How long has the postman got left?
Discussion
This came up in conversation with my missus the other day and I thought it might be worthy of a thead...
How long has the door to door postman actually got left? It struck me that basically everything that comes through the door, delivered by our postman is either crap that we just put in the bin or something that could easily be just emailed or a paper duplicate of an email I already have (statements etc).
Royal Mail have recently changed their rules on postage so that they no longer deal with larger items. They are dealt with by Parcel Farce instead. Posties only carry around much smaller items or letters these days, everything else being dealt with by couriers. Couriers such as collect+ or myhermes now offer a much more cost effective courier service for smaller items, and does anyone actually send personal letters any more?
Surely there isn't really a need for the local door to door postie these days?
How long has the door to door postman actually got left? It struck me that basically everything that comes through the door, delivered by our postman is either crap that we just put in the bin or something that could easily be just emailed or a paper duplicate of an email I already have (statements etc).
Royal Mail have recently changed their rules on postage so that they no longer deal with larger items. They are dealt with by Parcel Farce instead. Posties only carry around much smaller items or letters these days, everything else being dealt with by couriers. Couriers such as collect+ or myhermes now offer a much more cost effective courier service for smaller items, and does anyone actually send personal letters any more?
Surely there isn't really a need for the local door to door postie these days?
Edited by MysteryLemon on Monday 22 September 15:32
I'm pretty sure the Royal Mail has grown and grown in recent years - yes we're no longer getting utility bills and personal stuff by post anymore - but Britons spent £70bn online last year, Royal Mail still deals with things up to a "bigger small parcel" (honestly, that's what they call it) and they have a monopoly on next day letter deliveries meaning no one else can provide the same service for less than £1 - I do notice now a lot more bulk crap is sent UK Mail, but even then it's postie who stuffs it though next-doors letter box.
eBay alone kept Royal Mail in the black between 2003 and when they were sold off.
eBay alone kept Royal Mail in the black between 2003 and when they were sold off.
Good friend of mine is a senior manager at Royal Mail, they are going through a phase of cost cutting at the moment, 1600 management grades (mostly non operational) have been made (mostly voluntary) redundant with more possible in January, they are quite a top heavy company at the moment, with something like 1 line manager for every 10 employees then a lot of seemingly expensive layers of management above, they are also looking to close more mail centres and pushing the delivery times back an hour or two, so getting your post in the late afternoon early evening will be the norm.
The junk mail that most deliver nowadays is in fact one of RM biggest revenue earners!
I know RM were hoping for Scotland to vote yes as it would have seen a saving of around £210 million a year.
On the whole they are still in a very good position, but seem to be slow to react to the competition, I guess having to have everything agreed with the union doesn't help matters.
BTW Parcel Force are still part of RMG so they still get the revenue regardless of wether the postie delivers it or PFW do.
The junk mail that most deliver nowadays is in fact one of RM biggest revenue earners!
I know RM were hoping for Scotland to vote yes as it would have seen a saving of around £210 million a year.
On the whole they are still in a very good position, but seem to be slow to react to the competition, I guess having to have everything agreed with the union doesn't help matters.
BTW Parcel Force are still part of RMG so they still get the revenue regardless of wether the postie delivers it or PFW do.
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