Post Office to get £1.3bn of extra funding

[Running Man]

I'm afraid I agree with subbie that the business case for crown offices doesn't stack up and probably never did. I've studied the figures for our entire area and not one profit and loss account makes encouraging reading!

Unfortunately it's now down to our senior managers to decide one of the following.
(a) Do we keep a network of crowns to serve as 'flagships' offering our full range of services, delivered by financial specialists and other product specialists such as savings and bureau?
(b) Do we convert all of our crown offices, or even close some, based purely on the fact that each office MUST make a profit?

In the current climate the Government are not going to throw £1.3 billion at POL to simply fritter away propping up an expensive network that could be run more cheaply and, as stated, some kind of return will be demanded on their investment.

Watch this space.

[billyhayes]

...the Government are not going to throw £1.3 billion at POL to simply fritter away...

Au contraire. Fritter away is exactly what will happen to that money over the next 4 years. It will be spent, like the Forward5toEleven funds before it, on another intake of middle managers, flip-chart experts etc and more importantly it will be (mis)used to pay VRs to the staff and front-line managers clambering to the front of that queue.

All in the name of turning our once great industry around.

PS to subbie - Now this is a rare serious post from me. Can I get an Amen, brother?

[Running Man]

Some excellent observations there Billy.

I really hope you are wrong in your assumptions about 'the frittering' but I've been around long enough to realise that you are probably spot on once again! The amount of money wasted around the whole sales culture (SEMs, whiteboards, courses, conference calls, etc., etc.) during the last five years or so doesn't bear thinking about.

What we need, in my opinion, is total change at the top of our organisation in both POL and Royal Mail Group, as I have said many times before on various threads. As long as we keep promoting from within and/ or appointing 'high fliers' with no postal experience then we will never succeed.

We need people at the top with a real passion to see the good old British Post Office thrive, as a service and not necessarily to makes millions of pounds, together with a real grasp of what our organisation's problems are. As a matter of urgency I would address industrial relations at all levels of RMG which must be at an all time low; given our history with regards to staff/ management relationships then that is REALLY saying something.

It's great that we have secured this funding but let's not start thinking of it as 'The Golden Goose'. We have an awful lot of problems in POL that a huge chunk of cash isn't going to make disappear.

You have been warned.......................

[The BFO]

It saddens me that everyone seems to accept the establishment idea that ‘Crown Offices are not profitable’. At a most basic level, should they or any other segment of the retail network make a profit? What about the service element to the less able, the elderly, and to use Mr Cook’s memorable phrase, ‘the financially less sophisticated’? Is this not why the Government has allocated this funding?

If however, we are looking to make them ‘profitable’ then I would question the Income attributed to Crown Office Branches. We know how much Income is credited for the so called ‘Focus Products’, but what about everything else – Post Office Card Account Payments, Stamps, and so forth? My particular irritant is the fact that Crown Office are credited with less than one tenth of the Margin on Foreign Currency Sales – where does the other 90% go? In many Crown Offices the Foreign Currency Margin will be approximately equivalent to Staff Costs. How many of our Branch Managers know that, or indeed even how to calculate it? That is not a reflection on them, it is how they are bullied into concentrating on other things.

There is no doubt that inefficiency is rife in the Crown Office Network, but that is not the fault of the majority of the staff, it is due to incredibly bad management.

[billyhayes]

Agreed.

I did not read this post before I said something a little similar, (including special sauce), in the "what planet are we on" thread.

It is amazing that some people, (spelt MUGS), read an e-mail, stare at an expensive pie-chart, or listen to some wonkers presentation to accept that and only that as the truth the whole truth........

[The BFO]

Agreed.

I did not read this post before I said something a little similar, (including special sauce), in the "what planet are we on" thread.

It is amazing that some people, (spelt MUGS), read an e-mail, stare at an expensive pie-chart, or listen to some wonkers presentation to accept that and only that as the truth the whole truth........

It is even sadder that they will spend huge amounts of time arguing over minutiae and cannot see the broader context. How many people will comment on this? Not many I’ll wager. I think Billyhayes, that you and I will be the only ones left to turn the lights out. Much as I hate to admit it, the contributor ‘subbie’ is correct; Crown Offices will soon come under fire and everyone will submit to the propaganda they have been steadily drip fed over the past number of years.

[counter man]

What we need, in my opinion, is total change at the top of our organisation in both POL and Royal Mail Group

Hi Running Man..... Havent we had this recently?? Allan Leighton - Gone, Adam Crozier - Gone, David Mills/Alan Cook/Dave Smith Gone. Anyone remember Elmar Toime?

[Running Man]

Yes we have had some form of change recently but let's look at the facts.

Leighton; clueless about the mails business, a hatchet man, no sense of customer service.
Crozier; see Leighton.

Mills; were you Gerald Ratner in disguise?
Cook; a good start with POL but when the going got tough the man jumped ship.
Smith; did he want the job in the first place? A very forgettable six months for The Great White Hope.
Vennells; part of the old boys (girls) network that hasn't a clue how to run a successful business.

Elmar Who???

The point I was making is that we need TOTAL change at the top. A whole new team of executives led by somebody who understands what is needed to transform our once great business. None of the current Executive Committee should be retained as they are the people responsible for the total mismanagement of our business over a number of years.

[counter man]

Anyone remember Elmar Toime?

Elmar Toime was brought in from New Zealand Post 8 or so years ago.... I think he looked at what we were doing and quickly assessed the situation and scarpered!

[baldrick]

Anyone remember Elmar Toime?

Elmar Toime was brought in from New Zealand Post 8 or so years ago.... I think he looked at what we were doing and quickly assessed the situation and scarpered!

Apparently he left because of 'personality clashes' with Crozier. He got a £500,000 payoff after just 12 months with RM.

[subbie]

If the right kind of mutualisation model is adopted then surely the members of the mutual will choose the Executive Board, so you might get your wish Running Man.

Subbie

[Running Man]

A very valid point subbie.

Fingers crossed that we get this right. (But when do we ever get anything right???)