u s o

[taxi4leighton]

whats the possibility of the USO being challanged in the feature.
i have this fear that if we are privatised,the new company first aim will be to get rid of the uso.
i know the government say it is enshrined in law and can only be changed by parliament.
whats to stop them going to the european courts and claiming that the USO is an unfair restriction on their ability to compete with other competetors.i fear the worst

[Shaman Mao]

I've got a £10 bet with the DOM that we won't be doing Saturdays within 5 years. Reckon I'll be collecting within 3!!

[Lounge Lizard]

I've got a £10 bet with the DOM that we won't be doing Saturdays within 5 years. Reckon I'll be collecting within 3!!

Not sure about that. It'''s all parcels and packets that want delivering when people are at home so Saturdays will stay, and maybe evening and Sunday deliveries too, but before long it'll be down from six to less deliveries a week to each property, starting with rural areas.
As for the USO being safe, I'm old enough to remember Beeching, no problem with closing railway lines and hundreds of stations as rail services that have gone will be replaced by bus services.

[UnhappyGremlin]

The USO will go. It is only when, not if.
It costs a lot, and they will remove it ASAP.

[janitor]

So once RM becomes a private company, how can the government make them keep the USO, how can they make them deliver to rural addresses every day, how can they make them delivery six days a week, and how can they make them deliver mail for the parasite mail companies, once they become a private company what stops them giving the government the finger, and walking away from any of these things they may see as a loss maker.

[Brain Fury]

So once RM becomes a private company, how can the government make them keep the USO, how can they make them deliver to rural addresses every day, how can they make them delivery six days a week, and how can they make them deliver mail for the parasite mail companies, once they become a private company what stops them giving the government the finger, and walking away from any of these things they may see as a loss maker.

Because Royal Mail and it's competitors in the postal market sector will still be covered by a regulator just as they are now and just like many other market sectors are.

[janitor]

But then RM will be just another delivery company, I don't see TNT or UK mail being forced to do any of the things mentioned above.

[Brain Fury]

But then RM will be just another delivery company, I don't see TNT or UK mail being forced to do any of the things mentioned above.

No, the Postal Services Act gives Ofcom a statutory duty to ensure that a financial sustainable universal service is available. Until 2021 that will be done by RM even after privatisation.

[janitor]

But how do you force a private company to do something it doesn't want to do.

[Brain Fury]

But how do you force a private company to do something it doesn't want to do.

Regulation and the law. in this case enforced by Ofcom but there are lots of regulation that applies to private companies that they have to follow.

[Robbo318]

But how do you force a private company to do something it doesn't want to do.

Huge fines

[taxi4leighton]

what happens if a privatised RM is taken-over by another company,say e.g.TNT.and would european laws support the governments commitment to USO