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Royal Mail to be privatised or sold, government says

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Comments

  • A._Badger
    A._Badger Posts: 5,881 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Loanranger wrote: »

    The government inherited the biggest budget deficit in living memory and yesterday announced cuts to welfare budget of £4billion.
    Where exactly does Mr Hayes think the money to fund his members' pension shortfall will come from?

    Why, it's the big money tree that grows in the secret garden at No. 11 Downing St....
  • bendix wrote: »
    As for private companies not doing it competitive prices, on the contrary. The private company we use is much more competitive than RM, both on price and service.


    Do they deliver the letters, or does RM? If it's RM then the true cost is being subsidised by the tax-payer through Downstream Access.
  • bendix
    bendix Posts: 5,499 Forumite
    Do they deliver the letters, or does RM? If it's RM then the true cost is being subsidised by the tax-payer through Downstream Access.

    No idea. Don't care really. At the end of the day we're a business and we want the right service at the best cost.

    If the RM is subidising a private service, that implies there is something seriously wrong with the RM management and taking on work at a lower rate than it could get if it went direct.

    Ergo, another very good reason to privatise it totally.
  • Loanranger
    Loanranger Posts: 2,439 Forumite
    bendix wrote: »
    No idea. Don't care really. At the end of the day we're a business and we want the right service at the best cost.

    If the RM is subidising a private service, that implies there is something seriously wrong with the RM management and taking on work at a lower rate than it could get if it went direct.

    Ergo, another very good reason to privatise it totally.

    No, RM is not subsidising private delivery services.

    RM holds a monopoly on the final mile delivery so it's no surprise that they are inefficient. There is no pressure to be otherwise.
    RM have a long way to go before they accept fully the concept of modernisation.
    For parcel delivery, the private delivery services such as TNT and others built their business reputations on efficiency by commissioning the most up to date technology. That is why they are successful and the reason that RM are not successful.
  • Loanranger wrote: »
    No, RM is not subsidising private delivery services.

    RM holds a monopoly on the final mile delivery so it's no surprise that they are inefficient.

    Given that 60% of the RMs costs are located in this “final mile”, it's no surprise that private companies don't want to deliver mail as a universal service.

    This is an interesting quote:

    "As the business mail market becomes more and more competitive, so the cross subsidy by Royal Mail into the universal service becomes more and more difficult to maintain."

    From this document http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file46075.pdf
  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    interesting people see their private companies as cheaper and more efficient?
    have you not looked into how the downstream access system works?
    how many of these private companies have the burden of the universal service obligation on them?
  • lemonjelly
    lemonjelly Posts: 8,014 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    custardy wrote: »
    interesting people see their private companies as cheaper and more efficient?
    have you not looked into how the downstream access system works?
    how many of these private companies have the burden of the universal service obligation on them?

    This deserves being put into 10 foot high letters.

    The answer is PFI or getting the private sector to do it my a r s e!

    If a private sector is carrying out a public duty for a public body, they will only be doing so at a profit.
    What does that mean? It means they are taking taxpayers money out of the system.
    Why more people do not think this is wrong I do not understand!
    It's getting harder & harder to keep the government in the manner to which they have become accustomed.
  • olly300
    olly300 Posts: 14,738 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    lemonjelly wrote: »
    This deserves being put into 10 foot high letters.

    The answer is PFI or getting the private sector to do it my a r s e!

    If a private sector is carrying out a public duty for a public body, they will only be doing so at a profit.
    What does that mean? It means they are taking taxpayers money out of the system.
    Why more people do not think this is wrong I do not understand!

    That's because the rail and tube network became more efficient when they were in private hands didn't it?

    Shame that Railtrack and Metronet just happened to go bust and be bailed out of the taxpayer..............
    I'm not cynical I'm realistic :p

    (If a link I give opens pop ups I won't know I don't use windows)
  • WestonDave
    WestonDave Posts: 5,154 Forumite
    Rampant Recycler
    The whole thing is inefficient and unnecessary in its current form. We don't need a daily postal delivery, but as a nation we are paying for posties to plough up and down garden paths to deliver junk mail on the cheap. Fewer people are posting things and as a result the service is costing more per item being delivered and at the same time local post offices are going out of business due to lack of business.

    I'd suggest a wholesale shakeup. Scrap the daily delivery, and make local sub post offices into local mail hubs. Mail for the surrounding area gets delivered there each day, and twice a week (Mon to Sat - so 3 rounds running) mail gets collected from there and delivered. If people want their mail daily then they can pay for a mail box in the post office from where they can collect it. First and second class distinction scrapped to make one standard class. Anything more urgent goes via a special delivery service which is van delivered like parcels are now where one van can cover a vast area. Scrap unaddressed junk mail to make room for mail only in the posties round bags.

    You could then lose 60% of posties, give sub post offices a role and a source of income that would help them stay alive, and in the process cut costs to a point where it remains economic to run a postal system with a stamp price people are prepared to pay.

    The current system is so labour intensive that with volumes of proper letters declining, the stamp price will have to rise excessively to cover wage costs. With it heavily unionised the chances of keeping wage costs under control are slim so at some point the current system will implode under its own inefficiency.
    Adventure before Dementia!
  • olly300
    olly300 Posts: 14,738 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Weston Dave stop presuming
    1. That everyone received junk mail every day and doesn't receive normal mail.
    2. That eveyone lives in a town or city - there are lots of villages without a post office
    3. That everyone has the same working pattern as you - somehow I don't see someone working 13 hour night shifts with going to queue up in a long queue to collect their post or open their post box in the post office when they are tired and not safe to drive.
    4. That people don't have mobility problems
    I'm not cynical I'm realistic :p

    (If a link I give opens pop ups I won't know I don't use windows)
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