Privatisation will threaten Royal Mail's six-day service

[SpacePhoenix]

The tracking for bulk customers mail - Mailmark, previously known as Enterprise Intelligent Barcode (EIB) -is, I believe, purely going to be done via the mech (as it's only available for letters and large ltrs) so wouldn't have any direct impact on deliveries. Some details at http://www.royalmail.com/mailmark. If this works as it's meant to, it will really show up where there are delays in the network (whether at Mail Centres, DOs or in between)

The (separate) move to track all parcels in the network was covered in an RMTV video we had at work time learning a few months back. Details in this video: http://www.myroyalmail.com/rmtv/parcels-strategy The actual RMTV one I saw was with Catherine Doran - Royal Mail's Chief Information Officer - but that doesn't seem to be on myroyalmail.com

Can't be done via the mech only as many MCs don't have a FSM that would be needed for doing large letters with the EIB via the mech, unless RM plan on having the MCs with FSM (anyone know which ones have FSMs, i think Plymouth, Bristol and Gatwick have them) do all large letters meaning that any MC without a FSM would loose all their flats (1C and 2C) and with it all their large-letter (flats) duties.

[thegreatestfreddy]

BF cited this technolgy as a £70m investment to improve our business going forward after privatisation....

what is the plan for the other £3,000,000,000 (minus the £70,000,000 mentioned in the above spend)... that is being raised by the sell off...??

on paper looks a very small project... on my reckoning there will still be left well over 97% (£2,930,000,000) of what is raised through the sell off, so there must be far more major projects on the horizon than the tiny one you mention here BF??...

[Brain Fury]

BF cited this technolgy as a £70m investment to improve our business going forward after privatisation....

what is the plan for the other £3,000,000,000 (minus the £70,000,000 mentioned in the above spend)... that is being raised by the sell off...??

on paper looks a very small project... on my reckoning there will still be left well over 97% (£2,930,000,000) of what is raised through the sell off, so there must be far more major projects on the horizon than the tiny one you mention here BF??...

RM doesn't get the £3 billion from the IPO. I can't explain how the tracking system works but barrowc obviously knows more about it than I do. I was asked what sort of things RM needed to invest in and I gave two examples. I am sure there are other projects on the horizon and others in the future that have not even been thought about yet. That's the point,any business needs to keep changing with the times and that is why we need to have solid sources of funds to invest.

[thegreatestfreddy]

BF cited this technolgy as a £70m investment to improve our business going forward after privatisation....

what is the plan for the other £3,000,000,000 (minus the £70,000,000 mentioned in the above spend)... that is being raised by the sell off...??

on paper looks a very small project... on my reckoning there will still be left well over 97% (£2,930,000,000) of what is raised through the sell off, so there must be far more major projects on the horizon than the tiny one you mention here BF??...

RM doesn't get the £3 billion from the IPO. I can't explain how the tracking system works but barrowc obviously knows more about it than I do. I was asked what sort of things RM needed to invest in and I gave two examples. I am sure there are other projects on the horizon and others in the future that have not even been thought about yet. That's the point,any business needs to keep changing with the times and that is why we need to have solid sources of funds to invest.

sorry BF you sound like you guessing at what is good for the company if you have no explicit knowledge....

who benefits from the IPO then if RM don't get the £3b and in which case, what is the purpose of the IPO in the first place..??

[Brain Fury]

BF cited this technolgy as a £70m investment to improve our business going forward after privatisation....

what is the plan for the other £3,000,000,000 (minus the £70,000,000 mentioned in the above spend)... that is being raised by the sell off...??

on paper looks a very small project... on my reckoning there will still be left well over 97% (£2,930,000,000) of what is raised through the sell off, so there must be far more major projects on the horizon than the tiny one you mention here BF??...

RM doesn't get the £3 billion from the IPO. I can't explain how the tracking system works but barrowc obviously knows more about it than I do. I was asked what sort of things RM needed to invest in and I gave two examples. I am sure there are other projects on the horizon and others in the future that have not even been thought about yet. That's the point,any business needs to keep changing with the times and that is why we need to have solid sources of funds to invest.

sorry BF you sound like you guessing at what is good for the company if you have no explicit knowledge....

who benefits from the IPO then if RM don't get the £3b [and in which case, what is the purpose of the IPO in the first place..??

Really? I think the current owners of Royal Mail will probably get the money from selling it (or part of it).

[thegreatestfreddy]

BF cited this technolgy as a £70m investment to improve our business going forward after privatisation....

what is the plan for the other £3,000,000,000 (minus the £70,000,000 mentioned in the above spend)... that is being raised by the sell off...??

on paper looks a very small project... on my reckoning there will still be left well over 97% (£2,930,000,000) of what is raised through the sell off, so there must be far more major projects on the horizon than the tiny one you mention here BF??...

RM doesn't get the £3 billion from the IPO. I can't explain how the tracking system works but barrowc obviously knows more about it than I do. I was asked what sort of things RM needed to invest in and I gave two examples. I am sure there are other projects on the horizon and others in the future that have not even been thought about yet. That's the point,any business needs to keep changing with the times and that is why we need to have solid sources of funds to invest.

sorry BF you sound like you guessing at what is good for the company if you have no explicit knowledge....

who benefits from the IPO then if RM don't get the £3b [and in which case, what is the purpose of the IPO in the first place..??

Really? I think the current owners of Royal Mail will probably get the money from selling it (or part of it).

i thought RM is being privatised to provide capital.... where is the capital for further modernisation coming from then if all the IPO is going to the Government then (current owners)...??

[thegreatestfreddy]

BF... this is not about what is best for the company... it is about patching up the economic mess....

it's becoming unfortunately more plain to see by the day....

i can't believe a company thinking it is going to be successful by completely alienting it's frontline workforce... capitalism lost it's way....

absolutely shameful.... only matched by this governments underhand way of disposing of us... and we are supposed to be a democracy...

[Brain Fury]

BF... this is not about what is best for the company... it is about patching up the economic mess..../b]

it's becoming unfortunately more plain to see by the day....

i can't believe a company thinking it is going to be successful by completely alienting it's frontline workforce... capitalism lost it's way....

absolutely shameful.... only matched by this governments underhand way of disposing of us... and we are supposed to be a democracy...

Many people think that . Of course it could also be argued that £3 billion is a drop in the ocean compared with even the extra borrowing the Government has had to do. Also that privatisation in some form has been on the agenda since at least the first Hooper report in 2008 so it's not exactly a sudden decision. So I am not entirely sure what is underhand about how the sale has been conducted; first Hooper Report in 2008, updated report in 2010 and formal announcement in April. We've all known it was coming. My view (which I've expressed plenty of times before) is that given where RM has found itself in terms of competition, regulation and funding the best option (or the least bad) option for the companies future is privatisation. For the employees I think it will be a difficult future with or without privatisation.

[thegreatestfreddy]

BF... this is not about what is best for the company... it is about patching up the economic mess..../b]

it's becoming unfortunately more plain to see by the day....

i can't believe a company thinking it is going to be successful by completely alienting it's frontline workforce... capitalism lost it's way....

absolutely shameful.... only matched by this governments underhand way of disposing of us... and we are supposed to be a democracy...

Many people think that . Of course it could also be argued that £3 billion is a drop in the ocean compared with even the extra borrowing the Government has had to do. Also that privatisation in some form has been on the agenda since at least the first Hooper report in 2008 so it's not exactly a sudden decision. So I am not entirely sure what is underhand about how the sale has been conducted; first Hooper Report in 2008, updated report in 2010 and formal announcement in April. We've all known it was coming. My view (which I've expressed plenty of times before) is that given where RM has found itself in terms of competition, regulation and funding the best option (or the least bad) option for the companies future is privatisation. For the employees I think it will be a difficult future with or without privatisation.

there were i believe many recommendations in the Hooper report... not least the state and capabilities of the management structure and poor industrial relations....

these capabilities have deteriorated and industrial relations worstened further.... at least a sell-off to another organisation may have stood a chance of addressing those issues.... the IPO i think is the worst of the 2 possibilities...

if people realised the daily chaos and lack of management expertise and people skills i think they would be truly horrified and not likely to want to buy in...
unfortunately these things (although i am sure are believed) have to be experienced first hand on a daily basis to make an impact...

i am sure the chaos will continue, though through IA and daily challenging by frontline staff eventually the Company will be forced to listen as patience i think is running out with the daily debacle of management

[Brain Fury]

BF... this is not about what is best for the company... it is about patching up the economic mess..../b]

it's becoming unfortunately more plain to see by the day....

i can't believe a company thinking it is going to be successful by completely alienting it's frontline workforce... capitalism lost it's way....

absolutely shameful.... only matched by this governments underhand way of disposing of us... and we are supposed to be a democracy...

Many people think that . Of course it could also be argued that £3 billion is a drop in the ocean compared with even the extra borrowing the Government has had to do. Also that privatisation in some form has been on the agenda since at least the first Hooper report in 2008 so it's not exactly a sudden decision. So I am not entirely sure what is underhand about how the sale has been conducted; first Hooper Report in 2008, updated report in 2010 and formal announcement in April. We've all known it was coming. My view (which I've expressed plenty of times before) is that given where RM has found itself in terms of competition, regulation and funding the best option (or the least bad) option for the companies future is privatisation. For the employees I think it will be a difficult future with or without privatisation.

there were i believe many recommendations in the Hooper report... not least the state and capabilities of the management structure and poor industrial relations....

these capabilities have deteriorated and industrial relations worstened further.... at least a sell-off to another organisation may have stood a chance of addressing those issues.... the IPO i think is the worst of the 2 possibilities...

if people realised the daily chaos and lack of management expertise and people skills i think they would be truly horrified and not likely to want to buy in...
unfortunately these things (although i am sure are believed) have to be experienced first hand on a daily basis to make an impact...

i am sure the chaos will continue, though through IA and daily challenging by frontline staff eventually the Company will be forced to listen as patience i think is running out with the daily debacle of management

The updated Hooper Report concluded (rightly or wrongly) that there was less need to add new management skills which opened up the IPO option. It's interesting that you think that a sale to another organisation would be preferable. Assuming that it would be either an investment company or one of our competitors it's unlikely that many front line staff would see them having a positive impact on "people skills".

[thegreatestfreddy]

BF... this is not about what is best for the company... it is about patching up the economic mess..../b]

it's becoming unfortunately more plain to see by the day....

i can't believe a company thinking it is going to be successful by completely alienting it's frontline workforce... capitalism lost it's way....

absolutely shameful.... only matched by this governments underhand way of disposing of us... and we are supposed to be a democracy...

Many people think that . Of course it could also be argued that £3 billion is a drop in the ocean compared with even the extra borrowing the Government has had to do. Also that privatisation in some form has been on the agenda since at least the first Hooper report in 2008 so it's not exactly a sudden decision. So I am not entirely sure what is underhand about how the sale has been conducted; first Hooper Report in 2008, updated report in 2010 and formal announcement in April. We've all known it was coming. My view (which I've expressed plenty of times before) is that given where RM has found itself in terms of competition, regulation and funding the best option (or the least bad) option for the companies future is privatisation. For the employees I think it will be a difficult future with or without privatisation.

there were i believe many recommendations in the Hooper report... not least the state and capabilities of the management structure and poor industrial relations....

these capabilities have deteriorated and industrial relations worstened further.... at least a sell-off to another organisation may have stood a chance of addressing those issues.... the IPO i think is the worst of the 2 possibilities...

if people realised the daily chaos and lack of management expertise and people skills i think they would be truly horrified and not likely to want to buy in...
unfortunately these things (although i am sure are believed) have to be experienced first hand on a daily basis to make an impact...

i am sure the chaos will continue, though through IA and daily challenging by frontline staff eventually the Company will be forced to listen as patience i think is running out with the daily debacle of management

i think the feeling is there is so much distrust and disattisfaction of frontline management and perhaps most management in this company that it would not make us unhappy to see any of them replaced... wherever they came from....

[barrowc]

Can't be done via the mech only as many MCs don't have a FSM that would be needed for doing large letters with the EIB via the mech, unless RM plan on having the MCs with FSM (anyone know which ones have FSMs, i think Plymouth, Bristol and Gatwick have them) do all large letters meaning that any MC without a FSM would loose all their flats (1C and 2C) and with it all their large-letter (flats) duties.

Definitely Glasgow and Edinburgh have FSMs. I would think that Belfast, Tyneside and Leeds probably have them too in the area I work in but not 100% certain. Not sure about anything further south

I suspect that the initial roll-out might need to have exceptions for large letters in specific postcode areas where there are no FSMs. Indeed as far as I know, Inverness (covering IV/KW/HS) has no mech at all so even letters could need an exception there. I haven't seen much info about this project but we'll presumably hear more when it starts up

Longer term, if an MC doesn't have space for an FSM (plus whatever packet sorting kit comes in) then it may well become a candidate for losing some work to another MC

[SpacePhoenix]

Longer term, if an MC doesn't have space for an FSM (plus whatever packet sorting kit comes in) then it may well become a candidate for losing some work to another MC

I would not be surprised if long term if RM intends for every MC to have a FSM (the MCs covering really large areas might have two), a packet sorting machine (whatever form it takes, with probably something to read barcodes), at least 2 iLSMs, CSS machines (the iLSMs and the CSS machines would need to have the capacity between them to do all the sequencing, inward, and possibly some 2C at the same time) and some machine to take over the culling and facing functions of a IMP/CFC. There might be some of them machines to collate the d2d for each walk. I wouldn't also be surprised to see some sort of conveyor/transport system put in place for moving yorks and mini yorks between areas of a MC.

I don't think alts are made any more (been a few years since I last saw a new one) so possibly they will phase them out. I expect at some point SD will be axed and be replaced by a high value version of Tracked, using the same guns as Tracked.