LAT product

A2B · Post by **A2B** » 12 Jul 2018, 19:45

I had to Google Bloom And Wild as i'd never heard of the company and cannot recall ever delivering anything for them, i wonder how many LAT deliveries have been made so far ?

I guess the duties introduced to cater for this extra work are delivering normal packets while they wait for the demand to increase?

I see Bloom And Wild offer same day delivery for the London area, next day guaranteed is delivered by DPD

postslippete · Post by **postslippete** » 12 Jul 2018, 19:51

If its for the customer and its what the customer wants, great. They will be relying on one or two staff to work the overtime as usual.

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 12 Jul 2018, 19:52

dingo wrote:At the moment it is only one customer Bloom and Wild. This is to ensure that any problems are sorted before other customers come on line from October.

Some huge household names are keen to get on board. Remember we now live in a society where people order off the internet and want the item the very next day. The biggest ordering time is 21:00 and the LAT product allows next day delivery.

Since the data protection act came in traffic year on year has fallen by 11%. That means revenue has reduced as well.

This LAT product has the potential to grow massively and all a Mail Centre has to do is to have to sort these items into the depots. Remember they get a manifest of the items from the RDC. Remember the realignment of processing hours has the LAT top of the priority list to ensure staff are available to ensure it is sorted and than dispatched to the depots who are delivering them.

As the new data protection act from the EU only came in at the end of May this year I doubt there has been an 11% decline in mail traffic in the past six weeks!! It did seem in June that the GDPR was having a significant effect on mail volumes but it has since been noted that, I think week 14, is known to be a week with low mail volumes every year. Certainly in the case of business and their internet operations the GDPR is a simple tick box system with accompanying rules & text that most customers will never bother reading. Therefore it seems to be purely a fear factor to bash the workforce around the head with. Why RM management continues to release information that damages our business and jobs I do not understand. The major shareholders are currently not happy with them and are disputing the payouts to both incoming & outgoing bosses as well as asking the chairman to stand down.

Martin Walsh · Post by **Martin Walsh** » 13 Jul 2018, 14:47

Celgar the 11% decline is compared to last year. The data protection has hit advertising Mail in a big way. Feel free to deny this but this Mail is largely machinable and therefore automatically counted. This is not just normal summer drop but based on the last years period and the previous two years.

As someone who has been in different delivery offices this week and a Mail Centre all are reported a drop on last years traffic.

However tracked is up. This is why Royal Mail want to Capture the LAT product.

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 13 Jul 2018, 19:34

Strange then that we are still working over our duty time most days but not allowed to book it........ In our office there was a drop in mail in June but it has recovered back to normal levels now.

postslippete · Post by **postslippete** » 13 Jul 2018, 19:38

Never mind capturing the LAT product, Royal Mail need to focus on capturing getting all the duties covered so that there isn't any mail and packets left for someone else to do for tomorrow.

yellowbelly · Post by **yellowbelly** » 13 Jul 2018, 20:11

dingo wrote:Celgar the 11% decline is compared to last year. The data protection has hit advertising Mail in a big way. Feel free to deny this but this Mail is largely machinable and therefore automatically counted. This is not just normal summer drop but based on the last years period and the previous two years.

As someone who has been in different delivery offices this week and a Mail Centre all are reported a drop on last years traffic.

However tracked is up. This is why Royal Mail want to Capture the LAT product.

Can't find a mention of 11% annual decline for the past year in RM's own figures for any of past three years. They forecast an annual decline of six percent.

From RM's own website Full Year Results:

2015 - 2016 Addressed letter volumes declined by three per cent, better than our forecast range, largely due to the return of direct delivery volumes.

2016 - 2017 Addressed letter volumes (excluding the impact of political parties’ election mailings) declined by six per cent. As previously stated, overall business uncertainty in the UK is impacting letters.

2017 - 2018 Addressed letter volumes (excluding political parties’ election mailings) declined by five per cent, in line with our forecast range.

Outlook: Maintain outlook for addressed letter volume declines of four to six per cent per annum (excluding election mailings) over medium term. Expect decline to be at higher end of range for 2018-19 due to GDPR and, or, if business uncertainty persists; may fall outside range

Wild Rover · Post by **Wild Rover** » 15 Jul 2018, 11:15

Nothing came through yesterday for our DO hub to deliver. Surely that's not ideal having nothing to deliver and getting people out after 3pm on a Saturday to do so?
Was there a failure somewhere or LAT product not gonna work on Saturdays?

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 15 Jul 2018, 12:25

Wild Rover wrote:Nothing came through yesterday for our DO hub to deliver. Surely that's not ideal having nothing to deliver and getting people out after 3pm on a Saturday to do so?
Was there a failure somewhere or LAT product not gonna work on Saturdays?

No drivers available to take it out to the hubs? LAT work arrived in the local MC too late to be processed and make it to the vans going to the hubs? @Wild Rover, any idea if your local MC has the room to have their outward and inward setups in place at the same time?

Wild Rover · Post by **Wild Rover** » 15 Jul 2018, 13:40

I don't know the answer, but guess there'll be double parcels come Monday's LAT run?

A2B · Post by **A2B** » 15 Jul 2018, 13:42

Wild Rover wrote:Nothing came through yesterday for our DO hub to deliver. Surely that's not ideal having nothing to deliver and getting people out after 3pm on a Saturday to do so?
Was there a failure somewhere or LAT product not gonna work on Saturdays?

If there's only one retailer in the LAT trial it's highly likely there will be days where certain areas have nothing to deliver

panch1989 · Post by **panch1989** » 15 Jul 2018, 15:51

Once it's picked up by a few shopping companies there will be plenty of work

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 15 Jul 2018, 15:52

Postie's 'volunteered' to put their names down to do the LAT deliveries in the DO hubs. It isn't like doing collections though so there is no guarantee there will be LAT product to deliver every working day even when more firms start using the service.

Martin Walsh · Post by **Martin Walsh** » 15 Jul 2018, 17:57

Yellow belly the 11% is since the data protection act has come in and compared to the same period as last year letters are down 11%.

Martin Walsh · Post by **Martin Walsh** » 15 Jul 2018, 18:07

Remember there is only one customer on the LAT which is Bloom and Wilde. The launch was meant to take place from October but Royal Mail wanted to make sure some of the issues were ironed out before taking on new customers.

There are several big customers in discussions about going live from October.

No one can predict the numbers for each hub as it is subject to customers ordering the product. When the RDC scan the item the Hub than gets the manifest saying how many items the Hub has and what addresses.

On the first day Bloom and Wild had a promotional offer so volumes were higher. This will happen when other customers come on board from October and of course at such times as Black Friday , Cyber Monday , christmas , Valentine day , mother’s day etc.