Are there any alternatives to Royal Mail after the price changes from 30 April 2012?

custardy

dragonfruit wrote: »

Is USA subsidising USPS?

Business mail subsidised retail
I don't know why you are obsessed with the USA
take one aspect. whats the difference in fuel prices in the USA vs UK?
take another. how many delivery points have mail boxes at the end of the road/garden/house in the USA vs UK.
how many competitors does USPS have?
how much competitor mail does USPS carry
etc etc

custardy

dragonfruit wrote: »

So someone made a mess, but why we have to pay for that someone's mistakes? Why were these mistakes not predicted and prevented?

why are you asking 10 years too late?

custardy

stevew8975 wrote: »

Possibly because they were heavily subsidised, and still running at an operational loss.

Remember it is not specifically the government that has increased prices, but RM themselves have now been given more control over their pricing structure to ensure that they can operate without a loss, and without being subsidised by the tax-payer.

Contrary to popular belief and what a certain chancellor believed, the Uk does not have a bottomless pit of money to dip into. It has taken a change of government to make this point, but still people are expecting financial miracles.

RM made mahoosive profits.
so much that they took a 13 year pension holiday
however meddling and 'opening' a market far earlier than any other EU country put pai to that.

custardy

stevew8975 wrote: »

No, the prices were artificially low due to the subsidies. The RM were/are still hampered in improving efficiency and reducing costs due to pressure and intervention from the unions.



Perhaps they were all following the example set by a certain Chancellor and his bottomless pit of money... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQVF9s01NYI

Steve,don't believe the hype.
what RM do,in the main adds nothing and isnt even intended to improve efficiency

dragonfruit

custardy wrote: »

Business mail subsidised retail
I don't know why you are obsessed with the USA
take one aspect. whats the difference in fuel prices in the USA vs UK?

But look what's the difference in distances.

custardy wrote: »

take another. how many delivery points have mail boxes at the end of the road/garden/house in the USA vs UK.

But we don't need that here. We have terraces, so what would be the point of boxes at the end of the road?

custardy wrote: »

how many competitors does USPS have?

How many?

custardy wrote: »

how much competitor mail does USPS carry
etc etc

But whose fault is that?

Couldn't they predict what would happen when they did it like that?

dragonfruit

custardy wrote: »

why are you asking 10 years too late?

Because of yet another price increase on 30 April.

custardy

dragonfruit wrote: »

Because of yet another price increase on 30 April.

wow,thanks for the update....
there are price rises every year.
why have you woken up this year?
I have been posting for years that price rises were coming

custardy

dragonfruit wrote: »

But look what's the difference in distances.



But we don't need that here. We have terraces, so what would be the point of boxes at the end of the road?



How many?



But whose fault is that?

Couldn't they predict what would happen when they did it like that?

seriously.you know nothing of this and Im not spoon feeding you.
USPS is a closed market. so ho many competitors would that make?

baffcat

I'm pretty certain that one big difference twixt here & the US is that they charge differently for distances. Could be wrong, but that was always my impression.

dragonfruit

custardy wrote: »

seriously.you know nothing of this and Im not spoon feeding you.
USPS is a closed market. so ho many competitors would that make?

That's my point. Opening of the market just for the sake of opening it (or for the sake of the benefit of several dozens of private companies, competitors of the RM) was a bad idea. What were they thinking? Have they lost common sense?

Let's look at the facts, shall we?

Before opening the market:

1. The RM was making huge profit (mahoosive, as you said)
2. Prices were low, and stable for many, many years
3. Everyone was happy, except perhaps the several dozens of the RM wannabe competitors

After opening the market:

1. The RM is making huge losses
2. Prices are high and rise considerably every year
3. Everyone is unhappy, except perhaps the several dozens of the RM competitors.

So why was the market open? Was someone bribed or what? What were they thinking? Why were several dozens of private companies more important than milions of people and businesses?