It’s finally happened, a day I had predicted well before my journey had started. Royal Mail hoping to go to a 3 day delivery week. I never expected them to be allowed to reduce by such a margin, even one day would have been bad for their business. So let’s break down what this means and how it affects people and business. *
The following is just an honest opinion with little factual basis, after 16 years I grew tired of reading their constant bs.
In all honesty it allows them to do exactly what they have been doing since covid but not getting the penalties they just received for poor service quality.
It allows them to charge first class prices for a second class service. As first class will move to a 3 day target and second class will be a 5 day delivery target. They will charge first class prices for what is effectively there old second class service. The second class service will be the same as first class but they will hope to hoodwink people into paying first class prices for the same service.
There will be a price freeze till 2027 but not before they have put in another price hike.
Any business needing to send out vital time sensitive post they will have no option but to pay for special delivery to guarantee next day delivery.
You will need to plan well in advance to send Birthday/Christmas cards.
People waiting on hospital test results and appointments will have to endure more sleepless nights waiting for the post to arrive.
As mail is getting held when it finally is it’s turn to be delivered the mail will be that heavy on every beat the poor postal worker doesn’t stand a chance of completing their round. If your near the end of a round you will be lucky to receive mail once a week.
Why would a company want this? Shareholder value, it’s all about money and profits over service. They are simply uninterested in mail, it’s a millstone around their parcel operation. When it was privatised on the cheap this was part of the reason the USO, universal service obligation, the guarantee to deliver to potentially every household everyday. Anyone who works in the post knows the USO has been shall we say ‘loose’ for a number of years.
Why now? General election, I am not going to air any political views. One thing I will say tho is whatever changes they make will be sealed before the next general election.
For well over 10 years the powers that be have said no to dropping Saturday deliveries. And now they’ve kind of gone yeah you can drop the Saturdays and why don’t you take another 2 days as well, doesn’t make sense. The USO has potentially been halved, jobs will be halved and for what a service which will be slower than when they started over 500 years ago. The amount of brilliant posties who have been sacked or hounded out of their jobs over the last 18 months is scandalous and they’ve been replaced by agency workers and no one could see the logic as the agency workers are being paid more than actual postmen, and that’s not taking into account the agency fee that goes on top. Now it makes perfect sense, get as many old postmen out to save on the impending redundancies. Release the agency workers as they are no longer needed and half your workforce without paying redundancy as you’ve already sacked or driven out the “old wood”. It’s without doubt premeditated….planned even but to plan something like this needs a few rotten apples on both sides.
Give it a few years and there will be a follow up to the recent TV drama about the post office but it’s about Mr Bates secret love child who has inherited all his amazing qualities it will be called “Master Bates versus Royal Mail”.
Not just a postman
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