Do We Really Want Royal Mail To Be Sold Off?

[POSTMAN]

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Is it just me, or is anybody out there really as obsessed as politicians seem to be with the privatisation of Royal Mail?

A succession of stories last week claimed that the people of Britain saw the postal service as a terrible rip-off.

In these straitened times, no longer would they tolerate being asked to part with the giddy sum of 41p to buy a first-class stamp, or 32p for a second-class one.

And Vince Cable - who, more fool me, I had always thought to be a Liberal - threw himself into his new role by insisting the end couldn't come soon enough for this ageing monolith.

Of course, this is all total bunk.

Most people consider forking out 41p to get a letter delivered anywhere in the country, nine times out of ten the next day, to be one of the last great bargains in British life.

And I know plenty of small businesses for which Royal Mail provides a perfectly reliable and cost-effective service, far more cheaply than any of the alternatives.

But of course, it all boils down to money.

Royal Mail should be generating far more than it does, its opponents claim

But both individuals and businesses send far fewer letters than in the past. Five million less, to be precise, compared with two years ago.

In a digital age of email, texting and free phone calls it is hardly a great surprise.

Profits have plummeted compared with other European operations, such as the much-praised German equivalent Deutsche Post.

But of course, unlike Royal Mail, Deutsche Post owns a number of lucrative sidelines, such as the courier company DHL. Its mail division accounts for only 24 per cent of its revenues.

Besides, 88 per cent of Royal Mail's income is price-controlled, while only 37 per cent of DP's is.

So it's hardly a level playing field.

I would be the last person to argue against privatisation when it can deliver efficiencies, safeguard jobs, and generate income for the UK economy.

British Gas, for all its enduring faults, was transformed from a badly-managed basket case to effective global operator.

But others have highlighted the inevitable difficulties which follow when you shoehorn the twin elements of greed and profit into public services.

Every day, as I sit on an uncomfortable, shabby and unreliable train I've paid a King's ransom to travel on,
I wonder if things could really have been any worse under the control of British Rail.

The obsession with privatisation was a totem, arguably a necessary one, of the Thatcher era.

But even she baulked at selling off the postal service - and she would have had little hesitation if it had been the wretched basket case its opponents always made it out to be.

With the nation teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, there are a million more important issues on which the nation's leaders needs to focus their minds than privatising Royal Mail.

There is no public appetite for it.

And if there are people who demur at the prospect of parting with 41p to have a letter delivered anywhere in the country within 24 hours - stuff 'em. They can take it themselves.

[DirtyHarry]

Good grief, a down-to-earth, common sense, comment.
He can't be British, can he?

[Big Daz]

Not entirley sensible, failed to grasp that Lib Dems went to the polls with sell off in their manifesto, all this surprise that some commentators have about lib dems backing a sell off is all rather odd, dont they read manifestos, dont they realise Lib dem conference made it policy a couple of years ago

[andy2007]

Is it just me, or is anybody out there really as obsessed as politicians seem to be with the privatisation of Royal Mail?
Well, yes. The slash and burn "businessmen" are interested, if they can get us cheap enough. Then they can make us artificially highly profitable in the short term, then they can sell us on. Whilst leaving a "time bomb" of problems, which would send us to the wall, once they've sold off all their shares.

[fishtank]

Well, yes. The slash and burn "businessmen" are interested, if they can get us cheap enough. Then they can make us artificially highly profitable in the short term, then they can sell us on. Whilst leaving a "time bomb" of problems, which would send us to the wall, once they've sold off all their shares.

Andy that's exactly what Leighton and Crozier have been doing for the last 8 years.
They HAVE slashed jobs...We are relatively highly profitable given the economic circumstances..We are about to be sold on and they have already taken their share.
And the time bomb is definately already ticking..........

[andy2007]

Precisely! If the Government don't manage to sell us off soon, there'll be nothing left for their friends to get from us.

First stage: slash and burn, to make us a tempting target for sell off.
Second Stage: slash and burn "Businessmen" buy majority of available shares. Slash and burn to the point of imminent failure, take big dividends, and sell shares on.
Third stage: General Public end up with the shares, thinking they're a great investment.
Final stage: RM in crisis, share price plummets, dividends non-existant. Public looses a fortune, and worse still. Looses the only Company capable of providing the USO.