'Should the Royal Mail be part-privatised?' poll discussion

mcgazz

"RM barely can keep its head consistently above water."

Not true: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8049808.stm

And this is despite RM provided one of the cheapest postal services in Europe.

From: http://clients.squareeye.com/uploads/compass/documents/CASENOTMADE.pdf
"The overall cost of the UK domestic postal service as a percentage of GDP compares favourably when compared with the Netherlands and particularly with Germany. It delivers 50% more mail per capita than Germany for 10% less GDP and provides a more extensive collection network. The Netherlands is slightly cheaper than the UK but that is to be expected because its population density and size should make it inherently less costly to serve."

Mazzie

I have lived in many Countries in the world and I can say that the UK definitely has one of the best postal systems anywhere at this moment in time. If it is privatised it may go the same way as many other Countries......down the tubes.

Two weeks ago I left New Zealand where I lived for the last year. Their mail service is not great, but not too bad compared to other Countries, it's not as good as the UK though. They have a two tier mail system, regular post and fast post. Fast post costs 50% more, but gets it there within 2 days. Regular mail takes a few more days.

I currently live in Canada and the mail system here sucks big time. I have spent more than 20 years living in Canada and the service here seems to get worse each year, more expensive and less efficient. A letter that has to come only 10 kilometers takes a week to get here if you're lucky. There is only one mail delivery a day, Monday to Friday and you don't get it through your letterbox, it gets delivered to what they call a superbox, located down the road which can be treacherous getting to when the snow is 3 feet deep. We also have to pay tax on stamps, so a 54 cent stamp actually costs 57 cents. I would say that Canada has definitely the WORST mail system in the world. If I were to mail a Birthday Card to my sister in the UK, the stamp costs almost twice as much as the card does to buy.

In the USA, I found their mail system to be quite efficient. I have heard Americans moan about it, but I never had any problems with it. I found it to be quick and efficient and they even deliver mail on Christmas Day, no tax on stamps either.

In today's day and age more and more people are opting to receive bills and bank statements on line, which is much more efficient, instantaneous and cost effective for the consumer, not to mention better for the environment. In the future probably all mail will be received this way and postal services will just get more and more expensive and less and less efficient.

For those of you who live in the UK, be thankful that you don't have a postal service like Canada and keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't change.

yorkshireman99_2

teddyco wrote: »

This is just one more reason to GET LABOUR OUT!

But the Toties are just as much (or even more) in favour of this move. My tory MP (who is on the front bench) wrote and told me so.

scatz

I work as a postie and am obviously against the privatisation! It'll mean a less effecient service but with a higher price tag for the customer!!!!!!

It's already becoming a less effecient service due to Royal Mail trying to save money left right and centre. Someone mentioned earlier that RM will not pay overtime, partly true.....they will not pay overtime if you continue to deliver after your shift ends, if you have any deliveries left you are expected to 'cut off' which means advising management that you will not finish your delivery and to request the remaining mail be conveyed back to the office....where it sits until the next day, snowball effect anyone???

Labour I believe are saying they will sell part of RM to keep it cheaper and efficient other parties are wanting to sell the whole lot!!!!

When RM's monopoly was ended they were and still are embargoed from price hikes which means the competition are cherry picking all the lucrative business and leaving RM with the 'crud'. I mean, can you ever see private firms delivering to addresses that are on there own miles from anywhere....no, RM do, always have done and will continue to do so.

I used to be proud to work for RM but lately am changing my mind, even as far as looking for other employ....it's going to the dogs I tell thee :mad:

To top it off, RM received huge profits last year yet tell it's employee's they are unable to give us a payrise even though they are putting more and more work on us and expecting us to do it in the same time........all due to them trying to save more money to stave of the competition.

Take it from one that works for them, your service is falling down the pan already...later deliveries anyone????? Wait for it to be privatised and then see how bad it'll be.....rant over

deputydawg1

i work for royal mail and would like to clarify a few points raised by other viewers.
one royal mail spent a small fortune on a computer based driving assesment for all its drivers to ensure they were staying within the law to drive safely and not bash the vans so much. all the vans have tracking devices in them and show the speed and any erratic manourvers such as harsh braking and they are restricted to 70mph or 56mph in the case of 7.5 tonnes and above.
royal mail does the majority of its mail using machines but we have to deal with a lot of small packages which can only be dealt with by hand. dhl etc do use machines for their mail but only deal in items that have one or two pieces of paper in them such as bank statements.
because of postcomms rules of engagment dhl tnt etc can process their mail themselves but then royal muggins actual delivery which if they had to do themselves would not give a universal service.
if the royal mail is privatised then various parts of the service would be subbed out to other firms and other firms just look at how many firms not to mention the share holders want their share of money from a train ticket for example. i could go on..........

A_fiend_for_life

I think A, B and C are correct.

Privatising the Post Office will result in closures, less efficiency, higher cost of sending letters and job losses.

We will end up with a system focussed on shareholder gains rather than providing a fundamental service.

We will only end up with something as disasterous as rail transport with two or three layers of companies and shareholders to boot in my view. Or even the directory enquiries mess.

A_fiend_for_life

Combined votes for A, B and C gives 80% saying 'No' so far this compares quite well with the CWU's figure of 90% and Lord Mandelson is still trying to scupper things.

Fair enough there is a pension problem across the public sector but privatising is not the answer.

Magic_Mel

Should Royal Mail be privatised?
What do you think will happen when companies buy parts of RMG.
e.g Letters. Currently Royal Mail delivers to every household.
Rural areas included although those living in the "sticks" are far out, they still get a daily delivery. This could cease if a private company takes over as it will be considered non profitable part of the service. So all those living outside the city can have a PO Box to collect their mail from instead of having it delivered!

Not received a letter who has got it?? Royal Mail, DHL, TNT, Securicor,
you can play hunt the letter, it will end up like British Rail, lots of people playing, but nobody knowing what the heck is going on.
:rolleyes:

bunking_off

Mel, so if that's the case with privatised utilities, how do you explain that homes in rural communities still have a phone line? These are unprofitable for BT/Openreach, but a condition of their approval to operate is that they maintain universal service. Would be no different for a privatised RM.

I remain to be convinced either way about whether privatisation of RM is a good thing, but the stories put about that it would mean an end to universal service are just plain wrong.

mazztheman

bunking off
you only have to put in a phone line once you deliver mail every day so your comparison between the two is flawed