TNT to F**k off?

[POSTMAN]

TNT Post fears Royal Mail privatisation will create monopoly

Royal Mail discretion on allowing access to delivery network will drive rivals out of Britain, says TNT Post

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/0 ... -tnt-ofcom" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TNT Post and other private postal groups could quit Britain if Royal Mail is turned from a "public monopoly into a private monopoly" when it is privatised, regulator Ofcom will be warned this week.

Nick Wells, chief executive of TNT Post in the UK, said that the government could "fatten up" Royal Mail by bolstering its market position at the expense of its rivals to get a better sale price.

The postal services bill, which is going through Parliament, will see the state-owned postal group sold off and will overhaul the regulatory regime governing competition in the postal market.

TNT Post uses Royal Mail's postal workers for the "final mile" to deliver bulk and direct mail to homes and handled 3.3bn items this year. Half of all mail that Royal Mail delivers for its competitors comes from TNT Post.

The Dutch group is concerned in particular that Royal Mail will not be required in future to automatically give it and other rivals access to its delivery network, handing the state-owned group a potential monopoly. The wording of the bill only requires Royal Mail to allow rivals to use its postal workers and letter boxes if it benefits consumers and competition.

"We do not want to run the risk of it [access] being offered at the discretion of Royal Mail," Wells said. "If it was up to them and they tried to weasel out of it, it would have a very negative impact on us. We feel it should be mandated, otherwise it could turn out the lights of every player currently in the marketplace."

He suggested the new regulatory regime could be set up to give Royal Mail greater market share to boost its future profits and its value when it is sold off. According to a recent investment bank valuation, Royal Mail is worth between £700m and £5.7bn depending on factors such as regulation.

"If someone is going to buy this company they will say 'you let us decide on access'. What we are saying is 'do not turn the public monopoly into a private monopoly'. Are they [the government] fattening it up for privatisation?"

Wells will meet Ofcom board members on Friday to outline his company's concerns on market access and also on Royal Mail's VAT exemption. Royal Mail is exempt from charging VAT to its customers while private sector operators are not. This exemption costs the Exchequer an estimated £200m a year in tax revenue. Wells said that if this exemption was lifted, it would make it economically viable for TNT Post to employ its own postal workers to deliver post directly to homes, rather than use Royal Mail's.

[baldrick]

What happened to the TNT Delivery service they were supposed to be starting?

[walksyo]

I don't even no Y there bothering complaining about us...give it 12/18 months they'd of bought us anyway....

[POSTMAN]

Government plans to sell off Royal Mail could create a 'privatised monopoly' and push up price of stamps
The Government’s plans to sell off state-owned Royal Mail could create a “privatised monopoly” and push up the price of stamps, a rival postal company has claimed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... tamps.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Holland’s TNT Post UK also warned that selling off Royal Mail would also threaten “the viability” of the guarantee to deliver post anywhere in the UK for the same price.

The Government is currently pushing through its plans to sell off up to 80 per cent of Royal Mail, either to a private operator or on the London Stock Exchange, most likely sometime in 2012.

TNT set out its objections to the Government’s privatisations plans in an orange-covered booklet sent to every MP this week.

In the document, Nick Wells, the chief executive of TNT Post UK, warned that the Bill would establish Royal Mail as a “privatised monopoly”.

This was because the legislation would allow enshrine in law current restrictions which TNT said prevented it competing with Royal Mail on a “level playing field”.

He said: “The current Postal Services Bill threatens to establish Royal Mail as a privatised monopoly with the power to withdraw the right of access for competitor businesses.”

It would have the effect of forcing out competitor businesses, and leave Royal Mail “supporting structural inefficiencies that could only be underwritten by price rises.

“This will lead to an acceleration in the decline of mail volumes and revenues as customers opt for low e-substitution. The end point is that the viability of the USO (Universal Service Obligation) comes under threat.”

TNT Post also called for the Government to remove Royal Mail’s VAT exemption on many of its services and “minimise the pension fund bail-out”.

Currently the Government has committed to taking responsibility for the company’s pension fund, which has a deficit of around £10billion, once the legislation is pased in the middle of next year.

Mr Wells declined to say whether TNT was considering making a bid for a stake in Royal Mail. He said: “I can’t comment on that – you will have to talk to Holland.”

Mr Wells also accused Royal Mail of deliberately talking down the UK postal market. Last month Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene suggested that the UK mail market was set to fall by 40 per cent over five years.

However Mr Wells accused Royal Mail of preaching a "gospel of doom. They are blaming everyone except themselves".

TNT is currently running trials in Liverpool where its own postmen in orange uniform deliver the post. Mr Wells said that the plan for this end to end service could be rolled out across the UK, if the VAT issue was resolved.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We very much support the Postal Services Bill which provides an important framework within which to address the well known challenges that Royal Mail Group is dealing with.

"The UK postal system is one of the most open and competitive in the world and we are not aware of anything in the Bill that will change that.

"Our customers enjoy some of the lowest prices in Europe and we will continue to offer them great value-for-money.”

A Department for Business spokesman said: “We believe that our Bill strikes the right balance.

“The Government is committed to encouraging competition in the postal services market but it is important that this does not happen at the expense of the universal service.”

[barbario]

Thats a real turn up for the books, TNT on our side against privatisation.

[baldrick]

I don't think TNT are against privatisation - just the possibility that a privatised RM (not owned by them) would
charge a realistic price for the subsidised DSA they currntly enjoy. Or not give them access at all.

[dvbuk55]

Lends credence to the lie that TNT ever considered a final mile service - they don't want to have to pay a reasonable price for the service they get.

[BELIAL]

TNT nor any other profit driven operator ever had the slightest intention of developing a rival delivery network. Taking on massive extra costs and risk for a smaller profit margin just does not make business sense .

Quite interesting that implicit in that PR statement is that TNT either lack the fund ing or inclination to enter the bargain bucket sale

[hubbahubba]

Thats a real turn up for the books, TNT on our side against privatisation.

The only reason these parasites are whinging is because they currently have a licence to print money with the one-sided DSA agreement at the moment.If anyone thinks they're on our side,then they've be on the lighter fuel again!

[labbloke]

Mr Wells declined to say whether TNT was considering making a bid for a stake in Royal Mail. He said: “I can’t comment on that – you will have to talk to Holland.”

Dutch postal chief says " Hmmm we are still thinking about it."

[BELIAL]

Mr Wells also accused Royal Mail of deliberately talking down the UK postal market. Last month Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene suggested that the UK mail market was set to fall by 40 per cent over five years.

Oh dear MR Wells surely you don't think the 'volumes are down fable" is bollocks
Who can we trust?

[dvbuk55]

Mr Wells declined to say whether TNT was considering making a bid for a stake in Royal Mail. He said: “I can’t comment on that – you will have to talk to Holland.”

Dutch postal chief says " Hmmm we are still thinking about it."

Who did he borrow the bong from........................oh no, not

[Judgee]

Oh what a shame. TNT have been leeching off RM workers backs for years and now they look like slipping off the gravy train, oh how my heart bleeds! Perhaps even privatisation has a silver lining!

[bunkerland]

TNT's special relationship with Royal Mail has been the equivilant of having a child living with you until they're in their forties,yes it's been fun having you sponging off us for so long but i think it's time you f****d off and made your own living in the real world!

[dvbuk55]

TNT's special relationship with Royal Mail has been the equivilant of having a child living with you until they're in their forties,yes it's been fun having you sponging off us for so long but i think it's time you f****d off and made your own living in the real world!

My son works for a compnay who use TNT to collect from them and deliver - today he had rung them to collect a parcel, the driver turned up and when he saw it was for Scotland refused to take it - what do you think of those business ethics? Hardly a USO organisation.