Review free Royal Mail redeliveries as USO no longer viable, CWU delegates hear

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article ... gates-hear

FREE Royal Mail redeliveries should be reviewed after the company’s actions have left its six-day delivery service financially unviable, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) conference heard today.

Deputy general secretary Martin Walsh told delegates in Bournemouth that the union has submitted its rejection of a three- or four-day letter delivery service to regulator Ofcom, which is looking at watering down the firm’s Universal Service Obligation (USO) to deliver letters to all addresses in Britain six days a week.

“We are in talks with the company around trying to secure a statement of principles around their optimised model,” Mr Walsh said.

“The reality is the USO as a six-day option is no longer financially viable.

“The challenges we face are so significant — probably the most challenging time in this union's history, whether it’s the USO change, sale or possible takeover.”

He referred to a motion due to be debated tomorrow which calls on the union’s postal executive to review the deployment of “click & drop, free redelivery and the implicit cost of double delivery attempts without customer request.”

It also calls for a “full cost-benefit analysis” of all products for supporting the USO going forward.

In his speech, Mr Walsh also warned that union membership in the Royal Mail had fallen to 83 per cent, with 21,000 workers not in the CWU.

“We have got to reconnect with the members, there’s too many workplaces where the atmosphere is toxic, the union is under pressure and some of our reps are not going in,” he said.

Delegates passed a motion which said CWU’s pay and benefits strategy should ensure any decision on the future of the USO comes with improvements in pay, terms and conditions and further reductions in the working week.

Mr Walsh warned that the union may be negotiating terms with a different company next year as “no Labour or Tory government are going to renationalise.”

Last week it emerged that Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distributions Services (IDS), had received a preliminary offer from Daniel Kretinsky, a Czech energy tycoon whose company, EP Group, is its largest shareholder.

Mr Kretinsky has built up a 27.5 per cent stake in Royal Mail through his investment vehicle, Vesa.

The offer has been rejected, but Mr Walsh said: “We expect Vesa to bid again. Clearly we are opposed to the changeover and takeover.”

[kazardaimenu]

Any update on this? It’s a massive waste of time for us front line staff when people aren’t in for the things they order and haven’t got a viable safe place. They only brought it in so they could slash callers office staff.

[Mr Rush]

In my experience (and MyDoorstep corroborates this at least as far as Tracked and Specials are concerned) around 10% of packets are not delivered the first time. If the same applies again on the second day then that's 99% cleared across two days. Right? I think my maths is correct there...

Day 1: 100 packets of which 90 are delivered
Day 2: 10 go back out of which 9 are delivered
= 99/100 cleared

At Christmas that might be up to 25% in which case that would still be 93/100.

It annoys me too, yet you can see why Automatic Redelivery was introduced. Hey, maybe if we're out at midnight we can increase efficiency by making deliveries span two days in one shift.

[postslippete]

Can't see Royal Mail getting rid of auto-redeliveries but instead they will push even more for 1st time delivery. They want rid of the face-to-face interaction with the public when it comes to collecting their parcels and move everything over to the internet where they can mainly employ chatbots rather than people.

[norris9]

What about when:

1st attempt - not in
2nd attempt - not in
Customer books delivery for another day
3rd attempt - NOT IN!

The customer should be charged for a 3rd or 4th or 5th attempt.

[postslippete]

What about when:

1st attempt - not in
2nd attempt - not in
Customer books delivery for another day
3rd attempt - NOT IN!

The customer should be charged for a 3rd or 4th or 5th attempt.

I've got one on my delivery round who works for DPD and is never in. Also doesn't want the parcels being delivered next door either and has a Royal Mail delivery to neighbour opt out sticker on the letterbox.

Unfortunately, we are not like other carriers who can offer a better time slot on deliveries.

[SpacePhoenix]

What about when:

1st attempt - not in
2nd attempt - not in
Customer books delivery for another day
3rd attempt - NOT IN!

The customer should be charged for a 3rd or 4th or 5th attempt.

I've got one on my delivery round who works for DPD and is never in. Also doesn't want the parcels being delivered next door either and has a Royal Mail delivery to neighbour opt out sticker on the letterbox.

Unfortunately, we are not like other carriers who can offer a better time slot on deliveries.

Why don't they get their stuff delivered to the DPD depot where they work?

[Smoothbackground]

What about when:

1st attempt - not in
2nd attempt - not in
Customer books delivery for another day
3rd attempt - NOT IN!

The customer should be charged for a 3rd or 4th or 5th attempt.

I've got one on my delivery round who works for DPD and is never in. Also doesn't want the parcels being delivered next door either and has a Royal Mail delivery to neighbour opt out sticker on the letterbox.

Unfortunately, we are not like other carriers who can offer a better time slot on deliveries.

A PITA of a customer! Can’t he have a permanent in-flight to deliver to the local PO?

[Barnacle]

It’s ironic that RM is getting rid of a customer’s ability to collect their parcel themselves from the Callers Office, whilst at the same time rolling out parcel lockers so that customers can collect their parcels themselves and is closing the COs to save money, while spending £400m on the parcel lockers which they won’t actually own outright and will need constant maintenance.

[oypostie]

and will need constant maintenance.

Maybe they'll do like the vans and see how long they can survive without any maintenance

[Mr Rush]

The customer should be charged for a 3rd or 4th or 5th attempt.

Somehow it costs 50p to have it put in a Post Office but timewasters can have unlimited redeliveries. They should have started charging for anything beyond the second attempt long ago.

It’s ironic that RM is getting rid of a customer’s ability to collect their parcel themselves from the Callers Office, whilst at the same time rolling out parcel lockers so that customers can collect their parcels themselves and is closing the COs to save money, while spending £400m on the parcel lockers which they won’t actually own outright and will need constant maintenance.

Most of the moronic decisions seem to be predicated on looking good for investors instead of doing what is prudent to operations. Using what we already have is something dinosaurs do. We have to be outrageously proactive and shift paradigms to put mazuma in the bank.

[yellowbelly]

Somehow it costs 50p to have it put in a Post Office but timewasters can have unlimited redeliveries. They should have started charging for anything beyond the second attempt long ago.

....................

Last time I had a chat with a postmaster at an SPDO, he said he got around 70p per item. Nice little earner for them. But now
the number of items they get given has dropped dramatically - however he now gets loads of recipients coming in ('cos they still
don't know the difference between RM and the PO) saying items have been chucked over fences, left in the rain, rammed
through and broken the letterbox, left insecure, gone missing......

[kazardaimenu]

What about when:

1st attempt - not in
2nd attempt - not in
Customer books delivery for another day
3rd attempt - NOT IN!

The customer should be charged for a 3rd or 4th or 5th attempt.

I’ve had this this week and the neighbour won’t take stuff in for them. Anything else is going straight to the locker for them to sort out I’m done entertaining them.

[Barnacle]

What about when:

1st attempt - not in
2nd attempt - not in
Customer books delivery for another day
3rd attempt - NOT IN!

The customer should be charged for a 3rd or 4th or 5th attempt.

I’ve had this this week and the neighbour won’t take stuff in for them. Anything else is going straight to the locker for them to sort out I’m done entertaining them.

EXACTLY!! Our time is not free.