The Telegraph: Royal Mail suitor to spend £800m and take on Amazon

[Barnacle]

Have to say, I’m glad some of you lot aren’t in charge!

The future for RM is packets and parcels. In the same way businesses turned off their fax machines, customers are also fast turning off their printers. Yes, individual people will still send letters and cards, but they will be a small minority. The role of postperson is now transitioning to parcelperson. Inescapable fact.

You would say that. You are a parcel delivery person. All you see is parcels.

[Mr Rush]

I would have thought the CWU would be on a big push for doing the job as per the book - just that. Do your job exactly as described and that's it. If there is one thing the union could bang the drum about it is probably that you must do the job to the letter and not a bit more. Work your hours, following the rules, dot all the i's and cross all the t's.

Work to rule is industrial action. For real. You can bet it would be challenged in court by the end of the first delivery*.

*I love seeing that on union ballots. Have they not updated their stationary in twenty years?

[Smoothbackground]

Have to say, I’m glad some of you lot aren’t in charge!

The future for RM is packets and parcels. In the same way businesses turned off their fax machines, customers are also fast turning off their printers. Yes, individual people will still send letters and cards, but they will be a small minority. The role of postperson is now transitioning to parcelperson. Inescapable fact.

You would say that. You are a parcel delivery person. All you see is parcels.

But I’m also a prolific letter-writer and love sending and receiving letters and cards. I’d say I’m one of my postie’s more regular deliveries, yet still it’s only a once-a-week thing that we have any post, and even then perhaps two letters max. On the other hand, he is delivering parcels to my teenage daughter three or four times a week.

[Smoothbackground]

I would have thought the CWU would be on a big push for doing the job as per the book - just that. Do your job exactly as described and that's it. If there is one thing the union could bang the drum about it is probably that you must do the job to the letter and not a bit more. Work your hours, following the rules, dot all the i's and cross all the t's.

Work to rule is industrial action. For real. You can bet it would be challenged in court by the end of the first delivery*.

*I love seeing that on union ballots. Have they not updated their stationary in twenty years?

They didn’t update their stationery as they remained stationary for 20 years!

[Barnacle]

Have to say, I’m glad some of you lot aren’t in charge!

The future for RM is packets and parcels. In the same way businesses turned off their fax machines, customers are also fast turning off their printers. Yes, individual people will still send letters and cards, but they will be a small minority. The role of postperson is now transitioning to parcelperson. Inescapable fact.

You would say that. You are a parcel delivery person. All you see is parcels.

But I’m also a prolific letter-writer and love sending and receiving letters and cards. I’d say I’m one of my postie’s more regular deliveries, yet still it’s only a once-a-week thing that we have any post, and even then perhaps two letters max. On the other hand, he is delivering parcels to my teenage daughter three or four times a week.

Customers receive 6x more letters than parcels per year.

[Smoothbackground]

Have to say, I’m glad some of you lot aren’t in charge!

The future for RM is packets and parcels. In the same way businesses turned off their fax machines, customers are also fast turning off their printers. Yes, individual people will still send letters and cards, but they will be a small minority. The role of postperson is now transitioning to parcelperson. Inescapable fact.

You would say that. You are a parcel delivery person. All you see is parcels.

But I’m also a prolific letter-writer and love sending and receiving letters and cards. I’d say I’m one of my postie’s more regular deliveries, yet still it’s only a once-a-week thing that we have any post, and even then perhaps two letters max. On the other hand, he is delivering parcels to my teenage daughter three or four times a week.

Customers receive 6x more letters than parcels per year.

How recent is that stat (ie which year) and where did you get it from (source)?

[Barnacle]

Have to say, I’m glad some of you lot aren’t in charge!

The future for RM is packets and parcels. In the same way businesses turned off their fax machines, customers are also fast turning off their printers. Yes, individual people will still send letters and cards, but they will be a small minority. The role of postperson is now transitioning to parcelperson. Inescapable fact.

You would say that. You are a parcel delivery person. All you see is parcels.

But I’m also a prolific letter-writer and love sending and receiving letters and cards. I’d say I’m one of my postie’s more regular deliveries, yet still it’s only a once-a-week thing that we have any post, and even then perhaps two letters max. On the other hand, he is delivering parcels to my teenage daughter three or four times a week.

Customers receive 6x more letters than parcels per year.

How recent is that stat (ie which year) and where did you get it from (source)?

I only ever quote RM’s own figures.

[Basildon Bond]

Work to rule is industrial action. For real. You can bet it would be challenged in court by the end of the first delivery*.

I have get respect for you Mr Rush. But I also have a massive *!*!*WHY*!*!* in my head. Why is simply dotting i's and crossing t's borderline strike?

It's one of those "take a walk around the block and get back to me" questions. Maybe a 12 or 24 hour question. Ask yourself really, honestly, why? Dig deep why it is not done. Surely it's the path to exposing the problems; or is that the reason it's always dismissed out of hand?

[Smoothbackground]

Have to say, I’m glad some of you lot aren’t in charge!

The future for RM is packets and parcels. In the same way businesses turned off their fax machines, customers are also fast turning off their printers. Yes, individual people will still send letters and cards, but they will be a small minority. The role of postperson is now transitioning to parcelperson. Inescapable fact.

You would say that. You are a parcel delivery person. All you see is parcels.

But I’m also a prolific letter-writer and love sending and receiving letters and cards. I’d say I’m one of my postie’s more regular deliveries, yet still it’s only a once-a-week thing that we have any post, and even then perhaps two letters max. On the other hand, he is delivering parcels to my teenage daughter three or four times a week.

Customers receive 6x more letters than parcels per year.

How recent is that stat (ie which year) and where did you get it from (source)?

I only ever quote RM’s own figures.

Good to hear. So which year is that figure from? Do you have a weblink to the source?

[postslippete]

Good to hear. So which year is that figure from? Do you have a weblink to the source?

Its in the last financial results

https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/fu ... GC7426ISA6


53 weeks March 2024
Volume (m units)
Royal Mail

Total Parcels 1,295
Domestic Parcels (excluding
international) 1,120
International Parcels 175
Addressed letters (excluding elections). 6,736


Total letter revenue also grew by 4.4% due to the price rises. Whilst I agree that our future is in parcels, we are usually the cheapest couriers when it comes to delivering parcels under 1kg. Surely, it makes sense to continue delivering letters in the usual way with these smaller parcels?

[Mr Rush]

Work to rule is industrial action. For real. You can bet it would be challenged in court by the end of the first delivery*.

Why is simply dotting i's and crossing t's borderline strike?

Regardless of what the rules or your contract say, how the job is customarily done is legally how it is done. To suddenly start following the rules to the letter with the intended effect of completing less work is ultimately the withdrawal of (some) labour. The union would have to ballot; and when it comes to forms of industrial action, picket lines are more effective than trying to herd cats into sticking to the plan.

Despite what the media is currently saying, there's fat chance of a fight after 2022.

[GizzardPuke]

The plan is not a "go slow" but doing by the book and throwing all issues back to the manager. RM makes the rules; You just follow them to the letter.

I'm going down this route now. I was always fairly flexible but I've had enough.
The only issue is a 'work to rule' may be deemed to be unofficial industrial action so you have to be careful.
Don't prioritise Tracked - there's a written process in place for items where delivery hasn't been attempted. The managers hate us doing that.
Royal Mail's policy is that we don't prioritise parcels (they say publicly) so don't do it. All you have to prioritise is Special Deliveries. By doing what the managers ask you're probably in breach of your contract. I know contracts change but mine, and probably everyone else's, says you'll follow RM's policy and that takes precedence over the needs of your unit or department.
Ask managers to put their request to prioritise Tracked in writing. I've been asking for months and they've yet to do it. They claim 'reasonable instruction' but that's arguable. First of all, if it's reasonable they'd put it in writing, secondly, is it reasonable to ask a postie to breach the USO and to breach the terms of their contract? I'd say no. Can you imagine the papers running a story about how a postie was sacked for delivering letters instead of parcels?
Their latest BS is to say it's a health & safety issue if we don't deliver parcels. Absolute rubbish (except maybe at Christmas). I can legitimately bring back a dozen parcels that I've left a P739 for to be attempted again the next day but if I bring back half a dozen unattempted all of a sudden it's a H&S issue?
Of course, by doing this you'll make yourself a target so you have to be squeaky clean. One Special delivered after 1pm and they've got you.

This action isn't for the faint hearted and may well end up in an employment tribunal. Obviously I'm not a lawyer but I'm at the age now where I no longer care, I'm unable to get another job (so far) and I've got nothing to lose so I'm willing to take the risk. Who wants their job more - me or some jumped up COM who wants to 'progress', cos one of us is going down!

[Smoothbackground]

Good to hear. So which year is that figure from? Do you have a weblink to the source?

Its in the last financial results

https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/fu ... GC7426ISA6


53 weeks March 2024
Volume (m units)
Royal Mail

Total Parcels 1,295
Domestic Parcels (excluding
international) 1,120
International Parcels 175
Addressed letters (excluding elections). 6,736


Total letter revenue also grew by 4.4% due to the price rises. Whilst I agree that our future is in parcels, we are usually the cheapest couriers when it comes to delivering parcels under 1kg. Surely, it makes sense to continue delivering letters in the usual way with these smaller parcels?

Thanks for the link.

So those figures refer to total letter and parcel volumes rather than individual recipient “receiving habits”. That 6,736 figure includes mail going to bulk customers — HMRC, HMCTS, large business customers etc.

Unless my maths is failing me, the stats don’t support Barnacle’s claim that “customers receive 6x more letters than parcels per year”.

And yes, I completely agree with you, Pete, that it makes sense to continue delivering letters in the usual way with smaller parcels. My view is that anything non-postable should be given to a DPR driver, as well as customer collections and postboxes, leaving posties to deliver just mail, postable tracked items plus special deliveries.

[postslippete]

I'm going down this route now. I was always fairly flexible but I've had enough.
The only issue is a 'work to rule' may be deemed to be unofficial industrial action so you have to be careful.
Don't prioritise Tracked - there's a written process in place for items where delivery hasn't been attempted. The managers hate us doing that.
Royal Mail's policy is that we don't prioritise parcels (they say publicly) so don't do it. All you have to prioritise is Special Deliveries. By doing what the managers ask you're probably in breach of your contract. I know contracts change but mine, and probably everyone else's, says you'll follow RM's policy and that takes precedence over the needs of your unit or department.
Ask managers to put their request to prioritise Tracked in writing. I've been asking for months and they've yet to do it. They claim 'reasonable instruction' but that's arguable. First of all, if it's reasonable they'd put it in writing, secondly, is it reasonable to ask a postie to breach the USO and to breach the terms of their contract? I'd say no. Can you imagine the papers running a story about how a postie was sacked for delivering letters instead of parcels?
Their latest BS is to say it's a health & safety issue if we don't deliver parcels. Absolute rubbish (except maybe at Christmas). I can legitimately bring back a dozen parcels that I've left a P739 for to be attempted again the next day but if I bring back half a dozen unattempted all of a sudden it's a H&S issue?
Of course, by doing this you'll make yourself a target so you have to be squeaky clean. One Special delivered after 1pm and they've got you.

This action isn't for the faint hearted and may well end up in an employment tribunal. Obviously I'm not a lawyer but I'm at the age now where I no longer care, I'm unable to get another job (so far) and I've got nothing to lose so I'm willing to take the risk. Who wants their job more - me or some jumped up COM who wants to 'progress', cos one of us is going down!

While it's entirely commendable what you are doing, RM managers will never put it in writing that they want you to prioritise the Tracked over letters. Everything is always done verbally as a 'reasonable instruction' like you say and if you decide not to do it from the outset then they may conduct you on insubordination. Things have moved on since Darren Jones exposed Royal Mail in the Select Committee's with Royal Mail and OfCom now looking at a reform of the USO. In all honesty, it depends how many Tracked items that you are bringing back as unattempted. For example, if you forgot to deliver one or two Tracked items and you only realised this when you came back to the office and told the manager of this, then the ball is in their court. However, if you rung the manager while you were out on delivery and you were struggling to complete and they told you to prioritise the Tracked and you decided not to do it then its up to you whether you want to keep your job.

I know it's annoying but I do know of a postie that was sacked for doing this. The only thing that the union will truly back you up on is the fact that you really don't need to do overtime if you don't want to. For me, that is more important regardless of how many days worth of mail that I'm expected to deliver due to parcels being prioritised.

[Barnacle]

Good to hear. So which year is that figure from? Do you have a weblink to the source?

Its in the last financial results

https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/fu ... GC7426ISA6


53 weeks March 2024
Volume (m units)
Royal Mail

Total Parcels 1,295
Domestic Parcels (excluding
international) 1,120
International Parcels 175
Addressed letters (excluding elections). 6,736


Total letter revenue also grew by 4.4% due to the price rises. Whilst I agree that our future is in parcels, we are usually the cheapest couriers when it comes to delivering parcels under 1kg. Surely, it makes sense to continue delivering letters in the usual way with these smaller parcels?

Thanks for the link.

So those figures refer to total letter and parcel volumes rather than individual recipient “receiving habits”. That 6,736 figure includes mail going to bulk customers — HMRC, HMCTS, large business customers etc.

Unless my maths is failing me, the stats don’t support Barnacle’s claim that “customers receive 6x more letters than parcels per year”.

And yes, I completely agree with you, Pete, that it makes sense to continue delivering letters in the usual way with smaller parcels. My view is that anything non-postable should be given to a DPR driver, as well as customer collections and postboxes, leaving posties to deliver just mail, postable tracked items plus special deliveries.

I can understand your obsession with DPR and belief that it is the dog wagging the tail, because it’s what you do and all you see are parcels.

However, you and your fellow DPR drivers are not delivering extra parcels, you are delivering the same parcels which used to be delivered by posties during their walks.

DPR has been developed using mail infrastructure and vans etc. it hasn’t been developed as a stand alone unit. This means that the true costs of DPR are hidden within the costs of mail delivery. The only time costs are revealed even slightly, is in staffing costs which have ballooned and all to deliver the same volume of parcels.

So I can understand your personal obsession with DPR, but I look at the business as a whole and thus far DPR has been a monumental cost which has not increased parcel volumes to a level which would justify its existence.