Why the Royal Mail is REALLY Making a Loss

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/andrea- ... =uk-comedy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You could say that the Post Office's days were numbered when some young boffin sent his or her very first email (presumably with the subject line: 'Test'). You could say that the nail in its coffin was the buzz of the very first text message - or at least the one sent from the CEO of Amazon to the CEO of Home Delivery Network asking them if they'd be up for fulfilling all its UK parcel orders.

You could say any of these things - but you'd be wrong. Oh yes. Because the Post Office's death knell was, in fact, sounded on the day that it introduced The Most Stupid Letter And Parcel Measuring System In Worldwide Postal System History.

I'm not quite sure what was going through the minds of the top bods at Royal Mail when they introduced this system, but it appeared to be: "You know what will keep our old-fashioned physical delivery company afloat in this age of digital communication and information transference? Making it more difficult to send things!"

Yes, instead of simplifying the UK postage system - making it ridiculously easy for any of us to pop a card/present/elephant in the post on a whim, for example - the Royal Mail decided to introduce a stupid, over-complicated method involving size, weight, thickness and aura (I may have made the last one up).

Is your letter thin enough to pass through the slot on this plastic thingummy the Post Office counter clerk is holding up? I don't know - let's ask them. Oh look, they don't know, either - they've got to try to pass it through the slot on their plastic thingummy! Is it heavy enough to be a packet? Is it too narrow to be a packet? Is it too large to be a letter yet too small to be a large letter but too light to be a parcel yet not wide enough to be a packet? Will it fit in a cat's mouth?

I don't know! And guess what? NEITHER DO THE COUNTER STAFF, 'COS THEY'VE GOT TO WEIGH IT AND MEASURE IT AND TRY TO PASS IT THROUGH THE HOLE IN THAT STUPID PLASTIC THINGUMMY!

Well done, Royal Mail. You could have been encouraging us all, young and old, to be writing more letters and sending more parcels simply by aiming to make the postal system in Britain the most user-friendly in the world.

But instead, you made it a chore. And now you say you're forced to increase the price of a first-class stamp because you're making such a massive loss.

Well, may I venture to suggest that one of the reasons you're making such a massive loss is because you've made it so massively complicated to post things? And may I venture to suggest that you possibly try to now make it easier for us all to send cards/presents/elephants to each other? I mean, I realise this might be trying to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted - but guess what? The horse has bolted because it's got to get to the post office during its lunch break to make sure its large letter fits through a slot on a stupid plastic thingummy. So stick that on your stamp and post it.

[pinstripe]

This journalist is described as a comedy writer....wrong on both counts.

[fishtank]

This journalist is described as a comedy writer....wrong on both counts.

journalist

[hubbahubba]

Maybe so,but the point is valid,it is a stupid system.

[pinstripe]

I don't think it's a stupid system. If all we handled were C5 sized envelopes with a few packets, and a couple of flats, then yes, it would be. You only have to look at what is isn't classed as a normal letter to see the extra work involved. We either have this type of system or we deliberately undercharge or overcharge (in relation to the amount of work involved in handling) every item to have a set price.

Any item which requires hand sorting at any point in the delivery pipeline is more expensive (to RM), that is basically every item that doesn't go through a CSS machine, unfortunately that extra cost has to be passed on to the customer.

[slave]

It's not a stupid system, people should drag themselves out of last century and realise things have changed in the business we work in (as pinstripe points out).

Couldn't even be arsed reading past the second paragraph of that article above.

[Lounge Lizard]

"Yes, instead of simplifying the UK postage system - making it ridiculously easy for any of us to pop a card/present/elephant in the post on a whim, for example - the Royal Mail decided to introduce a stupid, over-complicated method involving size, weight, thickness". By the same logic why price according by weight ? Surely I shouldn't have to pay more to send a big parcel than a postcard. And all the headlines yesterday fail to mention that pricing is being simplified by greatly reducing the weight steps for packets.

[POSTMAN]

Funny thing is,RM are revisiting the parcel weight size thingy.

[blackadder]

why we losing money. blame tony blair for opening up the postal system and expecting r.m. to deliver it for next to nothing

[fishtank]

why we losing money. blame tony blair for opening up the postal system and expecting r.m. to deliver it for next to nothing

It is a big part of the problem but another is management incompetence.
They've pissed billions away over the years on stupid,half-assed ideas that we could have told them were nonsense...if they had bothered to ask.

[RTP]

I agree it's a stupid system. It's not nice having old dears coming into a callers office for a mothers days card, shakily getting their £1.36 or so, out of their purse, because the card is a tad too wide or thick.

What RM should have done is have a size that we all know like A4. The margins for error with cards are ridiculous.

[5plusbonusball]

I agree it's a stupid system. It's not nice having old dears coming into a callers office for a mothers days card, shakily getting their £1.36 or so, out of their purse, because the card is a tad too wide or thick.

What RM should have done is have a size that we all know like A4.

Spot on, I had at least 6 surcharge cards last friday, all to mrs whatever, obviously mother's day cards, i'm sure just a warning sticker is sufficient . Genuine oversize items must be surcharged but when its christmas, valentines,mothers day, easter cards etc . it makes us all look petty and greedy.
P.S. why not put a notice of sizes on all pillar boxes so they think before posting.

[Phantom]

Its a crap system just like the revisions - making things more difficult seems to be an obsession with royal mail

[Lounge Lizard]

I agree it's a stupid system. It's not nice having old dears coming into a callers office for a mothers days card, shakily getting their £1.36 or so, out of their purse, because the card is a tad too wide or thick.

What RM should have done is have a size that we all know like A4. The margins for error with cards are ridiculous.

If it's £1.36 it's because there's no stamp on it at all.
And RM have chosen a size that we all know, it's A5, or rather slightly larger than A5, for a 'Letter', just as a 'Large Letter' is slightly larger than A4.
Greetings card manufacturers have had several years to get used to that by now, but if 'nice old dears' get surcharged that's not their problem.

[RedBagMan]

Also ... so many cards these days have "large" printed on the backs of them - so is there really an excuse for the sender to c*ck up ??