CWU live show

[postslippete]

As expected, Dave kicked things off by reminding us that the company is “struggling financially.” On paper, that’s hard to argue with: in 2023–24, for example, RM posted a headline loss of £348 million, while GLS brought in £320 million in operating profit. According to Dave, this year it's only expected to make £20 million profit from a £9 billion turnover. So why would Kretinsky buy a business with such a heavy loss on the books?

Well, it’s obvious: RM is the gateway to unlocking enormous savings through USO reform. Martin himself said that year 1 pay award costs £220 million, and across three years, the deal totals £800 million. But he also admitted that USO reforms could save up to £300 million annually and that’s nearly £900 million over the same three year period. Add to that phased-in equalisation of contracts and reduced headcount through “natural wastage,” and the savings could be far greater.

So the money’s there it’s just not being offered upfront. As of March 2024, IDS reported £5,625 million in retained earnings - up from around nearly £5 billion the year before. Ooops spoiler alert! It's not actually teetering on insolvency.

https://www.stockopedia.com/share-price ... nce-sheet/

On parcels, Martin claims that RM is at a huge disadvantage citing a per-parcel delivery cost of £23.50 versus Evri’s £13.50, because we pay for things like vans, pensions, and NI contributions. If that’s true, then why is parcel volumes growing so rapidly? If we’re undercut by nearly 50%, then we’re either losing money on every parcel or relying heavily on cheap, short-term agency labour to close the gap. Truth is, RM is chasing parcel volume without fixing its flawed delivery model which isn't growth, but desperation. If evening and Sunday deliveries can’t be staffed properly or made profitable then continuing them is just throwing good money after bad.

If RM is banking big savings from USO reform and parcel expansion, why are workers being asked to settle for so little, so early and to lock it in for 3 years? A "no strings" deal that ignores future value is just a clever way of selling short-term peace while long-term profits flow upward.

[norris9]

Put yourself in the shoes the owner of the company. You want to make the business as profitable as possible. Your competitors are mostly employing owner-drivers on the cheap and they doorstep every single parcel. How can you compete. Do enough customers send via Royal Mail at higher prices because of our better reputation to sustain Royal Mail long term.

- Do you become an owner-driver business...

or do you try to improve profits by....

- Selling off land in prime locations and moving to alternate offices within our towns and cities.

- Creating a retail arm, even if it's just in the card/gift sector.

- Twisting the governments arm to reduce the USO to a 4 day service or less.

[yubin282]

RM need to stop looking at EVRI - YODEL as competitors, they don't deliver mail.

[goldy2007]

RM need to stop looking at EVRI - YODEL as competitors, they don't deliver mail.

Exactly that and their business gig style owner driver model as we know is different

In our area granted it’s rural but only 2 evri couriers 1 DPD driver next to no Amazon couriers

We have 14 posties

[yubin282]

RM need to stop looking at EVRI - YODEL as competitors, they don't deliver mail.

Exactly that and their business gig style owner driver model as we know is different

In our area granted it’s rural but only 2 evri couriers 1 DPD driver next to no Amazon couriers

We have 14 posties

Exactly, at best 50% of their "business model" is the same. Stop worrying about them and find a solution that works for RM.

[postslippete]

Put yourself in the shoes the owner of the company. You want to make the business as profitable as possible. Your competitors are mostly employing owner-drivers on the cheap and they doorstep every single parcel. How can you compete. Do enough customers send via Royal Mail at higher prices because of our better reputation to sustain Royal Mail long term.

Well, that is the paradox that RM faces. We can't really beat the gig-economy at their own game without losing what makes RM valuable - its trusted brand, the national infrastructure and public service obligation. Personally, I wouldn't rush to become a cheap labour, owner driver model as that will just end in a race to the bottom. As a consumer I've had a few issues with Evri regarding non-delivery and missing parcels so I won't use them ever again.

So I would look instead at where RM still has an edge and I would look at quality, trust and our national reach and focus on reliability over speed and cost. People still prefer RM when given the choice of tracked or time-critical items (Specials). It still has that universal reach and can still touch every postcode in the UK. It will probably look to sell off sites to raise efficiency as long as it doesn't completely wreck the operation side of things.

The retail arm that you mentioned is interesting and it could certainly do worse than look at promoting UK card/gift brands to try and generate extra footfall and it wouldn't be that expensive to set up either. Have you mentioned this before? But yeah, USO reform is the obvious route and going to 4 days on letters would undoubtedly bring about the cost savings required rather than trying to deliver a mountain of parcels at lower costs. They just need to be careful that they don't try and overstretch us to try and deliver it.

[michael147]

RM need to stop looking at EVRI - YODEL as competitors, they don't deliver mail.

True.
They also don`t deliver parcels very well either.
I do a rural delivery where many customers know my first name.
I often point out that its no wonder we are under cut when our `competitors` leave stuff in bushes, on doorsteps during storms ( 10 metres from an open shed), outside porches which are actually open if they bothered to try, or often just simply in the wrong place.
I remember at Christmas returning home to my terraced street at 16:00 to see packets and parcels literally outside the doors of a third of the street!
I am amazed when we are sometimes told that a contract is under threat as the company is not happy with our photos or some such rubbish, let them try someone else and have their stuff left in a puddle down an alley.

[Moose67]

No wonder parcels parcel force drive around with nothing to do we collect them they send a driver into our depot to collect the parcels we collect twice a day God help us when delivery staff start collecting on the 11th of August the place is becoming a joke

[TopperGas]

RM need to stop looking at EVRI - YODEL as competitors, they don't deliver mail.

I remember at Christmas returning home to my terraced street at 16:00 to see packets and parcels literally outside the doors of a third of the street!

But isn't that what the customer seems to want as I'd say 99% of the parcels I deliver, which is upwards of 1,000 a week, the customer hasn't nominated a safe place nor gone for the Local Collect option etc, if you managed to speak to a customer on their Ring's they usually say "can you leave at the front door" or "throw it over the fence", I can't recall them ever saying "can you take it back to the office as nobody is at home".

What's madness is we deliver to every household in the UK, at least once a week, but there's no official record of what a customer want's done with their parcels when they are out, but ask the regular postie and knows where virtually every customer want's their parcels left or if they want it returned to the DO.

Evri profits last year where only just over £100m so it' not as if there owner/driver model is returning vast profits for them.

[menditsa]

RM need to stop looking at EVRI - YODEL as competitors, they don't deliver mail.

Yet that metric is used to against RM DPR drivers.

RM are bleeding customers because the agency drivers for RM are no different to Evri or Amazon.
Dump and run.

An old school friend that's done well for himself was sending 1000 parcels a week thro RM, he pulled the contract because as he said I paid RM £2 per parcel over Evri or Yodel because they delivered in a safe and proper manner.

£260K a year in RM revenue gone.

[SpacePhoenix]

What's madness is we deliver to every household in the UK, at least once a week, but there's no official record of what a customer want's done with their parcels when they are out, but ask the regular postie and knows where virtually every customer want's their parcels left or if they want it returned to the DO.

RM should do a survey of every last DP to find out what they want done with their parcels if they are out. Any who don't reply would default as back to the DO until the person fills out an official form to state what they want doing with the parcels. The results could be added to Route Planner, so that then the "nominated safe place" appears on the PDA when you scan the barcode.

[chickenwittle]

What's madness is we deliver to every household in the UK, at least once a week, but there's no official record of what a customer want's done with their parcels when they are out, but ask the regular postie and knows where virtually every customer want's their parcels left or if they want it returned to the DO.

RM should do a survey of every last DP to find out what they want done with their parcels if they are out. Any who don't reply would default as back to the DO until the person fills out an official form to state what they want doing with the parcels. The results could be added to Route Planner, so that then the "nominated safe place" appears on the PDA when you scan the barcode.

I’ve been saying for years that Royal Mail should be doing something like this , most of the time it’s just laziness on behalf of the customer. We should be delivering a d2d with every parcel explaining to the customer how to manage their future deliveries ( safe place , neighbours, local collect) etc.

[TopperGas]

[/quote]
I’ve been saying for years that Royal Mail should be doing something like this , most of the time it’s just laziness on behalf of the customer. We should be delivering a d2d with every parcel explaining to the customer how to manage their future deliveries ( safe place , neighbours, local collect) etc.
[/quote]

Given the Royal Mail app is linked to me address, how difficult would it be for RM to get my delivery preferences for every parcel from the app? It seems pointless telling me my parcel will arrive by 3pm if I'm out at work.

[kazardaimenu]

RM need to stop looking at EVRI - YODEL as competitors, they don't deliver mail.

Yet that metric is used to against RM DPR drivers.

RM are bleeding customers because the agency drivers for RM are no different to Evri or Amazon.
Dump and run.

An old school friend that's done well for himself was sending 1000 parcels a week thro RM, he pulled the contract because as he said I paid RM £2 per parcel over Evri or Yodel because they delivered in a safe and proper manner.

£260K a year in RM revenue gone.

RM seem to want to deliver Evri/ Amazon volumes but with old fashioned RM reliability even after closing the callers offices. These demands can put OPGs under a lot of stress.

[Hyrrokkin]

What's madness is we deliver to every household in the UK, at least once a week, but there's no official record of what a customer want's done with their parcels when they are out, but ask the regular postie and knows where virtually every customer want's their parcels left or if they want it returned to the DO.

RM should do a survey of every last DP to find out what they want done with their parcels if they are out. Any who don't reply would default as back to the DO until the person fills out an official form to state what they want doing with the parcels. The results could be added to Route Planner, so that then the "nominated safe place" appears on the PDA when you scan the barcode.

Good idea no reason they could not build up that database as they already have all the addresses anyway
Just do it online through RM website & our app - not fill it in then defaults to the DO/MC