Anthony Hilton: Privatised RM set to follow a wasteful trend

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Anthony Hilton: Privatised Royal Mail set to follow a wasteful trend http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 67000.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Prime sites will be stripped out for development and the operations side will go to hell

Last year the Royal Mail sold a site in Rathbone Place, just off Oxford Street in the West End, for £130m. Then on Monday of this week came news that it is planning to put houses and flats on another, less expensive central London site: Mount Pleasant, the sorting office on the Camden-Islington border which we see on television every year in news reports on the build-up of Christmas post.

While Rathbone Place was small, the 12-acre Mount Pleasant project will be one the biggest in years in the heart of London. Its supporters hope it will net the Post Office at least £1bn. But will it? Successive governments since Margaret Thatcher's time have wanted to privatise the Royal Mail, and this time it looks likely tohappen, now that one of the major hurdles has been removed with the transfer of the costly pension scheme back to the taxpayer. A sale in the next couple of years looks likely.

So don't you just know what's going to happen? The Government will sell the business to a private equity company for a depressingly small sum which it will justify by saying that the business loses money. After a depressingly brief period the buyer will home in on all those other prime sites which, like Rathbone Place and Mount Pleasant, the Royal Mail owns in most of our major cities and towns. It will then strip these out and sell them for development, making vast profits in the process. Meanwhile, the operational side of the business will continue to go to hell in a handcart.

It has happened before – with the privatisation of British Rail, the water companies, with dozens of MoD sites – where privatisation failed to reflect the value of the land being sold. The redevelopment of Royal Mail sites in the coming years could make a lot of money and it could be used to finance a postal delivery service fit for the 21st century. Unfortunately, experience suggests that that is not the way to bet.

[Lounge Lizard]

The last paragraph sums it up perfectly :
"It has happened before – with the privatisation of British Rail, the water companies, with dozens of MoD sites – where privatisation failed to reflect the value of the land being sold. The redevelopment of Royal Mail sites in the coming years could make a lot of money and it could be used to finance a postal delivery service fit for the 21st century. Unfortunately, experience suggests that that is not the way to bet."

[Sharkeyes]

Labours cohorts seemed to want TNT to bu into Royal Mail.
Why would they or an one else want to buy into something whose business they have pinching over the last few years?

[briantwigley]

As can been seen with what has happened to the railways since privatisation it does not look good...

[kingtubby]

just an idle thought...it's a slow motion butchery in the name of private capital gain...

try John Gray's 1998 book 'False Dawn' as a good explanation of our current difficulties.

[Sharkeyes]

New book coming out,

'ROYAL MAIL - DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS!"






Lets face it we're all fu*&kd! Time to find a life boat and get in it before all the rich sods grab the only ones left before it sinks. It's like working on the Titanic. Everyone thinks Royal Mail can't sink...........
"Err.....British Rail, National Coal Board, Manweb, Norweb, British Steel British Leyland, Triumph Motors.....etc."

This government and the last have sold us down the river beyond the point of no return, yet revisions are still being done without any leadership from the top because in simple terms........
The ones at the top dont KNOW what they are doing , don't know what is about to happen and are keeping us all in the dark.
Wait until ALL Regulation is removed...It WILL be like the taxi trade, make no mistake.
TNT don't want to be part of Royal Mail, they want to 'kill us off'.
If they do buy us, it will be only to ASSET STRIP! AND NOTHING ELSE!

:dcfo :ncfo :vcfo

[Up Hill Down Hill]

Why is everyone making assumptions already? There's no way round it, Royal Mail is here to stay. Can't see any other companies replacing post offices, doing our collections and doing the last mile yet alone handling the ever growing numbers of parcels we are dealing with. Lets just see what happens people. Higher management will be affected, Us walkers wont be in my opinion (because let's be honest that's all we have at the moment in time)

[POSTMAN]

Why is everyone making assumptions already? There's no way round it, Royal Mail is here to stay. Can't see any other companies replacing post offices, doing our collections and doing the last mile yet alone handling the ever growing numbers of parcels we are dealing with. Lets just see what happens people. Higher management will be affected, Us walkers wont be in my opinion (because let's be honest that's all we have at the moment in time)

Slight flaw Up...
http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 40&t=44468" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Sharkeyes]

Sorry my friend but us 'walkmen' are well in the firing line. I used to think that this side of the job was the safest bet but it is slowly being picked at like a dying carcus by vultures.
Where are these 'vultures' I hear you say. No one wants to do our job out in all weathers? Would they?
Don't kid yourself my friend. EU directives under the Maastrict and Lisobn Treaties have forced our successive governments into providing legislation which allows any Tom Dick or Harry to 'pick off' our work.
Big companies at first trialled 'DSA' mail. It was only one bag at first with about 6 letters in. Now there is more of their s**t than there is our own.
So to make up the loss in our revenue, we closed post offices, canceled 2 deliveries, stopped the TPO's & Skynet & sold off land & big chunks of Parcel Force.
Then the 'slash & burn' policies continued with what we have recently seen.
Delivery offices closed or amalgamated, revisions being brought in to cut the number of staff by increasing workload on walks. How? By using vans & trollies, so you can take out more mail. Can't do that on a bike, thats why they want rid.
A large closure program of Mail Centers, even ones in large city's like Liverpool. Full automation, despite the fact that in some cases it means that most of the mail actually arrives later than it ever did, hours after our competitors have finished for the day.
So now it is our turn on the walks and the demise of the delivery office.
How? By who? When?
By entrepreneurs and solopreneurs, that's who.
When? Well they have started already and many more are watching delivery like a hawk, how we do things now compared to how we used to do them. They are out there doing their homework and sums and plan to pickoff our customers and deliver their mail, cheaper, faster and in a more attractive way that offers the complete 'all in one' collection and delivery package, that Royal Mail and many other big boys can not do without making a loss.
If you can't see this for yourself, take the blinkers off. The likes of 'Penny Farthing Post' in Cornwall, Cycle 4U in Birmingham, Yellow Jersey Post in Coventry, Enermail in Hull are in the eyes of some in Royal Mail, nothing more than a joke and no perceived threat at all. WRONG! They are all pioneers in this field yes, but they have given many a person with a creative, business acumen, the vision to do our job in a more environmentally friendly way that is cheaper and in some cases faster and more reliable and customer friendly.
They won't be the ones who currently post large amounts of DSA mail, dumping it on us, no. These entrepreneurs will be looking to muscle in on posting customers on your walks/rides, if you have any small to medium business, who are all disparate to save money.
Admittedly at first these guys can only cover a small area, on their own, but the way modern business works, they will in time 'link up' and it will be a lot quicker than what Royal mail think.
How? Well its not rocket science because other firms who run vehicles over a distance want to run their fleet with as much 'FULL CAPACITY' as possible. So if you have two independent postal companies that can collect and deliver local mail cheaply and they can offer deliveries to the city next door and so on, then some haulage companies might well see extra regular work coming their way, by back filling their vehicles which are already going to the city next door on other business.
What we WILL have is PRIVATE BUSINESS SUPPORTING PRIVATE BUSINESS, LOCAL LITTLEMEN, MEDIUM BUSINESSES AND LARGER REGIONAL HAULIERS ALL WORKING TOGETHER,MAKING A PROFIT AT THE EXPENSE OF ROYAL MAIL.
All we will have to deliver in three years from now is 20 sets of door to door per week each, DSA rubbish for peanuts and a few e-bay packets where no one else wants to deliver to, either because its too far or financially worth their while.
All hope is not lost though.
The best possible outcome for us walkmen is to do a 'PREMIER LEAGUE' style break away from our current employers and their senior management structure.
"What? That can't happen?.....can it?"
'Oh yes it can. There's no reason why not and the strange thing is that if we all became 'SELF EMPLOYED' Posties, collecting and delivering in our OWN areas where we live, then we can charge Royal Mail a more fairer price for the work we do. The only other thing we need to do then is take your out of town stuff to a HUB for forwarding on and collecting next morning. As each individual postie will only work a relatively smaller area, he or she won't need a big 600 van either.
In essence, we will all invoice Royal Mail for the collection and delivery side of it and they likewise ourselves for sending any distant stuff through their network. so if you don't want to bother with that, then don't.
'You are your OWN Boss then!' No more lapsing, absorbing or basically having the piss taken out of you.

'Sounds mad does it?' May be so, but then, so too was the notion of one delivery, five day working, scrapping bikes, planes & trains when I joined the job 23 years ago. Much has changed in that time but the reality is with this recession as in ALL recessions, new business are born and will prosper at the expenses of others. If we postiess leave it to the Senior management and the NEC of the CWU to protect our jobs then we are living in cloud cukoo land.
I don't agree with any of what is happening but we are where we are, not because of those we perceive to be the reasons behind it all, but by the fact that no one in our country is prepared to say NO! to the EU and its draconian anti nationalist and pro free market economy were the fat cats get richer at te expense of the workers, sick, elderly and disabled.
We have a fighting chance to play them at their own game and to take that profit back from them and give it to ourselves to spend in OUR OWN LOCAL ECONOMIES instead of the profits finding their way into foreign companies and banks, never to return.
Businesses need to communicate but a lot of things can't be sent as an email, fax or a text.
Just add up the postage that you deliver on your walk on any given day per item, times it by five say and you be earning a four figure sum instead of the poxy £200 or so you currently get.
That is what entrepreneurs are thinking now, once they're established, start to grow and link up with eachother, you will notice that you walk is getting lighter in a few years. That will be why and it will mean yet more cuts and more job losses, BECAUSE THE POWERS THAT BE AT THE TOP, DIDN'T SEE IT COMING!
I WON'T SAY IT JUST YET BUT IT WILL BE SAID........."TOLD YOU SO".


:dcfo :ncfo :vcfo

[Martin Walsh]

TNT are opening a second delivery depot in Victoria their plan is cover 40% of urban areas in the next three years. They don't have quality targets or have to delivery to every address they currently deliver on one or two days per week in west London but their staff are employed on 6 days per week so they move to another post code area.

Yes it is a threat to jobs and you know what they are also trying to capture more of the unaddressed market which some of our staff moan about as it gives them a foothold.

Clearly the union has to oppose this move by TNT as it does threaten the USO , jobs and terms and conditions.

This is a real threat to our future , the USO accounts for 65% of Royal Mail's overall costs , if more mail is lost to bypass ie lost f both the DSA and Delivery then it will be damaging to the sustainability of both the USO and jobs.

[Cut Off King]

All this doom & gloom...... Cheer up you old bugger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ECUtkv2qV8

[rhino49]

756 days to retirement - I might just get past the fan before the s**t hits it

[scrapsaturdays]

Privatisation is coming,and the job as we know it will change beyond recognition.As well as terms and condition changes the customers will lose out. A senior manager thinks,which means will almost certainly happen, we will deliver two duties on alternate days.Part time staffing will be the norm and one person will throw up the walks and another will deliver.It's possible that we will have the american model of delivery with boxes on gates and rurals putting boxes at the end of lanes.Saving time and then doubling the delivery size.Staff levels will be halved. Any buyer of RM will have terms and conditions applied as part of the buying process,but over a few years they will forgo those conditions to raise profits and cut costs.Anyone thinking this is doom and gloom just look back at the changes over recent year never mind the last 20.Senior directors and area managers have recently been cast aside as the geographical areas were re-designed.If Moya and her cronies treat them badly it just proves they don't give a s**t about low paid posties or the customer.