Royal Mail privatisation... Would you?

Better_Days

RM has been badly managed for years. In the good years when RM made money it was not reinvested by successive governments in the business and improving management. As others have pointed out the business would not have been saleable if pensions were included, so that responsibility has been taken out of the business. The government is already reneging on its promises to RM staff to maintain pension commitments. Other providers have been permitted to 'cherry pick' the most profitable aspects of the business.

The reason you are getting your post later in the day is not because your postman is working more slowly. It is because those postmen who started at say 4.30 am were paid a bit more than those who worked more sociable hours. To save money the early starts are being phased out.

RM has been 'prepared' for sale. Machinery and vehicles which would have otherwise been replaced have not been, so as to make the accounts look more healthy.

What may happen is that as with Yodel, delivery rounds are franchised. In the meantime it is likely there will be a two tier workforce, the 'old' RM staff and the 'new' staff probably on zero hours contracts. There is no way 6 day a week deliveries and delivery for the same cost across the country will continue. You will probably be able to hold your breath in the time it takes whoever buys RM to start lobbying govt to change the law governing this until 2022. I would not be surprised if some EU directive was dug up to support overturning the law.

You only have to look at how much privatisation of other public services has benefited the consumer to see how this will turn out.

I have a friend from South Africa. When she first came here she couldn't understand why we would send important documents through the post. Over there so much gets stolen or mislaid no-one bothers. But it is a great inconvenience, especially for those in rural areas, to personally visit banks, passport agencies, solicitors etc. And you can forget about internet shopping.

Currently postmen and ladies get paid about £19k pa. After tax and NI etc take home is about £1,000 a month. I wonder how much services will improve when the purchaser of RM seeks to save money by cutting pay in a race to the bottom. But will the taxpayer then be picking up the bill for tax credits?

custardy

mike88 wrote: »

DHL, UPS and many other parcel delivery companies. They are in competition with these companies already but whose to say what the future holds as prices are squeezed as new entrants become involved in this expanding business.

You mean Parcelforces competitors surely?
Do you see RM as only delievering parcels?
whats happened to the nail service they are legally oblige to deliver 6 days a week?

Glen_Clark

MrRee wrote: »

To be honest, this wouldn't really interest Joe Public if it was limited to £750 each - just not enough profit in it at all.

£10,000 minimum would be of interest as the returns will be worth getting up for.

£750 in British Gas Shares at launch would be worth about £10,000 now plus dividends.

mike88

custardy wrote: »

You mean Parcelforces competitors surely?
Do you see RM as only delievering parcels?
whats happened to the nail service they are legally oblige to deliver 6 days a week?

Surely parcel delivery is a potential growth area. There's not much prospect in growing the business from delivering mail 6 days a week.

Doshwaster

custardy wrote: »

You mean Parcelforces competitors surely?
Do you see RM as only delievering parcels?
whats happened to the nail service they are legally oblige to deliver 6 days a week?

Parcelforce really is where the investment is needed. There's the potential there for a true global business to take on the like of DHL, UPS and FedEx in the international logistics market.

custardy

mike88 wrote: »

Surely parcel delivery is a potential growth area. There's not much prospect in growing the business from delivering mail 6 days a week.

right,but you were talking of competitors
RM are not a parcel business
The letters market is the whole(well sort of) reason for the privatisation
Parcelforce already exists,so whats your answer?
just write off a letters business?
In which case we can wind it up and forget the whole thing?

MrRee_2

Basically, I see it like this:-

1. Staff are covered by TUPE

2. RM can be run more efficiently

3. The sell off will happen - whether we take a slice or not

4. If you object strongly to the sale don't buy and register your opinion that way

5. The only decision I have to make is at what level they will allow you to have your full application ... £750? £10,000? or can I be fulfilled with my £75,000 preferrence? Once chosen there is no changing your mind.

So, the debate should simply be:- what would be the cleverest amount to request to make the biggest xmas present?

Debate on ..........

mike88

custardy wrote: »

right,but you were talking of competitors
RM are not a parcel business
The letters market is the whole(well sort of) reason for the privatisation
Parcelforce already exists,so whats your answer?
just write off a letters business?
In which case we can wind it up and forget the whole thing?

Parcelforce is the trading name of Royal Mail Ltd and is an integral part of the privatisation. As there is no competition worth much in the letters market the competitors are the firms I mentioned in the expanding parcel delivery business. Surely you can see that?

michaels

Better_Days wrote: »

Currently postmen and ladies get paid about £19k pa. After tax and NI etc take home is about £1,000 a month. I wonder how much services will improve when the purchaser of RM seeks to save money by cutting pay in a race to the bottom. But will the taxpayer then be picking up the bill for tax credits?

19k gross is about 15,453 net. Are the rest of your 'facts' this accurate?

BobQ

Another politically motivated privatisation. The idea that this will lead to a more efficient service of the same quality is advanced in cloud cookoo land. In the real world we will all suffer both financially and in terms of quality of service.

Some privatisations work and improve the service or at least offer a good service in a more cost effective way. But all I see here is a service we actually need - a reliable daily delivery at a reasonable price - replaced with a higher cost, fragmented service.

Its probably a good short term investment like most privatisations when politicians give away public assets at below their real cost just to raise some cash. Clearly Cameron and Clegg do not care what it costs to sent a letter.