive market and kitted out with the latest machines and brand new premises all at public expense

3 a. The opportunity to slash your costs by tearing up employment contracts and driving down wages , and a license to multiply profits by raising postal charges

Or b. break up the business and sell off bits for a massive instant profit with no risk and zero effort.

[baleout]

I can't see any benefits for anyone that works for or uses the Postal system.

From a "neutral" point of the view, the only benefit will be that a private company will not tolerate the poor standard of Management curently in place.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

The Advantages to workers when privatised.

WE may be able to buy shares in the privatised company - only trouble is on our wages we wont be able to afford that many so in effect its an empty gesture.

We may be given free shares - great but there will be strings attached, as is normal in this scenario, detailing when, where and to whom we can sell them, so no benefit in the short term and dubious, insubstantial and weak in the mid to long term.

Increased Job Security: Well if DHL, Deutsch Post or TNT become partners then you will only have job security if your part time and extremely flexible and willing to work at around minimum wages with little or no Union/employee consultation/involvement. If CVC were to get there grubby hands on us that would be even worse as they have several Postal Companies in their portfolio so we would have the same as the other 3 with the added dangers of an Asset stripper ( breaking the company apart. Their statement makes me shudder "Founded in 1981, CVC Capital Partners ('CVC') is a leading global private equity and investment advisory firm"""

Increased Earning Potential This is usually a euphemism for working longer hours at a lower rate of pay. Essentially your hourly rate is so low that people are willing to work beyond their contracted hours to get a living wage. The drawback is that on the weeks that your are off (Sick or holiday) then you only get your contracted weekly wage.

Benefits of Privatisation to Customers

More Competition We have that already and now the 6 day delivery service is starting to be questioned and the regulations around providing access to our delivery process is also under Political,industrial and commercial pressure.

Better Services/Prices - It tends to be that the better service provided the more expensive the costs are in supplying it so prices may rise.

More efficiency Depends how you define efficiency.

Royal Mails application of efficiency has meant - less collections, removal of Sunday and bank holiday collections, later deliveries, less deliveries, shorter opening hours in callers offices, no local only sorting, and much more. However more mail is now automated its a pity its taking longer to get from the Post Box to the Letter Box.

Future employers may define efficiency as more work with fewer workers and less resources. There is a chance if may also define efficiency as providing a service that the customer wants but don't forget in this topsy turvy world of delivering post the customer is the one sending not the one receiving. This will undoubtedly mean that the focus of new management will be different to that of the public.

I'll add a caveat for the OP on this subject - RoyalMailChat and Posties in general (although not exclusively) are against privatisation so our opinions are naturally biased in this subject. To get a pro-privatisation view you will have to do more research - if you are in a Conservative/Lib Dem area then email your prospective MP they may be willing to impart their opinion on this (more likely though it will their spin doctors, advisor's, whips, focus groups, business chums and donors to their campaigns
opinions that you'll get )

[lekker]

You can see for yourself already what the effects of "opening the market", which in itself is a precursor of privatisation, has been.

The price of stamps has rocketed over the past few years and will be increased even further to make up the money we are losing to other companies while we are delivering their mail at a knock-down price.

The quality of service will suffer. The first delivery has already gone and we are leaving the office at almost the time of our old second delivery. This is set to be even later as the new machinery is rolled out and mail centres closed.

This is before privatisation so what will happen ? well prices won't come down and are likely to reflect the cost of handling. My family live on the Isle of Lewis and at present it costs the same to send anything there as to the rest of the country. With privatisation the cost of sending a letter or packet there could rise to around £10 - £20.

Ask yourself - has privatisation benefitted the average person ? We have a bewildering array of train prices,electricity costs,gas tarriffs, phone charges and are ripped-off at every opportunity.

good luck with your debate