Ofcom publishes its decision today

[teletubby]

Will Royal Mail be allowed to charge what it wants for a first-class stamps?....today ofcom makes its decision about first-class postage and many of its other services.Discuss....?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 18&t=44113" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Wessex]

Course they will .

[Martin Walsh]

today In Birmingham at the Royal Mail national operations and transformation Royal Mail that from 30th March 2nd class items will go up from 28p to 50p and first class from 36p to 60p

[Wessex]

Good, can I have my colleagueshares backdated then with the extra ackers

[Wessex]

I wonder who will cop the blame from the ' unbiased' press ???

[Martin Walsh]

We will get the blame I said to a number of people on here and got a torrent of criticism that first you have state aid and the government taking on the pension deficit , second you have the biggest stamp rises in memory and thirdly you have the 3.5 % pay rise and you can see what the media will say that the government have bailed out Royal Mail and Royal Mail have increased stamp prices in order to pay staff a pay rise which compared to profitable companies like BT is high.

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

today In Birmingham at the Royal Mail national operations and transformation Royal Mail that from 30th March 2nd class items will go up from 28p to 50p and first class from 36p to 60p

figures and dates a little bit out there dingo, prices will increase from 30 April not march, and 2nd class going from 36p to 50p and first class from 46p to 60p

but still gives plenty of time to stock up on stamps to sell after the increase, nice earner there, instant 40% increase on your investment as long as you can sell them on again at face value

[teletubby]

Not sure...but as far i know selling stamps for profit without authority to do so is illegal?

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

Not sure...but as far i know selling stamps for profit without authority to do so is illegal?

its not illegal, royal mail just dont want you to do it and you can actually sell them for more than the face value, however royal mail say they will take a firm line with any retailer selling them for more than the face value, and as the stamps do not have printed price on them you are not actally selling them for more than face vale anyway

[Stormproof]

I'll be ok for stamps, still got the last 4 years xmas ones due to not having any mates anymore because I'm too knackered to go out. DSA prices rising Dingo?

[Martin Walsh]

yes between 7 and 8 per cent , but as she explained yesterday that the more you reduce the profit margins of TNT the more it becomes attractive for them to go to the front door and they already have 50 % per cent of the more profitable customers with them and do not have to provide a USO they can deliver in one area once or twice per week.

[fishtank]

yes between 7 and 8 per cent , but as she explained yesterday that the more you reduce the profit margins of TNT the more it becomes attractive for them to go to the front door and they already have 50 % per cent of the more profitable customers with them and do not have to provide a USO they can deliver in one area once or twice per week.

There is no guarantee that this isn't a bluff,the trial in Liverpool came to nothing and the trial in London is very limited.
TNT have also said they have no concrete plans to introduce an end to end service and wouldn't even consider it under the present VAT system.
Also Royal Mail increasing access price doesn't encourage them to move into end to end on it's own,for that to happen they would also need to increase the prices they charge their customers which could,if anything encourage their customers to move back to us.
You have to admit...it suits TNT more to let us think they would consider end to end if it's going to keep access price low enough for them to continue to make easy money for doing next to nothing.

[Martin Walsh]

it could be a bluff , but we will soon know as TNT will start delivering in 8 postcodes from April some are in London Earling , Kensignton , Chelsea , Fulham mainly what you would consider higher class areas. Their business plan says they intend to recurt 13000 staff over the next. 4 years with the aim of delivering to 40% urban areas. Only time will tell if it's a bluff.

[fishtank]

Their business plan says they intend to recurt 13000 staff over the next. 4 years with the aim of delivering to 40% urban areas.

I would doubt whether anyone at Royal Mail or the CWU has seen TNT Post's business plan however they have been quoted only last week as saying.....

a spokesperson for TNT Post in the UK told Post&Parcel that the article had suggested a full service would be launched, head-to-head against Royal Mail, which wasn’t the case.

“Nick was talking about new locations for trials,” said spokesperson Eimear Galvin. “It’s something that’s been under consideration, but nothing is being launched. The company cannot roll anything out until there’s changes in the VAT regime, and that’s something the government has to agree to change.”