Radio 4 - Consumer Focus

[postmule]

Did anyone listen Adam Score of Consumer Focus ( http://www.consumerfocus.org.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) on the Radio 4 programme You and Yours, Wed 12 Jan ? -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00x97j0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
-listen from about 22 mins 30 secs.
To summarise, it is that the consumer should have increased powers in as many markets as possible, that operating systems and cultures in many companies must change to ensure modernisation so that efficiencies and savings can be passed on to the customer and that Consumer Focus acts as a advocate on behalf of the customer to apply pressure on vested interests to change.
From a theoretical standpoint this this sounds admirable but how has this ‘modernisation’ been applied within Royal Mail?

The new ‘modernisation’ or ‘way forward’ revision are a complete shambles with pre-Christmas mail still stuck in the delivery offices. The management tell the media that the problems have been caused by bad weather but not many are falling for this as the problems pre-date the bad weather and start when the revision started. Listen to http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 2_01_2011/ from about 1hr 40 mins through the recording.

Royal Mail managers tell us postmen that volumes are falling, but that is not our experience. I am not sure, but I do not think the figures include post via Downstream Access. We still have to put these letters on our back whether they are included in the figures or not. I am sure you know this, but Downstream Access is where competitors such as TNT and UK Mail ‘process’ the post and the send it to Royal mail for ‘Final Mile’ delivery. The competitors generally do not want to to deliver to the doorstep as they getting more than there fair share of the income with the current system. See http://www.psc.gov.uk/documents/1009.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (see item no's 4, 26, 27, 39 and 65). These companies do not even do all of the processing as when the letters arrive at Royal Mail they are then processed through 'Walk Sequencing’ machines to order them to the delivery frames. I think Royal Mail gets about one third of the postage income (can anybody confim this?) and the competitor gets the remainder. I know that Royal Mail and the CWU have objected to Postcomm about this false version of competition but so far with no results. When downstream access was approved with the consent of Royal Mail directors it was notable that the directors were handsomely rewarded with bonuses
–see http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 01011.html
I wonder if the interests of Royal Mail were foremost in their minds? The directors were there to serve there masters in Whitehall not Royal Mail. The government were there to serve their masters in Europe who believe in ‘opening up markets’
see http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... 26998.html
There seems to be a dogma that monopolies are always bad even if the market is not big enough to support many operators. This is phoney competition; only Royal Mail have the USO, Universal Service Obligation, whereby they have to deliver everywhere in the UK for the same price. I agree with the principal of the USO but how can it be fair competition if only the Royal Mail has this obligation? How can it be fair competition if Postcomm dictates to a supposedly independent company, Royal Mail, that they must deliver their competitors mail at a loss?

A practice that I find particularly offensive is the Orwellian double-speak. The ‘modernisation’ or ‘way forward’ or ‘competition to provide a better service for the customer’ has in reality proved exactly the opposite. Any postman or customer will tell you that the post now arrives later than it did, that it is far less regular, that postage is far more expensive. We are constantly told that mail volumes are falling and yet we are told that more competition will benefit the customer. If we have less mail to post then why would dividing a smaller market among more companies make sense? To make a profit in these circumstances means only one thing -increased prices. How does this benefit the customer? Also see - http://hubpages.com/hub/Royal-Mail-in-t" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... ket-Casino .

Phew, I feel better by offloading but I doubt if my thoughts will make any difference.

[Wessex]

Welcome to the club

[Wessex]

What really annoys me is that under the system you rightly describe one of the biggest losers is the Royal Mail postman who shoulders an increasing burden with little prospect of better conditions or wages as a result.At the same time profits are stolen by parasites who have exploited the vacuum created by the Euro f**k wits bureaucracy, a bureaucracy that the Lib Dems are in thrall to.
The only hope that I have is that a moratorium is achieved in Europe whereby the whole experiment of liberalisation of National Postal Systems is re-examined.