Post Office scandal

[CarryingMGMT]

I'll never understand the utter defensiveness of the top brass. Everyone on the bottom tiers know how corrupt the place is.

The saying 'walk a mile in somebody else's shoes...' springs to mind.

The absurdity of what is happening within the Royal Mail and Post Office™ is mental.

My condolences to any genuine people left working at RM is immeasurable tbh.

[pinstripe]

If the top brass were to walk a mile in your shoes, they’d nick them.

[crazyshrew]

What strikes me, and it is an ongoing thought that that the ITV drama has helped put in to words, is the insistence of senior management to win no matter how and no matter the cost.
It could even be the case that the more wrong they know they are the more determined they are to win big.

A bit of integrity - doing the right thing regardless of personal cost would suit them, us and the company as a whole.

My hope is that the current management structure from top to bottom are watching the case more closely than I and rapidly come realise that all the wrongs they are doing to achieve their wins won't be worth it in the long term

[Racingpostie]

What strikes me, and it is an ongoing thought that that the ITV drama has helped put in to words, is the insistence of senior management to win no matter how and no matter the cost.
It could even be the case that the more wrong they know they are the more determined they are to win big.

A bit of integrity - doing the right thing regardless of personal cost would suit them, us and the company as a whole.

My hope is that the current management structure from top to bottom are watching the case more closely than I and rapidly come realise that all the wrongs they are doing to achieve their wins won't be worth it in the long term

It seems apparent in so many organisations these days that it's everyone on the same page and fearful of calling out or even trying to do the right thing. I genuinely don't know how many of these individuals sleep knowing how they've affected peoples lives for the worse, they must be made of different stuff to the average person. You've got the past Ceo only handing back her OBE presumably because she can spin it for a PR stunt rather than being pressured to do it. Fujitsu saying they all of a sudden have a morale obligation to compensate victims, it all stinks of those idiots who take photos with homeless folk giving them food rather than just doing it and moving on knowing you've done the right thing/something nice.

[enskied]

Dame Moya Greene is on the edge of the spotlight now casting a shadow. It was reported to to the top ...that's her. In 2010, and those below before.
There are serious questions to be asked of Royal Mail and Cross party Government Ministers about the what they knew.

[pinstripe]

A bit of integrity - doing the right thing regardless of personal cost would suit them, us and the company as a whole.

Apparently some of the money repaid (extorted) from the postmasters/mistresses went to executive pay. Make of that what you will

https://news.sky.com/story/post-office- ... s-13048987

Also from Sky News
“ The bosses of the Post Office and Fujitsu also faced the committee for the first time with the Post Office chief executive, Nick Read, admitting that it was possible that money paid by victims of the Horizon IT scandal may have been paid to Post Office executives.”

[Philbag70]

This isn't just a mistake. This isn't just a scandal that'll blow over. This is blatant fraud and corruption by arrogant, greedy, bent executives ( sound familiar? ). The perpetrators need bringing to justice, and when found guilty, need to be imprisoned and have their assets stripped due to being proceeds of crime.

[NWpostie]

Phantom Losses are essentially free money for the Post Office, ever since the early days of the internet, it's always has been possibly to remote access computers and terminals, spyware is another version of remote access, I have been trained on using spyware in a legal setting nench testing and it would be just as easy for Fujitsu to set up a remote access, I'm suprised this hadn't been realised beforehand as it's plainly obvious to me.

[Mike G]

Whilst obviously not on the same life destroying scale as the Post Office HORIZON Scandal let's not forget the nice little scam that was Royal Mail "Colleague Shares" which occured at the same time period.

It was another example of the utter contempt that senior management held for the workforce and their ability to cook the books with company finances.

[Kenfandango]

James O'Brien just released his interview with journalist Nick Wallis (on the "full disclosure" podcast.) Nick was trying to break the story over 15 years ago, along with a few others, and it just kept getting pushed aside and ignored. It's a fascinating listen even if O'Brien usually puts you off, especially the fact that the sub-postmasters union simply toed the company line and allowed it to happen

[goneaway]

Whilst obviously not on the same life destroying scale as the Post Office HORIZON Scandal let's not forget the nice little scam that was Royal Mail "Colleague Shares" which occured at the same time period.

I've seen this referred to before, but for the benefit of those of us who have only joined Royal Mail since privatisation, what are the details of what happened with "Colleague Shares"?

[south London postie]

Also remember Post Office and Royal Mail had exactly the same HR culture until privatisation in 2012, and it feels like they still do.

The Board and its recent asset stripping policy (to enrich themselves by moving delivery offices to the other side of the spreadsheet) is one thing, but the systematic abuses of the law re age discrimination must be in the tens of thousands of cases. That's led, encouraged and overseen by HR.

The whole business chooses to ignore mandated obligations under the Equality Act 2010. That's policy.

If you get a sense they are after you, check your birth cert and speak to a rep!

[Mike G]

Whilst obviously not on the same life destroying scale as the Post Office HORIZON Scandal let's not forget the nice little scam that was Royal Mail "Colleague Shares" which occured at the same time period.

I've seen this referred to before, but for the benefit of those of us who have only joined Royal Mail since privatisation, what are the details of what happened with "Colleague Shares"?

It was pre-privatisation when RM & PO were to all intents and purposes the same entity.

An incentive scheme was launched based on the business meeting certain productivity and profit targets over a 5 year period 2007-12, we were all given "Colleague Share" certificates which we were told would be worth a few grand if all targets were met over that 5 year period.

The business then gave us updates every year as to the progress of the scheme, they went something like this...

Year 1 - All targets met
Year 2 - All targets met
Year 3 - All targets met
Year 4 - All targets met
Year 5 - (When we were due the payout) - All targets failed, productivity down, profits down, business costs up.

Then the following year when our Colleague Share certificates were nothing but worthless bits of paper the business returned to the same levels of profitability that it had achieved for the 4 years when all targets were met.

[goneaway]

Whilst obviously not on the same life destroying scale as the Post Office HORIZON Scandal let's not forget the nice little scam that was Royal Mail "Colleague Shares" which occured at the same time period.

I've seen this referred to before, but for the benefit of those of us who have only joined Royal Mail since privatisation, what are the details of what happened with "Colleague Shares"?

It was pre-privatisation when RM & PO were to all intents and purposes the same entity.

An incentive scheme was launched based on the business meeting certain productivity and profit targets over a 5 year period 2007-12, we were all given "Colleague Share" certificates which we were told would be worth a few grand if all targets were met over that 5 year period...

That sounds pretty devious, thanks for the explanation. It sounds like this inspired the ill-fated Christmas bonus scheme that we had in the run up to Christmas 2023, with largely unachievable service level targets, which they knew would limit the payout of bonuses. And it probably also inspired the overtime holiday pay fiasco, where you can meet the overtime targets for 5 months, but miss it by an hour in the sixth month, you don't get anything. It's like everything Royal Mail do, they set it up to fail.