Privatise the Royal Mail NOW!

And if it's thieving bastards rather than rubishness to blame, privatising it won't really help either. In fact, it'll probably make things worse as corners are cut to make more cash for shareholders.

Chick-lit, unfortunately.

I think DHL etc probably *are* more reliable, but there is still room for human error.

Also, bank holidays can cause much longer delays than they ought to.

I only know about UK to Spain and vice versa though.

ie they tried to call it 'consignia'.

As we speak, Tom Hanks is sitting on a desert island with your parcel, talking to a volleyball.

crosspost

Looking on the bright side - you can do the tapes again (and much more quickly as you've now got the track listing etc sorted, right?) and write the same letter, also more quickly 'cos you know what you want to say. Then send it International Signed For (which you may well have done anyway I guess - if so you could be entitled to compensation) or DHL obv.

I am being all reasonable to-day because the sun is shining.

I can't imagine privatising it will make it better though.

I think Royal Mail has actually improved slightly over the last year or so, at least with regard to stolen mail. I remember starting a similar ranting thread about stolen mail a couple of years ago, probably around the time I first started posting to ILX. Haven't had any problems with that happening for ages.

xpost

gah. i can feel the bile rising. must ... not ... rant. but yes, my solution now is to use courier companies for anything remotely important - and phone/e-mail for almost everything else.

i can't bring myself to see privatisation as the answer to anything. but then i'm the one using private companies to deliver packages. hmm.

You bet. And the post here sucks too.

I know that it's not perfect, but it's bloody cheap compared to most other postal services.

Getting back on topic, Canada are complete and utter control freaks when it comes to checking incoming international mail.

You bet. And the post here sucks too.

That isn't what I meant!

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump3?catId=400043&mediaId=26800663

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7027142.stm

Royal Mail workers have started the first of two 48-hour walkouts in a protest over pay and fears of job cuts.

After last-minute talks between Royal Mail managers and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) failed to reach a deal, the strike started at noon.

A second two-day strike by the CWU's 130,000 members is scheduled to begin at 0300 BST on Monday, 8 October.

Companies have been warned that the strikes mean there will be no deliveries until next Thursday.

darraghmac to thread

Haha

well? waht do you want me to say? i don't travel royal mail.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7184753.stm

The postal regulator has called for Royal Mail to be partly privatised to safeguard the quality of the UK's mail delivery service.

Don't try it.

Think it might happen?

So not gonna happen.

I wouldn't have thought so either.

They may as well do it, since their function as a public service counts for nothing. They're closing my local PO along with 36 others in the region, so instead of a 5 minute walk down the road to post a package, it's now a half hour journey into town.

Royal Mail != The Post Office For some reason they are separate entities which may well be part of the problem.

one of the problems is the cost of posting letters is ridiculously low. It should be at least £1. No wonder they make a loss.

also, this half-baked situation is stupid. Why can't there be proper competition from posting the letter to delivery, rather than have the Royal mail still handle all the deliveries? There should be a range of posting boxes owned by different companies and the public can have a choice which they use. and if one lot choose to go on strike you can just switch to a different company.

one of the problems is the cost of posting letters is ridiculously low. It should be at least £1

YES THAT WOULD SOLVE ALL THEIR PROBLEMS

"Royal Mail needs access to private capital and a stronger set of incentives to enable it to restructure and become more profitable,"

restructure = sack people

It's pretty depressing the way the post has gone - we often don't get any deliveries for several days (suburban south London, hardly the sticks) and, talking to our postie, the notion of "first class" is out the window now as, if they don't have sufficient agency staff to cover absences, mail will just pile up in the sorting office until they have enough bodies in to clear it. I'm guessing there's no method for dealing with it chronologically when it gets that bad.

I've been waiting for three items I know were sent over a week ago from within the UK (including some slides from a photo lab in B'ham; they can't even send me a replacement CD-R cos they don't retain the scans for more than 24 hours :( ).

also, this half-baked situation is stupid. Why can't there be proper competition from posting the letter to delivery, rather than have the Royal mail still handle all the deliveries? There should be a range of posting boxes owned by different companies and the public can have a choice which they use. and if one lot choose to go on strike you can just switch to a different company.

I haven't been following all this, but the traditional problem is that no private operator is interested in providing a parallel nationwide network that delivers letters for a standard price UK-wide. If a private operator were allowed to charge extra for delivering a letters from the Isles of Scilly to Orkney (or just ignore that business sector) and clean up on the profitable trunk roads of delivery, the Royal Mail would be (justly) up in arms that it was operating on a completely unlevel playing field. Its London-Birmingham deliveries obviously cross-subsidise the outer reaches of the national infrastructure.

Yes, you could scrap the flat rate entirely, but do we really want that? I prefer just having my simple book of first-class stamps in my wallet, thanks.

It occurs to me that Grandpoint Genie might be taking the piss. If so, silly me. If not, this is not a rhetorical gambit.

the public can have a choice which they use. and if one lot choose to go on strike you can just switch to a different company

When did David Cameron join ILX?

Freedom of choice, yes that really works in driving up standards, doesn't it?

sometimes freedom of choice works, sometimes it doesn't. It improved telcommunications no end.

there is this ridiculous charade that it is played out time and time again in Britain. It goes like this:

1) people complain about something not working

2) someone proposes a solution

3) people slag off the solution so nothing changes

Repeat.

sometimes freedom of choice works, sometimes it doesn't. It improved telcommunications no end.

I think you'll find advances in technology had rather more to do with that than customer choice

Pretty sure nobody here would be able to implement your "25 post boxes on every street corner and a quid a throw for your xmas cards, oh and fuck you if you live more than 2 miles from a major conurbation" solution, but maybe I'm wrong.

But I'm enjoying this insight into what the next government will be offering us, so kiu.

there is this ridiculous charade that it is played out time and time again in Britain. It goes like this:

1) people complain about something not working

2) someone proposes a solution based on the premise that the market is always right and nothing else can possibly work

3) people complain about something not working

Repeat.

Also we hate success in this country.

Telecoms was a botched privatisation because BT so dominates the market and still largely has control over most of the infrastructure. It's a totally uneven playing field to this day - I reckon the same thing would happen with mail. Mobile telecoms is a different kettle of fish altogether and grew up as a private enterprise in any case.

The only way private companies can make any money from mail is by agreeing large contracts with businesses. Bog standard consumer mail is a financial black hole. If they want it to break even, maybe merging it with the Post Office and encouraging Post Offices to subsidise their income by (radical idea) selling things that people actually want to buy might help.

Build 'em up to knock 'em down.

Is there more mail now, or less?

Going back to mobile telecoms, 'choice' worked because the various companies involved built themselves up on brand spanking new infrastructure, they weren't sold a decaying network that they then had to spend (or not) huge reserves of cash trying to sort out.

http://www.enjoyfrance.com/images/stories/france/news/Prince-Charles.jpg

"there is this ridiculous charade that it is played out time and time again in Britain. It goes like this:

1) people complain about something not working

2) someone proposes a solution

3) people slag off the solution so nothing changes

Repeat."

MDC, OTM about telecoms.

Public services are for the public good and should be owned by the public.

To be fair, if it wasn't for competition in the fuel industry I wouldn't have met such an exciting group of people on my front doorstep who aren't trying to sell me anything, honestly, they just want to know if I want to save money on my electricity bill and isn't gas terrific value for money nowadays? well done the market

The only justification for private enterprise, i.e. profit, i.e. charging more than something is worth, is that it encourages innovation.

The post doesn't need to be innovative, it just needs to bluddy work.

but Tracer, in order to make it work in an efficient way, there *does* need to be innovation, it just has to be innovation at the back-end rather than customer facing innovation, eg using OCR for sorting, faster sorting machines, etc. Also, why did they stop putting mail on trains? It was a v efficient way of moving it around.

Privatisation of the railways?

How does the Royal Mail's record on delivery times (and price) compare with similar countries? I think it used to be pretty much a world leader, but perhaps I am getting misty-eyed.

I'd totally forgotten about this thread!

The situation hasn't improved though. I posted a big and not inexpensive package to Toronto back in January (it was a book - nothing dodgy and no questionable content) as a present and it has never been received. If it's been sitting on a dusty shelf in Quebec Customs these last four months that would be one thing, but more likely it's just got lost in the stupid Royal Mail non-system.

Kill all shareholders.

In an article today it says the Royal Mail actually was profitable until last year, when it lost 10m pounds; the article was unhelpfully silent on why this was - anybody know?

Grandpont that's a good point. I didn't think about the "back end".

In an article today it says the Royal Mail actually was profitable until last year, when it lost 10m pounds; the article was unhelpfully silent on why this was - anybody know?

It went missing in the post.

BOOM TSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHH, I fangyaw

in order to make it work in an efficient way, there *does* need to be innovation, it just has to be innovation at the back-end rather than customer facing innovation, eg using OCR for sorting, faster sorting machines, etc.

Yes, but don't imagine that competing companies innovating in these areas would have the result of faster deliveries for everyday mail. The vast bulk of mail is ... bulk mail, and bills and so on, which aren't time-sensitive. There isn't the financial incentive for them to improve next-day delivery percentages for standard-rate mail. If they introduced more automation, it would be with a view to cutting labour costs, not addressing the general speed of delivery. As for lost mail, I doubt that has much to do with technology. Perhaps there is a sickness at the heart of Royal Mail's infrastructure/management/staff/culture, but I don't think it would be solved by better machines.

The Royal Mail did a stand-up job last week, charging my Dad 8 quid for the privilege of letting 20 quids worth of DVDs through customs. They did manage to not rob them or anything, so fair enough I suppose.

So, is there more mail now, or less?

I still don't know why marcello is blaming the RM though. It seems much more likely it's stuck in Toronto. Their mail is still crappy compared to ours. As is Spains, Italys and Australia (and that's the extent of my experience). I'm still pretty amazed at how well the mail works for such a small amount of money.

The closure of PO's is a bad thing though. Government not looking at the big picture there at all.

It is weird! There's no political upside to it at all.

what happened to the ideas floating around to keep many post offices open by turning them into one-stop local government office / information point etc?

what happened to the ideas floating around to keep many post offices open by turning them into one-stop local government office / information point etc?

they can fit a church in it too, and then turn the whole thing into a super profit making plc.

then make a film about it and call it the privatisation of the christ

you write as if no church has ever turned a profit ever.

yeah but i am talking about divine net profit here, rather than the holy gross.

I'm curious to see how the incorporation of the Poland Street PO here in Soho (always busy, rarely less than 20-30 people in the queue during lunch hour) into a branch of bloody WHSmith in the Plaza shopping centre on Oxford Street will pan out. The PO near Charing Cross is even busier - the queues in there are insane.

I used to go to the Poland St PO but I go to the one on Lower Regent St now, and try not to go at lunchtime.

the one on newman street is great though

in unrelated notes i just had to send a document to my mum via fedex - guarenteed to arrive by saturday noon, and i get to track it hobbling over the continents on the internet. but sets me back £36. this is for ONE PIECE OF PAPER.

it probably won't cost a lot more (relatively) if i was sending more stuff - i should have bought her some presents.

Britain, you are really fucking turning me into a Tory, day by day, bit by bit.

Noodle Vague's posts have a similar effect on me.

http://www.torytube.ca/images/Tory-banner_small.jpg

Fortunately when voting day actually comes I have enough self-control not to actually vote Tory. Would that the same could have been said for a million or so Londoners a couple of weeks ago.

And some dude I've never heard of up there.

I am totally happy with the postal service.

Britain, you are really fucking turning me into a Tory, day by day, bit by bit.

Noodle Vague's posts have a similar effect on me.

-- stroker ace, 15 May 2008 13:07 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

darraghmac sockpuppet, i reckon.

Marcello might get his thatcherite wish
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7785177.stm

yes, lets create another private-sector-but-subsidised monopoly, making megabucks for the shareholders and directors whist ripping off the customers for a degraded service. worked for the trains.

... which is eventually sold off to the state-run postal service of another country

But as long as Marcello get his mail all will be well!

the mail really is shite now though innit?

Seems fine to me

it is shit. no sunday collection, no delivery before like 11.30.

There's never been Sunday collection, has there?

Ah right, they had it between 1990 and 2007, don't know when they had it before that

I want the 1st and 2nd post back! And 1st post before 9am like it used to be when the royal mail was great

and privatising it makes that even less likely

I got a sunday delivery this week.

We got a parcel 2 years ago on a sunday just before xmas.

It had been posted in 1948

They always deliver on the sunday before Christmas

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7797701.stm

The price of first and second-class stamps are to rise by 3 pence from 6 April, the Royal Mail has announced.

For standard letters weighing up to 100g, a first-class stamp will cost 39p, while second-class will be 30p.

Royal Mail stressed that the hikes were within the price limits set by the regulator, Postcomm.

It also said that even after the latest set of increases, delivering stamped mail will remain a loss-making business for Royal Mail.

Last year, Royal Mail lost more than £100m providing the universal mail service.

Marcello must be on holiday

tapes??

who says no-one listens to the blogoshere, right? right?

Marcello has so much power, hope it doesn't to to his head.

ugh this again

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=6105&edition=1&ttl=20090224153936

read this http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2327019.ece

and then the follow-up http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7956570.stm

“I feel that as an outsider who now feels he belongs that I can tell others what they should do.”

yyyep

get a stamp vending machine, morans

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00758/broken_english_758576a.jpg

i remember thinking as a little kid that there were two languages in the whole world, english and foreign.

that, like, 'foreign' was the name of the other language.

I hope the OP's happy now.

Britain, you are really fucking turning me into a Tory, day by day, bit by bit.

this from the guy who was an authority on whichever celebs/pop stars had ever exhibited a tory tendency in their entire lives

I wonder what technological advances in mail delivery will be made possible by these new barcoded stamps?

At the moment the barcoded stamps let people watch and share “exclusive” Shaun the Sheep videos, 

This thread aged well

Can’t wait for the free market to fix the health service next

Do the new barcodes stop you re-using unfranked stamps?

i think so. they can't be for the sender or the destination and i can't think why else you'd need to uniquely identify stamps

A czech billionaire owns the mail?

I think if I send anything like this again I'll use DHL or similar. It costs a lot more but at least the package would go where it was supposed to.

Ah, the innocence of 2006!

I was kind of following the decline of working conditions and worker morale at Royal Mail through the postman/writer Kevin Boniface on twitter. It was already going badly for them a few years before the Czech billionaire bought them out. He was just the kiss of death for a dying patient I think.