For anyone that has mail or parcels delivered.

[egomeister]

egor110 said:

The problem with lockers is it would need less staff delivering and what workforce/union is going to willingly go down that route ?

I'm not convinced there would need to be a reduction in manpower as I think it would be very attractive to customers, which can only be good for the business. As it is the likes of Amazon are eating everyone's market. Adapt or die.

[egor110]

egomeister said:

egor110 said:

The problem with lockers is it would need less staff delivering and what workforce/union is going to willingly go down that route ?

I'm not convinced there would need to be a reduction in manpower as I think it would be very attractive to customers, which can only be good for the business. As it is the likes of Amazon are eating everyone's market. Adapt or die.

The amount of staff delivering everywhere daily would be decimated if we just deliver parcels.

[egomeister]

egor110 said:

egomeister said:

egor110 said:

The problem with lockers is it would need less staff delivering and what workforce/union is going to willingly go down that route ?

I'm not convinced there would need to be a reduction in manpower as I think it would be very attractive to customers, which can only be good for the business. As it is the likes of Amazon are eating everyone's market. Adapt or die.

The amount of staff delivering everywhere daily would be decimated if we just deliver parcels.

I wasn't suggesting only lockers, but that should be a big part of the future. It would help massively with missed deliveries not solved by the proposals in the first post and should be an open goal for a business with the clout of royal mail

[miniman]

egor110 said:

The amount of staff delivering everywhere daily would be decimated if we just deliver parcels.

With respect, though, the only things other than parcels that are delivered to me shouldn’t be coming by post at all. Bank statements, utility bills and so forth - should all be electronic. And whilst we’re all being berated for daring to drive cars and eating meat because of the environmental impact, the rest of the unsolicited st that gets sent shouldn’t be allowed.

[anonymous-user]

miniman said:

egor110 said:

The amount of staff delivering everywhere daily would be decimated if we just deliver parcels.

With respect, though, the only things other than parcels that are delivered to me shouldn’t be coming by post at all. Bank statements, utility bills and so forth - should all be electronic. And whilst we’re all being berated for daring to drive cars and eating meat because of the environmental impact, the rest of the unsolicited st that gets sent shouldn’t be allowed.

Pretty much this.

The few letters I receive these days (that aren't junk mail) could (and should) be sent via electronic means.

From a purely environmental view, how many miles are driven daily in the UK by postmen who are delivering items that should really have moved to electronic methods, or just delivering yet another handful of Sky or Dominos Pizza flyers that I just put straight in the recycling bin?

Even my ageing parents have online banking now and can easily view their various bank/pension statements online. They even comment on 'unnecessary' and 'wasteful' use of paper and resources used to send them things than can be viewed online.

I think the we are rapidly moving to a situation where it will almost be parcels only.

[beko1987]

CoolHands said:

What happened to TNT post? They were delivering the last mile or something a couple of years ago round here. All disappeared now. Do remember it was all over the news? 2014 ish

I work for Whistl. The funding was pulled from the bank which really killed it, but the reason the funding was pulled was Royal Mail upped the prices and created unfair competition. Rumors are it's going back through the courts as without that unfair price increase, it would have been sustainable and carried on. We were all excited about it when it happened, was a horrible day when the news broke, the CEO called us all (from head office) together to tell us and was nearly in tears

It's still rumbling on now

Press Association National Newswire
4 December 2019
Royal Mail has said it will continue to appeal a £50 million fine that was handed down by the communications regulator, after it lost a tribunal last month.
The fine was first handed down in August last year after regulator Ofcom said that Royal Mail had discriminated against Whistl, its largest competitor for delivering letters.
The fine was upheld by the Competition Appeal Tribunal in November. Royal Mail has now asked for permission to appeal.

[Cotty]

My corner shop had the Amazon lockers and it worked great. But for some reason they got rid of the lockers and they are now also a Post office with a tiny counter. I can get Amazon packages delivered there so I can pick them up, I am not sure if I can get Royal Mail packages delivered there so I can pick those up also.

But yes deliver packages to a place local to my house so I can pick them up after I get home from work

[Sheepshanks]

Lord Marylebone said:

miniman said:

I imagine a lot of people would worry that it would be a magnet for thieves. The beauty of Amazon Lockers is that there’s no liability on you until you enter the access code and open the door.

I suppose that depends entirely on where you live.

Where I'm at, thankfully crime is very low. I do really stupid stuff all the time like leave my car and house keys hanging in the outside lock of my front door all night and nothing ever happens.

I probably wouldn't use one if I lived in a area where scumbags cruise the streets on a daily basis looking for every opportunity to steal or break into things.

We live in a biggish village and most delivery companies just leave stuff on the doorstep, clearly visible from the road, and we've never had any issues.

Our postie will sign things himself if he can get them through the letterbox or he'll find a neighbour who's in but it's always a pain if someone else is covering for him.

I think you get lulled into a false sense of security if you live in a "safe" place - my daughters both made multiple London based friends at uni but gave up sending them birthday presents etc as it seemed like everything they sent went missing.

[kev1974]

Matt_E_Mulsion said:

Lord Marylebone said:

Surely a couple of lockers attached to the side of your house would solve the issue. Unlocked, and when a parcel is deposited the delivery person clicks it shut and it cannot be opened again without your key.

But that wouldn't solve the issue with of signed for parcels. And before you say it's securely delivered in the locker, how many chancers are going to try the old "when I opened it, there was nothing in there" stunt.

Given that every single locker in the locker unit has wiring to it for the individual door locks, it's not going to break the bank to add a camera and a couple of LED lights to the back of each one. They would only need to record for the 10 seconds or whatever that the door is open and not need to be 4K, just enough quality to show that a parcel was in the locker and that it was removed by someone.

I too am amazed that Royal Mail haven't got into the lockers game, it must be union threats that are holding them back.

[Cotty]

kev1974 said:

I too am amazed that Royal Mail haven't got into the lockers game, it must be union threats that are holding them back.

I wonder if they get paid overtime working on Saturday so people can pick up their package if they got a "while you were our" red card. They might be weary of losing that if the packages got delivered first try.

Just thinking that train stations would be a good place for lockers, especially the commuter belt around London. People could pick up their package on their way home from work.

[A500leroy]

Cotty said:

kev1974 said:

I too am amazed that Royal Mail haven't got into the lockers game, it must be union threats that are holding them back.

I wonder if they get paid overtime working on Saturday so people can pick up their package if they got a "while you were our" red card. They might be weary of losing that if the packages got delivered first try.

Just thinking that train stations would be a good place for lockers, especially the commuter belt around London. People could pick up their package on their way home from work.

No overtime rate at rm its a flat rate no matter how many hours you work.

[egor110]

Cotty said:

kev1974 said:

I too am amazed that Royal Mail haven't got into the lockers game, it must be union threats that are holding them back.

I wonder if they get paid overtime working on Saturday so people can pick up their package if they got a "while you were our" red card. They might be weary of losing that if the packages got delivered first try.

Just thinking that train stations would be a good place for lockers, especially the commuter belt around London. People could pick up their package on their way home from work.

Lockers aren't even being put forward by Royal mails new delivery plan.

It's literally have different people delivering large parcels and letters/small parcels.

Pretty sure the uso is up for renewal this year that's when we'll all have a better idea where they want to take the company.

[egor110]

A500leroy said:

No overtime rate at rm its a flat rate no matter how many hours you work.

What about scheduled attendence and the fact that after 10 hours overtime you actually get less per hour.

[A500leroy]

egor110 said:

A500leroy said:

No overtime rate at rm its a flat rate no matter how many hours you work.

What about scheduled attendence and the fact that after 10 hours overtime you actually get less per hour.

Didnt think people would believe me!

[brman]

A500leroy said:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smart-Parcel-Box-Deliveri...

please buy one

Edited by A500leroy on Sunday 16th February 16:42

I was curious about delivery boxes so looked at this.

accepts large parcels measuring up to 320mm x 205mm x120mm. 

hmm.... so about half the size of a royal mail small parcel then! If I made my letterbox a few inches taller it would do a better job.......

[A500leroy]

Link to show RM want to only deliver parcels from 300 parcel hubs, if you dont live near one and postie misses you your in for a long drive to get your package.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/royal-m...

Royal Mail said it would need to accelerate turnaround efforts to be able to afford the pay rises, including further automating parcel hubs and cutting letter postal delivery walks to around 50,000 a day from 58,000 a day.

It said it also plans to increase its van deliveries, by launching around 7,000 dedicated van delivery routes from 300 delivery offices by 2023.


Posties do not want this to happen and want to carry on servicing you as best as they can now.

[PF62]

A500leroy said:

Link to show RM want to only deliver parcels from 300 parcel hubs, if you dont live near one and postie misses you your in for a long drive to get your package.

No I won't.

Either it gets delivered to me, left with a neighbour, or returned to the vendor after the failed delivery (and serves the vendor right for being a numpty and using Royal Mail) and I reorder from someone who uses a sensible delivery service.

[miniman]

PF62 said:

No I won't.

Either it gets delivered to me, left with a neighbour, or returned to the vendor after the failed delivery (and serves the vendor right for being a numpty and using Royal Mail) and I reorder from someone who uses a sensible delivery service.

Precisely this.

Whilst every other carrier and retailer are working to get stock closer to the customer and add as much control and flexibility to delivery as they can, if RM go the opposite way then they deserve to disappear.

[egor110]

miniman said:

PF62 said:

No I won't.

Either it gets delivered to me, left with a neighbour, or returned to the vendor after the failed delivery (and serves the vendor right for being a numpty and using Royal Mail) and I reorder from someone who uses a sensible delivery service.

Precisely this.

Whilst every other carrier and retailer are working to get stock closer to the customer and add as much control and flexibility to delivery as they can, if RM go the opposite way then they deserve to disappear.

You can get parcels delivered to your local post office , surely nationwide there are going to be more post office's than parcel boxes ?

a500leroy - i honestly don't think the general pubic give a fk who delivers there parcels , this upcoming dispute is going to be us getting the best deal we can get for these massive changes that are coming , not saving the post service for the public .

[Candellara]

egor110 said:

Like i said earlier i think the current ceo is at the same time talking down the share price also buying up huge amounts , i think his plan is to get rid of the uso then just turn us into a parcel delivery company thus getting rid of massive amounts of staff and property and then hey presto the shares increase again , he sells up and leaves the company.

Letter traffic is dying on it's arse and cannot sustain Royal Mail. The decline of direct mail, statements, bills etc has been absolutely huge over the last decade. Within the next five years, letters will pretty much cease to exist in any volume enough to be viable.

Your CEO is right. The only way of sustaining RM is to turn you into a parcel delivery company although you'll then have to compete with all the other courier businesses that have self employed drivers etc. Massive change for RM is inevitable unfortunately - just part and parcel (excuse the pun) of digital transformation.

Edited by Candellara on Friday 21st February 10:37