Royal Mail discussion

[david1212]

While this afternoon I found every Post Office I went to open the first were refusing mail given the reason of no storage space. The last has separate counter so I was expecting that to be closed. Once they were out of space they too would refuse mail.

You'd be wrong there. Royal Mail delivers a significant percentage of online orders - I can't find recent figures but it was something like 45% overall in 2019

A lot of online items are delivered with Royal Mail 24/48 and will be collected the day or day after purchase depending on timing.

Where I live, almost all orders from Amazon come via Royal Mail. This strike will have a big impact on their contract.

With now 19 more days of strikes I suspect many will be swapping to Hermes, Yodel, Collect+ ( still Yodel now or not ? ). So long as overall they cope Royal Mail will not get the business back.

 

[najaB]

With now 19 more days of strikes I suspect many will be swapping to Hermes, Yodel, Collect+ ( still Yodel now or not ? ). So long as overall they cope Royal Mail will not get the business back.

Which is exactly the reason for the strikes - it is forcing management back to the bargaining table since they know a lot of business is at risk.

 

[DelayRepay]

Which is exactly the reason for the strikes - it is forcing management back to the bargaining table since they know a lot of business is at risk.

It's a high risk strategy by the union though.

Less parcels = fewer people needed to deliver them.

On a related note, a neighbour saw a job advertised through an agency. The ad was quite vague but when they made further enquiries it turned out they were looking for people to sort mail on strike days. It was not clear what background checks they are doing prior to employing people. My neighbour is not a strike breaker so didn't pursue the 'opportunity'.

 

[Dai Corner]

It's a high risk strategy by the union though.

Less parcels = fewer people needed to deliver them.

Not really a risk to the Union; it will still exist. More a risk to its members. The interests and objectives of Union leaders and activists don't always coincide with those of ordinary members.

On a related note, a neighbour saw a job advertised through an agency. The ad was quite vague but when they made further enquiries it turned out they were looking for people to sort mail on strike days. It was not clear what background checks they are doing prior to employing people. My neighbour is not a strike breaker so didn't pursue the 'opportunity'.

Looks similar to the one I quoted earlier in the week. "Must be prepared to cross picket lines".

 

[Trainbike46]

Not really a risk to the Union; it will still exist. More a risk to its members. The interests and objectives of Union leaders and activists don't always coincide with those of ordinary members.

CWU members voted in favour of the strike though, and quite convincingly, so clearly the members believe the risk is worth taking

 

[Dai Corner]

CWU members voted in favour of the strike though, and quite convincingly, so clearly the members believe the risk is worth taking

'Believe' being the operative word. Time will tell whether they're right or not.

 

[Grumbler]

CWU members voted in favour of the strike though, and quite convincingly, so clearly the members believe the risk is worth taking

I am old enough to remember the postal strike in 1971. This had a great impact on users as the only alternatives were the fixed-line telephone and telex and possibly a few fax machines. Today the impact is far less, so it is quite likely that the postal service will be slimmed down. My own guess is that the universal service will remain but with only one class of service and delivery frequency cut by to no more than about twice a week or even less. Private courier firms will provide an urgent delivery service but at a high price. Peaks will be difficult to handle so Christmas cards will need to be sent out by mid-November to ensure timely arrival.
Please note this is not what I want to happen, but what I think will happen.

 

[gswindale]

So, apparently there was a Postal strike on Friday/Saturday.

Don't think I noticed any difference as the lack of post is very much the same as most days.

We don't even send/receive that many Christmas cards either these days with even close family now sending e-cards rather than creating further recycling for everybody.

I suspect the main event that might boost Royal Mail will be the first Charles III stamps being released.

 

[Trainbike46]

So, apparently there was a Postal strike on Friday/Saturday.

Don't think I noticed any difference as the lack of post is very much the same as most days.

We don't even send/receive that many Christmas cards either these days with even close family now sending e-cards rather than creating further recycling for everybody.

I suspect the main event that might boost Royal Mail will be the first Charles III stamps being released.

Or people doing the opposite and stockpiling Elizabeth stamps before they're gone forever

 

[yorkie]

Not really a risk to the Union; it will still exist. More a risk to its members. The interests and objectives of Union leaders and activists don't always coincide with those of ordinary members.

Very true; I quit my union (Unison) for this reason!

Today the impact is far less, so it is quite likely that the postal service will be slimmed down....

Indeed; the end result will quite possibly be fewer jobs within the company. If that's what happens, those who voted for and/or carried out strike action cannot say this wasn't foreseeable.

CWU members voted in favour of the strike though, and quite convincingly, so clearly the members believe the risk is worth taking

If they are happy with the risk, they can't really complain if that is what happens.

 

[DelayRepay]

Peaks will be difficult to handle so Christmas cards will need to be sent out by mid-November to ensure timely arrival.
Please note this is not what I want to happen, but what I think will happen.

Do we still get peaks at Christmas caused by cards?

When I was a kid, I think cards used to arrive every day - hundreds of them, or so it seemed.

Now I post a very small number of cards (about five, I think). And they are generally only because I know the other person will send me one. Last Christmas I bought a book of 12 stamps and still have four left, which shows how little mail I send these days.

 

[Dai Corner]

Do we still get peaks at Christmas caused by cards?

When I was a kid, I think cards used to arrive every day - hundreds of them, or so it seemed.

Now I post a very small number of cards (about five, I think). And they are generally only because I know the other person will send me one. Last Christmas I bought a book of 12 stamps and still have four left, which shows how little mail I send these days.

Pretty much all I post are greetings cards; half at Christmas and the other half spread out over the rest of the year.

 

[DelayRepay]

Pretty much all I post are greetings cards; half at Christmas and the other half spread out over the rest of the year.

Same here, but I tend to deliver most cards in person. I've probably posted a few more cards than usual over the last couple of years during the times when visiting has not been practical though. Certainly I don't generate enough business to justify daily post collections and deliveries.

 

[Dai Corner]

Talking to my mother on the phone yesterday (Sunday) I learned that she had a parcel delivered by Royal Mail that afternoon, the postman apparently being paid double time to catch up with the backlog caused by the strike on the previous two days.

 

[najaB]

Do we still get peaks at Christmas caused by cards?

There's a peak at Christmas, with the usual temporary staff brought on for November/December but it's more due to online shopping than cards.

 

[tigerroar]

So, apparently there was a Postal strike on Friday/Saturday.

Don't think I noticed any difference as the lack of post is very much the same as most days.

We don't even send/receive that many Christmas cards either these days with even close family now sending e-cards rather than creating further recycling for everybody.

I suspect the main event that might boost Royal Mail will be the first Charles III stamps being released.

It's amazing the number of people that I see trot out these same old lines like they think nothing is out there to be delivered.

But then I get to see what the back of my van looks like on a daily basis.

Talking to my mother on the phone yesterday (Sunday) I learned that she had a parcel delivered by Royal Mail that afternoon, the postman apparently being paid double time to catch up with the backlog caused by the strike on the previous two days.

Good work if you can get it. You see, we're fighting against them making it a normal day of the week and not getting paid double time. No-one wants to be forced to work Sundays.

 

[gswindale]

It's amazing the number of people that I see trot out these same old lines like they think nothing is out there to be delivered.

But then I get to see what the back of my van looks like on a daily basis.


Good work if you can get it. You see, we're fighting against them making it a normal day of the week and not getting paid double time. No-one wants to be forced to work Sundays.

I "don't think there is nothing to be delivered " as you put it.

What I was stating was that due to the amount of mail that we normally receive, it wasn't unusual for there to be no post on either of those days. You seem to be of the mistaken belief that because your post van is always full, that everybody everywhere is expecting a mountain of post every day, which isn't the case anymore.

Even at work, whilst we're processing more invoices and receiving more payments than we were 15 years ago when I started, the amount that come in the mail has dropped dramatically.

I have seen on numerous occasions a separate delivery round for parcels, which I believe is now the main item of delivery apart from the unsolicited junk. Would it not be possible to deliver a few letters with those at the same time?

 

[tigerroar]

I don't have any mistaken beliefs on this subject. The back of my van sees to that.

 

[Trog]

My experience is that the local postie seems to only be coming round every other day or so anyway. He generally parks across the end of my drive so I get to see him even if he is not delivering to me.

If it had not been for the publicity etc I probably would not have even noticed that there were any strikes.

 

[gswindale]

Apparently Royal Mail has now asked the Government if they can scrap (the somewhat pointless in my view) Saturday deliveries:

Royal Mail asks to stop Saturday letter deliveries

It comes as the business seeks to revive its fortunes after slumping to a half-year loss.

www.bbc.co.uk

Royal Mail has asked the government if it can stop its letter deliveries on Saturdays, as it seeks to turn its fortunes around after slumping to a loss in the first half of the year.
The business said it wanted to move from a six-days-a-week letter delivery to five, from Monday to Friday only.
However, parcel services would continue to run all days of the week.
It came as Royal Mail reported a £219m underlying operating loss for the six months to 25 September.

 

[johntea]

The Post Office has now also apparently teamed up with courier of the year (no sarcasm intended of course!) Evri a.k.a Hermes so you can drop off and (probably more chance of winning the lottery) receive parcels from them at a Post Office branch

Royal Mail completely lost out in the race for parcel delivery, they can send a letter around the UK for 95p/68p but never even tried to compete with the explosion of courier companies for some reason

 

[Bletchleyite]

The Post Office has now also apparently teamed up with courier of the year (no sarcasm intended of course!) Evri a.k.a Hermes so you can drop off and (probably more chance of winning the lottery) receive parcels from them at a Post Office branch

Remember that Post Office Counters Ltd isn't the same company as Royal Mail. It's to be expected that they'll do deals with other companies, though that specific one is best avoided!

Royal Mail completely lost out in the race for parcel delivery, they can send a letter around the UK for 95p/68p but never even tried to compete with the explosion of courier companies for some reason

Plenty of small companies still use RM for smallish parcels. The Tracked 24/48 services and ability to divert to a post office make it a really handy option that I'd pay more for, and it's more reliable than even DPD.

 

[johncrossley]

Why don't Royal Mail install lockers like Amazon? Then we could all get our post 24/7/365 without having to be in.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Why don't Royal Mail install lockers like Amazon? Then we could all get our post 24/7/365 without having to be in.

You can divert Royal Mail Tracked 24/48 to a post office without missing delivery, the email you get sent gives you the option to do it. Anything else you can send to one once it's missed, and there's no longer a fee for doing this. That's pretty good for me.

 

[johncrossley]

You can divert Royal Mail Tracked 24/48 to a post office without missing delivery, the email you get sent gives you the option to do it. Anything else you can send to one once it's missed, and there's no longer a fee for doing this. That's pretty good for me.

I'd still like to get post when the post office is closed, and I would rather not queue in one. You shouldn't actually need to go to a post office for anything. At least one other country has closed their post offices.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'd still like to get post when the post office is closed, and I would rather not queue in one. You shouldn't actually need to go to a post office for anything. At least one other country has closed their post offices.

Most post offices in the UK are actually just counters in convenience stores now, and they're open long hours including Sundays. Things have moved on. You can grab your stuff when you go for bread and milk.

 

[johncrossley]

Most post offices in the UK are actually just counters in convenience stores now, and they're open long hours including Sundays. Things have moved on. You can grab your stuff when you go for bread and milk.

Oh yes, my local one is open 07:00 to 19:00 SuX, 07:00 to 13:00 SuO. But I don't go in there, and especially not to buy groceries. The only thing a post office is needed for is to withdraw coins. ATMs will only give you banknotes.

 

[Trainbike46]

Oh yes, my local one is open 07:00 to 19:00 SuX, 07:00 to 13:00 SuO. But I don't go in there, and especially not to buy groceries. The only thing a post office is needed for is to withdraw coins. ATMs will only give you banknotes.

I know I might sound old-fashioned (even though I'm under 25!), but I go into my post office to buy stamps and occasionally send parcels?

Also, unless you live rurally your closest post office usually isn't that far away, so picking stuff up on the way home from work, or during a short extra trip, really isn't the end of the world

 

[johncrossley]

I know I might sound old-fashioned (even though I'm under 25!), but I go into my post office to buy stamps and occasionally send parcels?

Also, unless you live rurally your closest post office usually isn't that far away, so picking stuff up on the way home from work, or during a short extra trip, really isn't the end of the world

It hasn't been necessary to go to the post office to buy stamps in your entire life! There are numerous parcel companies available, many of which don't pick up at post offices, and some of them pick up from your home or place of work.

My nearest post office is nearby, about 5 minutes walk away. My nearest Amazon locker is twice as far away but it is actually more convenient. It is open all the time, I don't have to queue and it is at the railway station. Going to the post office wouldn't be the end of the world, but that's not the point.

 

[DelayRepay]

I've just been to the Post Office to buy some milk, because it's also the nearest convenience store. The customer in front of me was collecting a parcel. The customer behind me was collecting a parcel. I think it's a really convenient service.