Christmas parcels warning on post strike

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/artic ... _page_id=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Postal delivery firms may be unable to cope with the deluge of Christmas parcels if Royal Mail union members vote in favour of strike action next month.

Royal Mail delivers about 70% of parcels and packets weighing more than 2kg. Private firms, mainly Home Delivery Network, DHL and Parcelnet, pick up the rest.

Brian Gaunt, chief executive at Home Delivery Network, said: 'The assumption is that this will all work out for the better, but private firms do not have infinite capacity. Retailers need to plan ahead.'

Gaunt estimated that private firms could cater for about 15% of Royal Mail's capacity during the Christmas peak, including from companies such as Amazon that use Royal Mail to send most of their products.

'Retailers have chosen to put the vast majority of their volume in the carrier with the worst industrial relations record, then they hope that the rest of the industry can flex volume at times when those problems come home to roost,' he said.

The results of a strike ballot will be heard on October 8. But one company, Business Post, Britain's largest independent post delivery company, said it had plenty of capacity to cope with the effect of the strike.

A spokesman said: 'It would not cause problems. We have 3,500 vans and 50 depots. We could cope.'

[DGP1]

A spokesman said: 'It would not cause problems. We have 3,500 vans and 50 depots. We could cope.'

[dvbuk55]

I feel sure someone is going to tell us how many vans RM has and I think there are 1600 Offices - and we struggle at christmas, both for delivery and storage - actually it may not be a bad thing - it may well show these minnows exactly how unprepared they really are to take on the massive movement of mail.

[wardroom]

Can we pressume pressure will start in october on parcels and we now have 48 hours in the day :cfo

Been doing them for years, getting heavier every year so they should start thinking about the concequences pretty soon but we are talking about royal fail nothing ever happens as it should.

[dvbuk55]

Can we pressume pressure will start in october on parcels and we now have 48 hours in the day :cfo

Been doing them for years, getting heavier every year so they should start thinking about the concequences pretty soon but we are talking about royal fail nothing ever happens as it should.

You are preaching to the converted here, there has been a fair take up of tracked items by M&S and ASDA and you can bet your backside they are going to hammer the cheap option at christmas and what are we doing to prepare - well FA springs to mind. Last Year was bad enough and I feel there is going to be an avalanche this year.

[SpacePhoenix]

Can we pressume pressure will start in october on parcels and we now have 48 hours in the day :cfo

Been doing them for years, getting heavier every year so they should start thinking about the concequences pretty soon but we are talking about royal fail nothing ever happens as it should.

You are preaching to the converted here, there has been a fair take up of tracked items by M&S and ASDA and you can bet your backside they are going to hammer the cheap option at christmas and what are we doing to prepare - well FA springs to mind. Last Year was bad enough and I feel there is going to be an avalanche this year.

I've noticed a few more customers have started using tracked, we seem to have about 8-10 yorks of outward tracked atm, at our MC, I expect that we will get a good few more packets coming through as tracked, my guess is it will be nearer 20 yorks by the time it comes to Xmas pressure. The inward tracked is slowly getting more busy, I expect that both the inward and outward tracked will be really busy by xmas pressure.

I just hope that we will have enough yorks for xmas pressure, we seem to always be short on yorks at the start of the shift.

On a related note, it can't be that far off the deadline for surface mail to the countries that are the furthest away (like Australia and New Zealand).