Today the Royal Mail have asked us all not to use post boxes so as to avoid backlogs when the strikes are over. There will be no deliveries until next Thursday. My question: since it was privatised, and mail delivery has been opened up for competition, why does this affect me? Why can’t I just post a letter in a post box belonging to some Royal Mail rival?
UPDATE: Royal Mail was not privatised, but postal delivery was opened up to competition except for the last mile.
In the mean time, if you live near a nice old Post Office building and like using it: hurry up! Near me there’s one in Post Office Road — POST OFFICE ROAD! — that’s going to be closed when they move it into WHSmith. Has it really come to this?
Comments
77 responses to “Royal Mail strike”
So, they’re telling us that post will take a week to arrive and we shouldn’t even rely on that? I don’t think I’ll notice the difference.
Almost as bad as hotmail.com then.
Walking past a post box today I noticed it has a sign taped to it reminding people not to use it!
And when the Labour party conference was here the other week they’d blocked up all the post boxes in the vicinity as well.
Trying to tell us something…
The Royal Mail should never have been privatised. It should be treated as sacred by the government and the staff should be paid a fair rate in order to keep the service running smoothly and efficiently. If the government didn’t waste money on general inefficiency then it shouldn’t be a problem maintaining a service that is vital to everyone in this country.
Still it’s not fair. I’m a student and I was not aware of the strike and I’ve ordered tones of books, and equipment to do my work. I can’t even get any of my work done because of royal mail messing up like always. I say fire the people that moan too much and hire people that want a job and can’t even find one!!
These people are just taking it too far now. FIRE THEM ALL!!!
I think “fire them all” is a little harsh… 😉
Where does the utter rubbish about no mail deliveries come from? Everyone knows its back to work and deliveries, it is just more propaganda from The Leighton controoled media, just like its being reported the strike is about a pay rise when its about pension robbing and changes to conditions of work.
Correction tp revious post. It should readrubbish about no mail deliveries until thursday, when its back to work wednesday. Sorry.
I reckon we’re a pretty typical example of a business that uses the Royal Mail a lot – when we realised this was definitely going to happen we tried a few things to minimise the impact but at the end of the day 90% of our business is sent out by mail and 90% of that by Royal Mail. We started about 17 years ago and a lot of it has been hard graft. We will be devastated by the cashflow implications of this and our 23 staff are probably worried about their jobs. I agree that the mail is too essential and should NEVER have been privatised and forced to meet the challenges of a free market. It doesn’t make sense to have 2 or 3 people delivering to every house every day. What would the global warming implications be of that! This is partly due to the problems with final salary pensions schemes and I don’t want to get political but if Gordon Brown hadn’t taxed dividends and the actuaries used out of date longevity tables allowing companies to take pensions holidays the pension scheme at RM wouldn’t have been 1.7bn in debt and forced to take out a loan for 17 years to cover it. Lots of businesses that have final salary schemes (we don’t) have to pay 30% of each employees wages in contributions. the UK economy has a tough ride ahead over the next 20 years as the effects of Gordon’s disasterous strategy is played out.
Aside: this page is currently the third Google UK hit for “royal mail strike”. It’s just me and the BBC covering this…
In response to the post saying strike ends Wednesday. That is like people saying it is Two 48 hour strikes. They return to work Midday Wednesday. They only work until midday. As for the pensions and change of working practice nonsense, the company can’t afford to pay them more because the service is so poor business customers are going elsewhere. If a single postie had a brain they would think Rover did this and now there is no Rover. Just shut down Royal Mail let someone else have a chance.
Don’t they realise that if they strike, there is a huge backlog of work when they get back, over & above their usual workload…..is it really worth it ??
Excellent website. I think we should all learn a lesson from this and move business risk away from snail mail altogether.
In essence the force that was once Royal Mail has dethroned itself
These strikes effect everyone not just the workers, it’s one thing to strike – it’s another thing to strike and effect other people’s life’s. i have been waiting for coursework related stuff that is being sent through the post and i am now going to fail the assignment!
so that’s a big fat THANK YOU! to royal mail because i am still waiting for my book list too.
A great start to uni.
They never think about others, they just want what they want. How greedy these people are!
I’ve applied to post office a million times and they wont take me on, but they are willing to take people on that will strike everyday because they getting paid 1p less then everyone else.
If they did a better job I would bake them all cookies for Christmas 🙂
Does anyone know when the post will become normal because I am stuck in a loop hole where I cant do work due to the fact I still have not received my goods.
So anyone can shade some light on when will the delivers become normal?
The Royal Mail needs a good kick up the arse i am a self employed courier and see postmen + women every day acting like they have all the time in the world .I went for a job interview with them once what a farce ! You wont get a job with them unless your a relation they are a bunch of incompetent hillbillies .
Hey Sariena I know what you mean and I’m sorry that you’re in that mess. I’m kind of in the same stat where I’m waiting for books for final year project. Which university your in and what course you do?
First of all, Royal Mail hasn’t been privatised and there are no plans to do so. The postal market was opened up to competition with agreement from the EU, with other countries following, which now looks very unlikely to happen. This has led to lots of other companies creaming off the most profitable mail, processing it, but still leaving RM to deliver ‘over the final mile’ (the most expensive bit). At present no other company is set up for bulk delivery of letters, but it will come – only in the major cities where money can be made.
Under RM’s Universal Service Agreement they have to, by law, charge the same price wherever a letter is sent within the UK. That equates to costing 0.5p across London, which at the moment subsidises the £17.50 cost of 1 letter being sent from London to the Scottish Isles. Zonal pricing is just around the corner!!
This is the fault of the government turning a service into a business (postal services are now the most regulated industry in the UK), not Royal Mail, who are struggling with antiquated equipment and old fashioned working practices. The bosses are currently trying to change this, but the CWU are preventing any forward movement with these strikes which solve nothing.
Bottom line is RM is over-staffed and under-invested and needs to modernise if it is to survive. You may knock RM, but imagine what it will be like if foreign companies take over and use the continental methods. UK is still the only country that has deliveries to every UK address, 6 days a week (not including strike days).
The strikes for delivery staff finish at 03:00 Wednesday morning, so there will be a delivery Wednesday.
The Ignorance on this subject amazes me. Perhaps people might like to do just a few minutes research before they start spouting utter drivel and just making their ignorance look like stupidity. Royal Mail has NOT been privatised, it still belongs to the people of this country. We are back to work Wednesday but it will be 3 or 4 days before we are back to normal. It’s not something we embarked on lightly.
Competition in this industry consists of Royal mail postmen delivering rival mail at a loss. The service you have known for over 200 years is on its last legs thanks to this government and believe me when it does go under the alternative is going to be just as bad if not worse and you will be paying European sized prices 2-3 times higher than you are paying now.
But the sound off it , I am not the only student waiting for books! Thanks RM another person you have let down.
Also I like to point out that when I was younger post use to be delievered in the morning before I went to school, but now I dont get it till after 2pm!!
What sort off service is this??
I think Paul sums the whole thing up. A service that was set up many years ago may never have invisaged the amount of addresses there are now, yet they are still working in very similar fashions, MANUALLY.
Zonal pricing makes sense, I always think its quite amazing that I can post a letter today and more often than not the recipetent in Staffordshire is opening it tomorrow and that costs me less than 30p, could anyone travel to Staffordshire overnight for that same amount? If you travel in London you would know the more Zone’s you travel through the more it will cost you…..not Rocket Science really.
I appreciate this doesn’t change that our business is also suffering from the strike action but at least we are all in the same boat.
Gary: thanks for setting me straight on Royal Mail not having been privatised: entirely my mistake.
I’m sure strike action is never undertaken lightly.
I lose all sympathy for these employees when strike action directly effects the general public.
The strike action will force more people away from RM and result in less business mail which i’m sure is where RM make their margins.
What I don’t understand is that the RM staff are striking because of proposed changes to working conditions and pension benefits yet they also complain about the way in which the RM has been run for the last 200 years. In order to improve the way the RM is run, modernisation of working practices will undoubtably take place and unfortunantly jobs will be made redundant in the process. That is life i’m afraid at the moment and if you don’t enjoy your current job then go find another.
Rant over.
Its a bloody joke striking for a pay rise. Start at 5am and finnish at 12pm and no Second Post now anyway, what a nightmare job that must be having the full day ahead of you. Also get on busses free of charge its not as if they have to walk around in the pouring rain all day. Ive lost all sympathy for them now one day strikes are fine but when your buisness starts to suffer due to ongoing longer strikes. Heres an idea get rid of 1/2 the managers then see what pay rise can be given as private companys usualy have far to many of them anyway. This postal service has run for 200 years no need to too many managers anyway. If the workers dont like it then replace them as they are playing a dangerous game now a days due to us being in the EU people from all over europe can easily take there jobs for national minimum wage and be happy as a pig in sh**.
Sack them all as the only people that are suffering is the general public.
these strikes are pointless and perthetic and help nobody! …i know someone who works at royal mail as a posty and he gets paid a damn good wage for the work he does. im currently unemployed and have tried to apply at royal mail for a job because the pay is pretty good for the work you do!.
its stupid..if they dont like the amount there paid..QUIT! and get another job…work somewhere else!
what happened to the postman delivering mail at 7:30am with a happy smile and polite manner..i miss those days
Personally I’m all for machine sorting and then getting rid of the redundant staff. Should have been done years ago. If this is done right it will results in cheaper operating costs and more money for wages/pensions of the employees left.
Since the strike has ruined my postal delivery/sending I now have no sympathy for the workers and would gladly see them all sacked and replaced by people that actually give a toss (P.S. I would love to be on your wage as most people in the UK are on lower wage for longer hours)
P.S. I thinks its great that RM delivers to all corners of the UK for the same price. (Maybe they should charge other companies more to deliver their mail on the last mile?)
20 years ago the job was Cushy, I’ve heard all the stories from the old timers. However the job has gone full circle with the advent of junk and business mail. Have you asked yourself how much mail you get now compared to 15 years ago? I’m guessing you rarely have days now where you don’t get any mail whereas then it was the other way round . The time given to do this work has not changed in 30 years yet the mail has probably gone up 20 fold.It’s a finite ammount of work to do, I can’t deliver to two doors at once, I can only get the van to do 100MPH, I can’t run with 35lbs on my back.
Remember the fuss the unions kicked up in the sixties when managment tried to bring in “time and motion” men to improve efficiency? We have asked them to do this constantly.Royal Mail management refuse point blank to test postmens workload. what does that say to you?
Not only is royal mail publicly owned but for years has remained profitable with the money made being taken directly by the treasury.This has left nothing to invest to make the business viable. All this while charging the lowest prices in Europe. So thats Profitable AND cheap. And thats inneficient is it?
Please read the postmens Posts. Its NOT about a wage rise and to a certain extent most people accept that pensions have been screwed.
This is about the destruction of a Service which the British public have used and trusted for over 200 years. We don’t stand a chance of winning this because the Government has deciced that it now has to be opened up to unfair competition. But we have to try.
The universal service order(USO) which royal mail adheres to means everyone can post to any address in Britain for a uniform price. This has worked for years because the short distance mail has subsidised the long distance mail. This is at risk as never before because if the rivals keep taking the profit then Royal Mail wil not be able to keep going. Please note I said keep taking the profit and not taking the post because Royal Mail still delivers all letters to your home. The competition picks up the mail and gives it to us to deliver because Delivery has the highest costs in terms of infrastructure,vehicle costs and staff and is not as profitable as distribution. Thats why they don’t want it and never will.
Some will not agree with this statement but I’m going to make it anyway and trust me as someone on the inside who see’s what is happening to the Service.
You are REALLY going to miss it when its gone!
Wouldn’t it be fantastic, if we were all in a position to hold our bosses and country to ransom, I’m sure most of us would jump to the picket line if we had the chance, (but not during winter) but imagine the state the country would be in. Even if RM staff have a valid point to do so, it is unethical and selfish to effect the innocent public….It’s almost terrorism.
Gary: thanks for that comment and explanation. So it should never have been opened up to “competition” in the first place; and now that it has, it’s hard to see any way to undo it. 🙁
About the increase in junk mail etc.: perhaps it’s worth mentioning the Mailing Preference Service. Anyone can register there to cut down the amount of unwanted junk email they get (and posties have to deliver).
Edwin: you have the chance right now to strike, don’t you? Are you going to? I don’t think anyone takes that decision as lightly as you think.
It’s nothing like terrorism at all.
Thank you Gary for clearing a few things up!
Wow there is so much hate hail on here for Royal mail and so many delusions!
Strike action was the last thing we wanted, I cannot afford to do it with a big moregage and bills! However I am striking, if you do not stand together you fall apart.
People who think postal delivery is an easy job, I welcome you to walk a day in my shoes. The amount of people we take on that do not last the week as they cannot take the hard work is crazy. They either bring the mail back or some ditch it!
It amuses me the amount of people who said they applied to work for Royal mail and couldnt get a job, does that not tell you something? You derride the posty and know nothing about what is really going on.
Royal mail wants us to lose our early shift allowance, the money for door to doors and to work harder for less money.
The people at my office start between 4-5 and finish between 1-3. It is a heavy, thankless job.
I have recently been off with plantain ficicious due to walking too much and I was on crutches unable to weight bear! Agony. This is common in posties.
Our delivery when we had a second delivery, which for your information consisted of about 25 letters (waste of time) was about 3 hours, now we deliver between 4-5 hours in all weather with 16kg bags on our bags, which now contain tnt, lynx mail, dhl, etc, etc.
Oh and I would love to find another job, but it is not that easy, I have pride in my job and take care of the people I deliver to, going out of my way to help them.
Only 4 years ago I was delivering mail as early as 7-8am and then the walks got bigger the workload bigger so it got later and later. This week the management start us on 6am starts instead of 5am, so do not be expected your mail before lunch!
Blame the managment not the postie! Nicki x
Tim, Maybe it’s not terrorism in convential terms but they are holding the country to ransom over this. It is us who are affected by the delays and as a previous poster mentioned, cashflow for some businesses will be a real struggle.
And whereas you are right in saying we could strike, I know that if told my boss I was going on strike he would say, OK here’s your P45. I’d hazard a guess and state that the majority of UK employees are not part of a Union and cannot hide behind them like RM staff, Prison Wardens etc.
RM staff have a right to voice their opinions however to strike hits the impacts ordinary citizens who have paid for a service that is not being carried out.
Lets all go on strike….
It is selfish action with total disregard for others. Whilst Royal Mail may not be a threat to life as the firefighters strike was a few years ago, I’m sure many of the staff don’t genuinely realise the effect that it has upon other businesses and subsequently their employees.
Whether the strike action is around pay or conditions, there are alternatives. Why should Royal Mail staff be allowed to hold the country to ransom?
Let the army go on strike and leave no one defending the country, or the police so we have total disorder. Maybe the teachers fancy a week off! I’m sure they too feel overworked and underpaid. Why don’t those RM employees think of the consequences of this? Who will look after your kids? Will you have to take time off unpaid? Oh, maybe they will have a couple of days off the following week (or maybe not, but the irritation of not knowing and the havoc that it will play on your life will be just as annoying). What about the supermarkets? Let all the employees go on strike, so there is no food on the shelves for a week.
Whilst I appreciate some of those examples are unlawful, I’m sure you get the idea.
For all those Royal Mail employees reading this…
Who applied for the job? YOU
If you don’t want it, then resign, and give someone who really wants or needs a job the opportunity to earn some money.
Nobody is disputing the unsociable hours that you work, or that you walk miles and miles and get sore feet, but again who applied for the job? YOU. YOU chose to accept the job and conditions when they were offered to you.
I’m sure it is always ‘the manager’s fault’, but holding any company to ransom is just selfish, and those who do so do not consider the impact on others.
To some it is just a bit of post or a late birthday card, to others it can bring a business to it’s knees or impact college / univesity studies or make bill payments late, which can lead to further financial punishments.
And now there’s talk of a weeklong walkout. Impressive people, really impressive. Why don’t you throw the rest of your toys out of the pram while you are at it.
THINK OF SOMEONE OTHER THAN YOURSELVES FOR A CHANGE.
Yeh Great . Standard reply “get another job” Really constructive.
Quote “YOU. YOU chose to accept the job and conditions when they were offered to you.”
Yes thats right I chose those terms and conditions when I took the job. No-one is complaining about that. It’s the unachievable new terms and conditions being forced upon us we’re not happy about.
I struggled with the decision to strike. I apologised to all my customers last week and tried to explain why to a few of them.
To be honest reading the posts on here and elsewhere has really eased my conscience. I now just don’t care
Sorry to upset the applecart – I don’t know too much about it but I’m on the postie’s side! You couldn’t pay me enough to do the work those postmen do and they rarely get any thanks for it. The impression that I’m getting that the powers-that-be want to make the workload for them even heavier is unthinkable!
In answer to all those who seem to thing that this strike is entirely the work of the postal workers union (CWU) this is far from the case. The union offered to negotiate a mutually acceptable deal, without any strikes, Alan Leyton declined. In fact he vowed that he would never talk at all, he would simply impose his will on Royal Mail staff.
It took a month of strikes before he finally accepted the unions offer to meet and its unilateral offer to cease industrial action while the talks went on. After five weeks of meetings, in which considerable progress was made, the management decided to return to imposing it plans on its staff. And issued a proposal for changes in working practice that would put Royal Mail staff on similar employment terms to those you would find in a third world sweatshop.
These plans included changes in start times, in an industry that large numbers of people work for no other reason than the unusual start and finish times are fundamental to how they live their lives. The most common reason being sharing child care between partners. But others, like me, use the early start/finish times to allow us to attend college.
What’s more, they weren’t just planning on moving to later starts, they were also planning to remove the idea of a set start time at all. You would start when told, on 24 hours notice. You would finish when told, on 24 hours notice. And if there was too much work to get done by the time you were set, you were expected to work overtime till it was done, with refusal to work overtime being punishable by sacking. The plans also include changes to pension arrangements that would cost an estimated £56,000 per person. Not surprisingly, the strikes resumed.
To my mind the union and its members have shown admirable restraint throughout this process. The strikes were reluctantly undertaken and the last resort of a workforce desperate to maintain the balance of their lives.
It’ amazes me how little it takes some you for your lives to be disrupted, yet you won’t give a toss at something that really matters. The guys from RM won’t get paid for those days of strike either, if they do then there is problem. In the end they’re also losing money.The real difference is that they’ve had the balls to do it!
At the end of the day I am glad to see that some Brits are left with a bit of dignity and won’t accept everything thrown at them, we need to see more strikes from everyone. I can honestly not believe how RM workers are being flamed on this board, just because some are losing money or for whatever silly reasons (buy the way, this is what governments expect you to do. It’s a lot harder to say something about your council taxes because then they put you in jail, with murderers and drug dealers). Money is all over the world, if there is something the world lacks of it’s anything but money. Oh and by the way what do we need that money for? Buy a HD TV? Come on what’s wrong with analog ones? A dual core computer? Why don’t you go to the charity shop and buy that old Pentium 3, run Linux on it and learn how to use real software that makes the most of your hardware? Or is it to pay your taxes? In the last case, look what your taxes are used for, bomb Iraq and so on. Is the air in London cleaner since they’ve introduced the congestion charge? Perhaps if Royalmail went on strike every week when they introduced the C charge, people wouldn’t have to empty their pockets for no reasons so much.
Brown has already canceled the elections and no one has moved a little finger on that matter. This is not a really good start, what’s coming next, a dictatorship? And what if Royalmail goes on strike again because every Royalmail worker wants to have an election, what would you flamers say in this case?
Take example, learn something, follow their steps. Pay attention and say something! Just not against the ones who strike.
i just wanted to say that i am totally in favour of the RM workers but would like to point out that this strike action would never be carried out at chrismas time. so why is alright to do it now when eid could be tomorrow and i have still not received any gifts i have bought for my family and freinds. remember there are almost 2 million muslims in this country and a large amount of their eid will be ruined by this strike.like i said you should stand up for yourselves but choose your timings carefully and a full week strike is a joke why not space them out.that way you still get your point accross but keep disruption to the public minimal.muhammad
Why the hell being part of the Royal Mail entitle you to go on strike while your role is so critical? Why does anyone accept it? FS! These people shall be fired and it’s nothing harsh. Do my employer care I can’t work because I didn’t get my internet connection? Not the least and it’s well normal and I spend my day boucing from a cofee to another spending a fortune working in awfull conditions. It’s been 2 weeks no mail gets in Edinburgh.
Sick of these people who apologise in advance because they so know how wrong they will do. Being a mailman is not a bloody vocation! I bet they can qualify for being parking attendant too.
On the other hand, I’ll now curse and disqualify any supplier who use Royal Mail for their deliveries. Where courage and sacrifice is required to face competition, the staff chose suicide and they are doing such a goood job!
You gotta do what you gotta do right? I mean, if this is what your striking for, the 24 hour notice thing and the working overtime until you finish your deliveries, then ok, I understand why you strike.
But then again, you’re getting paid better than ALOT of people. From what I see in sorting offices and delivery offices, RM is really understaffed – so since you’re getting paid a better percentage than alot of other more “stressful” jobs, maybe it would be better to lower your pay percentage and add more staff so that you don’t have heavy loads of mail put upon you and therefore you got the “striking because they want us to work until we’ve done all of what we needed to do” out of the way!
I heard on the news that RM wants its employees to work the full hours they’re set out to work, meaning if you’re done doing one thing and you’ve got 30 minutes left to work, you go and actually work for those 30 minutes instead of going home early? Is this the case?
I am royally pissed off just like half the people here about not knowing if/when mail is going to be delivered. I buy lots of stuff off ebay and I’m waiting on a Halloween costume – it’s stressful, but not as stressful for the business that rely on mail. But like I said at the beginning – people are going to do what they’re going to do….
By the way, the strikes supposedly stopped Wednesday at noon, but it’s now Thursday at 5:26 p.m. and I never received any mail yesterday or today 🙁
When I was on a management course at Lancaster University many years ago it was pointed out how hugely incompetent large companies must be when they suddenly discover they have ‘problems’ and suddenly seek to make changes like large scale redundancies or changes in practices. Any competent management system should be addressing the changing needs of a large company and its marketplace on a daily basis. I am pretty sure successful companies like Tesco and M & S do this. So how incompetent must Royal Mail management be when it has had 200 years to get its act together with its workforce and become the master of its marketing issues. It really beggars belief. How on earth as this position come about?
Copy of an email sent to Royal Mail customer services. Everyone should do the same and have thier say. We will not stand for it anymore!!!!!
How can you help?
Sort out the problems and put an end to these strikes. You are punishinshing the people who put the money in your bank account “Your Customers”.
It is disgusting that we are the ones who are suffering. Your striking for what? More Pay? to provide a service that is overpriced and unreliable.
We the general public are sick of it and we do not support or condone your actions. Maybe you shouldn’t be so selfish and greedy and try putting your customers first. If we had another company to use for letters that was easily available I think you would be out of business by now. I only use Royal Mail as a last resort now, maybe you should go back under Government control a privatisation clearly does not work for the consumers.
Appalled
Mr R Snowdon
Tet Says:
October 11th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
I heard on the news that RM wants its employees to work the full hours they’re set out to work, meaning if you’re done doing one thing and you’ve got 30 minutes left to work, you go and actually work for those 30 minutes instead of going home early? Is this the case?
yes and although it dose sound bad one thing is certain when we went from 2 day delivers ((2 in one day))
but we went to 1 delivery day ((all goes out in one))
but royal mail DEMANDED that it be job and finish they pushed it on us but when we were rushing and finishing 1-2 hours early they worried and tried to push more on us.
i’m very sorry but other people got more important things thank books to be delivered, yea i’m still waiting for my payslips from work but come on… books just got to a flaming shop
The Royal Mail worker who left a message on October 9th, 2007 at 12:41 pm says that “I now just don’t care”.
That is all we asking of the CWU (the people authorising the strikes) – to “care”.
Other people are facing far worse conditions at work and are getting paid a lot less without any annual pay rises. To some extent that is their choice.
I sympathise that modernising may mean job losses or new working conditions but new jobs and opportunities always come about from progress. If that were not true then everyone would have been out of a job since the wheel was invented or when computers arrived on the scene. I feel sorry for people that are afraid to move forward with the times because, sadly for them, the times will move forward without them. After a while everyone else will move on and adapt to these strikes, perhaps with a new competitor to Royal Mail entering the arena.
I can see that there is some support for the strikers on this forum which is totally understandable. I support them myself in that my local postman was feeling a bit down because he doesn’t get paid on strike days. He doesn’t want to strike but the CWU force him to. I have some letters which need delivering locally and he was more than happy for me to pay him to do so in his spare time. Perhaps, other supporters might consider providing some genuine support by taking their own money to give to the strikers that need it. If you personally don’t want to do this then maybe it is time to consider whether you truly support their cause.
Oh, and personally I agree with Paul’s comments because he describes the situation in an informative manner whilst seeming to genuinely feel for those that are losing out. Also I have been able to go away to research and verify his comments. But that’s my personal opinion.
I love this article: http://www.campaignforcrossrail.com/news/es_09_07_07b.pdf
It shows a very interesting angle has relevancy for everyone – both Royal Mail staff and everyday customers.
Regards, Steve Ono
I am told that RM deliver the “last mile” for their competitors at a loss.
WHY?
What kind of Board of Directors would authorise doing business at a loss?
Royal Mail are obliged to deliver the “last mile” and at a set price. That is what opening the market up for competition has meant.
Other companies will effectively be creaming the most lucrative part of the delivery when customers who are jaded by the strikes switch to other delivery companies.
Its amusing that all the comments from postal workers here all state about how hard the job is. There is very little comment on here which reflects what the CWU are complaining about on their website. They are complaining about the pensions being moved to a Defined Contribution scheme and the retirement age being upped to 65. So in essence complaining that they are being moved in line with the rest of the country!
Defined benefits plans are unsustainable and in effect a loan that has to be paid back by future generations of workers.
The official strike is not about starting at some ungodly hour or having to walk for miles.
Just spent a small fortune on gifts for my boyfriend’s 30th before the I knew about the strike , not a chance I’ll receive anything before 23rd. I suppose if I’m lucky they might arrive beofre Christmas then I won’t need to worry about getting him another set of presents.
Thanks Royal Mail !
We’ve been waiting 14 days for cheques posted to arrive for work carried out in August. We’ve encountered huge bank charges due to this postal strike.
Many small businesses will be suffering in a similar manner, but RM just use the same feeble excuse of exclusion clauses to avoid failure to deliver and goods fit for purpose requirements.
Proper provisions should be in place to cope with strike action. If they are going to charge for “First Class Post” then they should provide it! Otherwise the sale of a stamp would be NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE and a refund issued. (See sale of goods act).
These posties have such an easy job ………. I just seen two posties on sat both carrying two very heavy bags {a bag in each hand } and deliverying mail at the same time. I cant believe the quality management at royal mail allow there workers to rish the health of there workforce in this way !!!
Unlike so many people I bother to find out the facts regarding the reasons why the posties are striking !!! untill you can be bothered to do so stop passing your ignorant comments ! and you all know who you are ! Why in the world did Blair allow Alan Leighton a fat cat money loving goon to get involved in the royal mail ??? If anybody out there knows of this goon you will know what Im talking about !!! I read with great intrest the latest fantastic idea from the we must make as much profit as we can people at royal mail ! lets have the postie starting there jobs at between 6am and 7am ! tough luck if you happen to be near the end of the posties delivery ! thats just the way it goes.
Lets get Leighton and crozier out of royal mail and lets go one step further lets get Brown out of this country !!! and does the CWU still fund and support Labour ??? Why the **** do they still do that.
God Bless
What happened to respect for people who work in the public service? The nurses are abused by drunks they are trying to administer aid to, teachers abused by pupils whose parents can’t be bothered to discipline them, police officers unable to use a common sense approach to criminals for fear of abusing their human rights.
Then your hardworking posties take a stand against bullying, arrogant managers for trying to erode their pay and conditions and you whingeing lot berate them whilst hiding behind your computer. At least they have the guts to go out on strike and stand up for what they believe in.
Heaven help us if we were ever to be threatened by a powerful enemy. Has this country lost the will to stand up and be counted or would we just rollover and allow ourselves to be invaded?
The problem with this country now is everyone wants to be a chief and no-one wants to be an indian. Who do you think pays for your education, training and benefits, government grants etc? I’ll tell you, its the hardworking nurses, policeman, teachers, firemen, road sweepers, cleaners, dustmen, factory workers and all manual workers including your humble postmen.
i work at my local hospital, and half my colleagues are awaiting to find out who will lose their jobs theyve held for many years, left dangling while the managment decide who goes, they work so hard and really care unlike some being brought in to do the work from some other countries, who dont understand the patients and who really dont care, i wish my colleagues could do something about the changes and the way we are being treated but it seems not, i fully support the r.m workers, i just hate that it does disrupt on so many different levels, but still fair play to you and lets hope that the r.m bosses see sence and meet half way at least.
an update to my comments 15.10.07 8.43, im sure not all workers from foreign countries are like this, and i dont wish to blanket you all, i am stating facts from my experience in my workplace, just making my position clear.
R M put the goal post,s up 2 suit themselfs. when they dont win they move them even more.Crozier is in another planet he should get on the shop floor and see for himself how hard postmen and women work.
i am waiting for a tutu for a fancy dress party!!! it best be here by thursday!!! ARGHHH!!!! regards X
wouldnt it be a good idea to send the suits in to test out this new work load and see what a daft idea it is, you know why its like that bank advert you know the one where two suits get togethor and come up with crap ideas for new mortgages completely ignoring the brainy bloke, pen pushers who’d av em, im peed off ive got loads of chrissie prezzies just waiting to be delivered and i carnt stand it im very impatient, but i think the posties are right to stand up and be counted, just try to av a few days inbetween were we av a bit of post, not bills though i can live without them! x
A Public Sector worker is human. A Private Sector worker is human. We’re all humans! Why should private sector workers and public sector workers be treated differently?
I’ve worked for Royal Mail for many years. You’ll have to excuse me but I don’t support ongoing strike action. A job is a job and the work I did before I joined Royal Mail was just as difficult and just as important but nobody in that company would have dreamed of striking. I understand that some of my colleagues feel hard done by but I also know that these people would feel exactly the same no matter what job they were in. They fear change and are scared that they are not prepared for it. And we’re not talking about old fogeys here either.
I know I won’t be popular for saying this but some people want certain things in life but aren’t prepared to work any harder for them. If you think the strikes are bad well I have to listen to this attitude every day. The truth is that striking is an option, so they do. Sadly, It really is as simple as that.
My advice to non-striking workers out there who don’t appreciate the inconvenience of the latest Royal Mail strikes is merely to get your head around it. There are always going to be strikes. You will find it much less frustrating if you start thinking now about ways you can get around future strike action.
This message board is an excellent place to vent your frustration. Once you’ve done that just return to your normal life feeling calmer. Trust me, it really does help to think of it that way.
I’m a student and I’m completely appalled by these unofficial strikes.
I appreciate that they want change and do they not think that their crippling 48-Hour strikes were enough to the changes that they wanted? Change doesn’t come over night, might like post items in the Royal Mail.
Now, these continued strikes show a blatant disregard for their customers who are the people really suffering. Royal Mail can and should fire the people on Unofficial strike and begin training new staff.
Or maybe I should just ask the Royal Mail for the money they’ve cost me in wasted education, since I can’t fully pursue my degree without the textbooks they should’ve delivered.
I’m shocked and appalled at exactly how much they’ve gotten away with.
Jane dont be impatient for sure R M will get your pressies there for Xmas.and they wont be left at your doorstept in full view of the public.like other couriers do.
george, i know at least our posties are descent enough to wait a couple of minutes for you to get to the door or leave them with a neighbour, some couriers drop them and go, or leave a stupid card in your letter box, oh well long as i get me prezzies! im a happy bunny.
Hahaha! I’m sorry but my delivery person doesn’t even wait five seconds for me to run to the door and answer! I understand they have to get on with it, but it’s seriously frustrating since I have a disability and can’t RUN like a hyped up bunny to the door, and when they’ve gone and left me a card, well it makes it that much harder since I can’t just go strollin right up to my delivery office whenever I please! And they DO NOT NEVER answer the phone at my local sorting office! I’ve even requested redeliveries and they don’t take any notice at all….
I’ve not had any mail since October 2nd! And for those posties on here complaining about the work load… maybe you should put in a request for one of those big square bags that are on wheels, where the mail carrier has a long handle descended from the bag. to push along the street – unfortunately, I can’t find a picture as I have no idea what they’re called, but I have seen them!
i guess this states the obvious then, were all different, some will be striking cos they have to, some just cos they enjoy the drama, some cos they beleive what there striking for, but everyones got there reasons right or wrong and we carnt blanket them all, as my posties great and obviously some are not, i gotta say when i ring the sorting office on the rare occasion i have had to they always pleased to help, thats not to say in some office somewhere else, they not so great, i just got a package yeeeeeeeeah, x
I’ve recently got REALLY hot under the collar.
Post is currently taking over a week to get to its destination.
So why is this not indicated in the Post Office where you send things? They’re quite happy to take my money for recorded-first class post, but don’t bother to inform me it will actually take over a week. This will have influenced my decision and what service to use, if only they’d bothered to inform me.
This has really screwed some things up for me and has caused a £1000+ cost due to inability to attend an international meeting. If there was some sort of indication (other than on obscure parts of the internet) that the delays would STILL be so great, then I would not have sent it this way.
Without even worrying about whether the strikers are justified or not, the Royal Mail management themselves clearly have no concern for their customers. I will not be using Royal Mail for important post again. I will give DHL’s Parcel2Go.com a chance next time instead.
Tet Says:
“I’ve not had any mail since October 2nd! And for those posties on here complaining about the work load… maybe you should put in a request for one of those big square bags that are on wheels, where the mail carrier has a long handle descended from the bag. to push along the street – unfortunately, I can’t find a picture as I have no idea what they’re called, but I have seen them!”
well once again money comes into it we have 8 trolly’s in our office 4! and there are 100 people there so we are kinda short as you could guess.
and as for waiting 5 seconds if you know you cant answer the door int time how about putting a polite notice on the door? saying oh i don’t know (pleas e wait as i’m unable to reach the door right away thank you)) we are human and we do like to help ill try my best to not docit but if i have to i will and one thing is more annoying if you complain affter WE TRIED if you don’t answer in time with no note NOT OUR FAULT!!!!!!!
hello again, i have to say once again, yes were all human and i think you will find as i do, if you let people know of circumstances many times posties and actually people on a whole everywhere are usually very willing to help, and if there not then you can rip strips of them, but i have found that now all my post seems to be coming very quick and my post ladies a diamond shes always pleasent and helpful and the delivery guy with the big items and they always wait or pass them on to my mom next door, so i will say i agree with above statement, let people know and most times youd be suprised, and if not then tell them your not happy!
I’m with Pete, there is no way that the service being provided at full prices can justify itself as ‘fit for purpose’ at the point of sale of a stamp or one of those badly printed stickers. I live in a remote village in the NW corner of the UK, living a 64 mile trip away from the nearest supermarket and shops we are completely dependent upon the post, even for transport. Fortunately the postal service here contines as usual but what use is that if the two sides everywhere else refuse to agree on anything so the rest of the country is at a standstill ? The strike is not working and the postal service should be classified as an ‘essential service’ because lives depend on it. I believe that the striking postman are selfish, thoughless and greedy to persist for so long. I am not completely without understanding, however Royal Mail has been demonstrated to be a complete shambles which is not capable of even providing a rudimentary service. Maybe the Government should intervene and require that until a reasonble service is being provided they should only be permited to charge one eigth of the usual posting tariffs. That might wake people up.
My girlfriend is in UK at the moment and sends me a letter every month for the past 18 months. The delivery times from the UK to Australia where we live is approx 5-7 days and thats how long her letters have been taking for the past 6 months. We had Fathers day here in Australia first Sunday in September and she posted a card by airmail for me on 13th September. I received it today October 26th. Thats 6 weeks or 42 days to get her letter. Thats Unacceptable even in strike conditions. We had wiped it off as lost, stolen or misdelivered by Australia Post. She only informed me Mid October there are strikes there by Royal Mail. I am NOT impressed with the strike action at all. I’m lucky we live here in Australia where strike action by Australia Post is unheard of. Pay disputes are worked out fairly and the mail gets through no matter what. I should know. I was a postman for 20 years here. Shame on you Royal Mail in this day and age to let cutomers down and not resolve the dispute quicker.
I am a postie and proud of it and on behalf of postpersons everywhere who saw fit to strike recently I/WE APOLOGISE WHOLEHEARTEDLY for the delay of very important mail to everybody! On behalf of those who chose not to strike and will willingly be first in the queue and hold their hand out for the resultant benefits I say WOT A SAD BUNCH OF AR*OLES!!!!!!! These strikes are not an objection by a load of ‘CRAZIES’ or ‘LAZIES’ after more money, they are a stand for our rights and statement against the FAT CATS who use any and all excuses to feather their own nests at the expense of others including their own undermanagers. WE don’t want something for nothing, we’ll leave that bit to the bosses! Genuine posties everywhere will do anything and everything within reason to rectify the situation ASAP. Just ask yourselves for one moment why our current management team were available to the RM in the first place? LAST BUT NOT LEAST; WHEN WILL ROYAL MAIL DECLARE ‘LAST’ YEARS PROFITS & THE AMOUNTS PAID TO ITS DIRECTORS ????????????????? COULD BE A SOURCE OF EMBARRASSMENT COULD IT NOT !
Follow up please about this issue….
Here is what is happening as my husband works for the RM. Its not about the increase in pay, its about upper management making tons of money, while pensions are being gagged out of the employees, and please, you can make fun of the posties, but they have their rights as we all do.
Mr Leyton should not be in charge, the government should just take this over, since when is this a monoply game with a private entity running it. Maybe hes a mate of R. Murdock and ya know what, the government needs to step in and stop this utter bs. Mr. Leyton shame on you…..the Royal Mail is not a one stop shopping center, its an entity for the people and you are basically giving it away to DHL, Fed Ex and such. I guess you must be buying stock in their companies, otherwise, you are totally clueless and in my eyes, no compassion. Oh yeah right, your a businessman out for himself.
Sad state of affairs,
At last the figures, WOT DID I TELL YOU! Please look at mine a couple of mails back! Only somebody without a heart could screw with the service provided by Royal Mail to say little of the lives of 200,000 postal workers(all grades) and their families. Only somebody without a brain thinks he will get away with it! TAKING THAT MONEY FROM ROYAL MAIL FOR YOU AND YOUR CRONIES AT THIS JUNCTURE IS OBSCENE. GRAB IT AND RUN ADAM(SORRY, ‘MR CROZIER’), you know how deep the pot is, that sort of money won’t be on the table for long, except as a ‘golden handshake’ or is that what you’re after?
Customers still waiting for items to be delivered from 8th October. Over 3 weeks for first class recorded items to arrive. Now that is a service to be proud of!
RM staff don’t care about the knock on effects of their actions. Think about yourselves, that’s all that matters really hey!
I am astonished that RM want their staff to work to a finish time. Is that unreasonable? How many other jobs let you do your work and then go home, while still getting paid?
As to the comments above about leaving a note for posties to let them know that I might take awhile to answer the door – I live in a house with flats, as does most of London 😛 So I doubt that most of the people around here even get the chance to talk, let alone even see their postie.
I’m not going to openly advertise that I might take awhile to answer the door, because if I was a smart thief or criminal, and I saw a sign like that on a window, I’d be sure to check it out as this person MUST be weak or something if it takes them time to get to the door for their mail.
No, I just have to hope that my postie with my packages is a nice postie, and does wait ‘sufficient’ time….
Gone a bit quiet on here since the heirarchy at RM have stopped prodding their friends in the press to write a bad story or three about thick, selfish, greedy, inconsiderate and self-centred posties. Any backlog will soon be cleared, Crozier & Co have banked unbelievable amounts and a little period of calm will ensue. Be assured that all the things that postie was REALLY on strike for will come back to HAUNT those at the top! Unfortunately the nearest they ever came to posting a letter was in the ‘OUT’ tray, and, the sad part about it all is that the short-sighted, gullible & misled public who have chosen to write criticism of ‘faithful old postie’ in the spaces above blame the man/woman at the bottom as always! Suck it & see guys & girl whingers, RM need Christmas Staff, they’re advertising, bet you don’t last 5mins !!!!!!!!
I worked for Royal Mail and tried to work from the bottom up: you cánnot become a manager without being a postman first. Ha!
The amount of abuse and intimidation that I had to endure from the accepted enclave of `Manangers ` was ridiculous. If you have an idea to increase efficiency, it’s either their idea or not viable. Often it is `not viable`; change etc..
I was turned down as a Manager initially but after appeal became an acting Manager.
I was a marked man.
Anyway, have been sacked twice by this glorious company of fools, and I say this:
LET POST MEN AND WOMEN RUN THE COMPANY WITH GOVERNMENT FUNDING (owners ) DON’T LET THE PUBLIC/ BUSINESS SUFFER.
I am at present on waiting list for post of postman in my local area, however to make ends meet I am working as a taxi driver, can I continue this and be employed by royal mail?
The actual workers – from the depot guys to the postmen are fantastic but I would very much like to speak directly to Adam Crozier and Alan Leyton if they are the ones responsible for the atrocious service breakdown and the number of parcels I am losing, annually since the change in the delivery times, which to try to recoup on is itself a bureacratic procedure that requires weeks of waiting!
Some bright and ineffective person at the top decided that Postmen could not longer deliver before 9 so, now everything I have sent to me via the post does not arrive until I have already left the house for work. Which means I see a dreaded red card instructing me to either have it resent (more cost to the PO) etc or collect it, so more work on my part, or fuel costs!
If anyone whose idea this was after hundreds of years of effective service, and who the two top-drawer clowns are that instigated such an onerous system smack them in the mouth for me!