Scrapping letter deliveries on Saturdays could save Royal Mail hundreds of millions of pounds a year as it battles to stem ballooning losses and modernise

[jbo5066]

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again...
Yesterday ...

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mar ... -loss.html

[Barnacle]

I’d love to know how much it is costing RM to run Sunday deliveries. Can’t see how it is in anyway cost effective to be delivering tracked flats on a Sunday.

[Basildon Bond]

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mar ... -loss.html

Thanks "Calum Muirhead For The Daily Mail" for unfair reporting - too may times the problems with Royal Mail (RM) are oversimplified. It's disingenuous to chuck in that last line at the end of the article:

But [Royal Mail's] plans have been hampered by a long-running pay dispute...

It's not just a pay dispute. In fact the pay issue is a tiny part of the whole issue. Working conditions, employee rights, and customer service is much bigger. This sort of reductive reporting does not help the reader understand that major changes are being pushed through and are being implementing despite the strikes. RM are being advised by outside vulture capitalists on how to asset strip the company for short-term profits to shareholders. The postie on the ground sees the slow train wreck that is coming and is trying to put the brakes on but is only ever painted as the saboteur when the reverse is the actual truth.

I just wonder if scrapping the pay rise part (for the time being) and just focusing on everything else would actually shine a much needed light on the other issues and turn a few heads in favour of the strikes. It'll hurt in the pocket of the postie in the short-term but RM and all of the journalists will only be able to talk about the other changes.

[scoobydo79]

“According to sources familiar with the matter”
“Allowing them to increase staff pay”
“
“Reduce the cost of postage “
Yeah like the last two will happen

[rambo1]

I’d love to know how much it is costing RM to run Sunday deliveries. Can’t see how it is in anyway cost effective to be delivering tracked flats on a Sunday.

122miles yesterday to deliver 23 pkts. Course it's cost effective .....but what do we know?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mar ... -loss.html

Group could see as much as £250m saved if deliveries cut to five days a week
It potentially could slash company's projected annual losses for this year
Saving could allow it to increase staff pay and lower stamp prices

Scrapping letter deliveries on Saturdays could save Royal Mail hundreds of millions of pounds a year as it battles to stem ballooning losses and modernise.

According to calculations seen by the Mail, the delivery group could see as much as £250m saved if deliveries were cut to five days a week, much higher than previous estimates of £125m-£225m made by the regulator Ofcom in 2020.

It potentially could slash the company's projected annual losses for this year, which are expected to be between £350m to £450m, by more than half.

Such a saving could also provide enough financial wiggle room to increase pay for its staff as well as lower stamp prices, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Royal Mail is currently legally required to deliver letters to every address in the UK six days a week under what is known as the Universal Service Obligation (USO).

But the company has been pushing for this to be cut to five days as the number of posted letters has fallen.

'It is clear that when letter volumes have declined by more than 60 per cent, to be financially sustainable the USO requires major reform now,' a Royal Mail spokesman said.

They added: 'This change is critical. Being required to provide a service that customers have said they no longer need, at significant structural cost to Royal Mail, increases the threat to the sustainability of the Universal Service.'

Royal Mail points to the 2020 Ofcom report which concluded reducing letter deliveries to five days a week would meet the needs of 97 per cent of users.

But the Government has refused to reduce the USO, with business minister Kevin Hollinrake saying in December there were 'no current plans' to allow any changes.

Any alterations to the USO would need to be made through legislation and agreed by Parliament.

Some publishing groups have also warned scrapping Saturday deliveries could have a catastrophic effect on magazine publishers, many of which send out new editions on Fridays and Saturdays.

The push to reduce comes as Royal Mail scrambles to become more competitive against the likes of Amazon.

But its plans have been hampered by a long-running pay dispute which saw thousands of posties walk out on strike for 18 days last year.

[heraldmoth]

Don’t understand the resistance to 5 days letters 7 days parcels….:maybe I’m missing something

[ted_e_bear]

Such a saving could also provide enough financial wiggle room to increase pay for its staff as well as lower stamp prices,

could allow it to increase staff pay and lower stamp prices

So good they mentioned it twice, I'll look forward to that possibility happening then

[portadown]

Would the savings be at the cost off jobs what would happen to all the floaters

[2yearpostie]

Would the savings be at the cost off jobs what would happen to all the floaters

At a guess parcel duties would still need maning sat/sun.

[chickenwittle]

Don’t know why the union aren’t using this as leverage to broker a deal , it makes complete sense . Before someone says it will cost jobs , it’s inevitable there will be job losses, it’s how it’s managed that really matters.

[britwrit]

"Everybody in my echo chamber of an office thinks this is a great idea!"

...said a source.

[DirtyHarry]

Remember when those bastards made Saturday a normal working day for us in deliveries?

A pox on them, and this damn shitshow of a company.

[NWpostie]

Remember when those bastards made Saturday a normal working day for us in deliveries?

A pox on them, and this damn shitshow of a company.

Saturday has always been a normal working day since I started in the 80s and certainly has been for a long time prior to that.

[chickenwittle]

Remember when those bastards made Saturday a normal working day for us in deliveries?

A pox on them, and this damn shitshow of a company.

Saturday has always been a normal working day since I started in the 80s and certainly as been for a long time prior to that.

No it hasn’t, Saturdays were always 1 delivery while the rest of the week was 2 deliveries.