Scanning all Amazon Parcels

[chrisj]

Now you are talking...

However, I should just add that you should not believe everything you read - the vast majority o customers are not thinking about tracking their items or having tracked items. In fact, from the Amazon spew, they are more concerned about compensation from their own customers - some that genuinely do not receive items and some that are exploiting Amazon policy of replacing items.

The other thing is that by the time Royal mail decides to split the business into separate entities like it used to be - reinventing the wheel and all that - the parcel markets will have contracted and there will be too many players offering too cheap a service that a big company like RM cannot effectively compete on price...

Price is what it is about at this stage. Yes, tracking also helps and prove of delivery is always useful to sender and to some extent receiver.

However, we workers at RM get paid close to £10/hour compared to the franchised worker who spends his own petrol, buys a franchise, only gets paid on delivery and does not abide by the same QOS as RM.

I was not being facetious when I think we need a pay cut to really compete and survive - it is like a firm from London trying to compete with some firms in China.

RM and posties are 'trusted' in the main so tracking and strict proof of delivery is not what most customers and senders (esp Amazon & ebayers) are after. Scanning absolutely every parcel - small and big will add time and cost - and will not help customers, some senders and RM in the end. Producing barcodes for packaging of every item also cost.

[Brainache]

A parcelforce bloke is coming to ours to tell us how to scan their parcels - will we have to log off, log on to parcelforce. log off, log on back to RM every time ?

[chrisj]

I recently worked with a bloke from another office and all his scans did not download as he was not on our office database or site login... RM has some way to go in terms of technology.

So what is happening with Parcel Force? What exactly do they do different from us? Do they just carry much bigger parcels? Have RM made a mistake by allowing Parcel Force to go into decline at a time when they should be in a good position to compete with the like of DPD, DHL, UPS and so on.

[Brainache]

Wouldnt it be easier to absorb Parcelforce back into RM ? All those layers of management jobs could disappear and boost our profits.
Pacelforce posties could go onto new parcel rounds in DO`s.

[janitor]

You mean go back to how it was before PF was spun off into a separate entity.

[Chitchat]

"However, we workers at RM get paid close to £10/hour compared to the franchised worker who spends his own petrol, buys a franchise, only gets paid on delivery and does not abide by the same QOS as RM. "


Lets not forget, At Royal Mail the postman's wage comes from multiple revenue streams i.e Letters, Parcels, D2D, Tracked, Specials etc. Where the self employed guys driving round in their cars, their money only comes from parcels, so to a business they are much less efficient.


And the only way to get Amazon back is to offer them prices cheaper than they can do it themselves.

[chrisj]

I think you got that the other way round.

To Amazon as a business, the guy with his car will have to concentrate all his efforts into delivering Amazon parcel in order to get paid; and he still gets paid a small amount of money - and from that you deduct all his expenses including franchise fees, fuel, physical graft and admin... No sick pay, holiday pay or uniforms and wow betide him if he loses his scanners (that probably has to be rented)...

We at RM deal with Amazon and very many other parcel businesses and we also carry letters, d2ds, tracked, specials and recorded items. To Amazon, as a business we are not exclusive to them and our products in not even that cheap or tracked as they make the bloke in the car do.

We are not cheap because we have a huge network, large overhead, we have the USO, employees get paid a very decent wage including good sick pay, holidays and tools as well as uniforms and good level of service.

So how can we compete on price without something giving. What?

[Brainache]

You mean go back to how it was before PF was spun off into a separate entity.

Yes.

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

Is everyone enjoying their extra scan time on delivery?
Anyone had their PDA battery die since this kicked in?
Anyone having more fun in justifying how much can be done by contract finish time, because of cutting off (a little bit?) more?

So far at least, it does not seem to be all Amazon parcels.