Royal Mail Strike - Quick Question?

[Malc]

As long as you are white, normal height, weight, heterosexual and don't have anything "different" whatsoever mate, you'll be fine.

This sort of crap comes from fellow employees, or higher staff above?

[Neon Ignition]

Bugger, admittedly yup there's been no pay offer. Tis the damn internets fault I'd been linked through to an old news report from the 2007 strikes I need more caffiene in my coffee!

[Jebus]

This sort of crap comes from fellow employees, or higher staff above?

Mostly fellow staff, but the managers watch it go on, ignore racist comments, ignore when someone shouts "<employee name> you ****!" and joins in with the "banter" when it's a little milder.

Oh, the censored word was the C-word btw.

[Kit]

Hate to play devils advocate, but if work has dried up as there?s been a huge decline in mail being posted (?1 billion over 3 years they said on the news) then where?s the money coming from to pay everyone?s time and a half / pay rise? It just looks like pointless posturing.

It's getting stupid now, they should just suck it up and privatise the whole thing and be done with it.

Indeed. For the Post Office to go back to the way it used to be they?d need the government to step in and block the competition, while sticking two fingers up at the EU. Complaining and striking around Christmas just reinforcing the opinion that the Royal Mail are a shambles compared to the competition.

[Jebus]

Hate to play devils advocate, but if work has dried up as there’s been a huge decline in mail being posted (&#163;1 billion over 3 years they said on the news) then where’s the money coming from to pay everyone’s time and a half / pay rise? It just looks like pointless posturing.

Another lie by Royal Mail. The work hasn't dried up at all.

They posted profits in letters/delivery recently. RM management sell the line that "the mail is dropping off" but if you push them on it they admit that it's actually heavier than ever. The average days work was 3 to 4 bags of 16kgs each. Now the average is 5-7 bags of 16kgs each. Some people regularly take out 9 bags of 16kgs each.

There's more parcels being posted than ever, despite the recession people are spending more and more online, thus more parcels than ever.

The company makes no money at all from Joe Public posting a first class letter. All the money is in "junk" mail and parcels, the items that have gone through the roof on a consistent basis.

RM treat the entire company as one big "pot", and despite the letters (read delivery) sections making profit, others are not. Therefore, they punish the profitable departments by subsidising the poorly performing ones. Even RM managers will admit that RM is the worst company going for punishing the efficient.

I'll never forget one year we had made record profits at our local office, and were on course for a really hefty bonus. Dismay was the only word I can use to describe how we felt when we found out we were "paired" with one of the worst offices in the area, who perform terribly, and we ended up with a bonus of 80 English pence in our pay packets.

Anyone who feels aggrieved but this all, anyone who feels angry, that emotion is totally misguided. It's not Royal Mail you should feel angry toward, it's the government. They won't let RM compete with the "competition" (TNT, UKMAIL etc) and they tie their hands behind their back whilst the "competition" continue to reap the benefits of it all. It's done to create a "free competitive market", only that market seems to exclude Royal Mail, who aren't "free" in any shape or form.

[Jebus]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8296660.stm

I'm shocked to be honest. I thought it'd be close, but this is pretty much a landslide.

[ChrisF]

Very VERY truthful quote in that link Jebus...

A national postal strike is completely self-defeating and will only serve to hurt consumers and businesses who rely on the post and drive even more people away from using mail as a means of communication.

[Jebus]

The trouble is, this one is also true :

He added that union members had delivered a "damning verdict on the way the Royal Mail is run. We understand the need for modernisation, but it needs to be done in a way that protects workers".

Mr Ward also said the government had "caused many of the problems" the Royal Mail was now experiencing. "If we don't take a stand now, postal services in the UK will be destroyed forever," he said.

Not sure what the answer is anymore.

[ChrisF]

Have other countries gone through similar processes of modernisation?

[Jebus]

They didn't need to.

The cost of a stamp in this country is a JOKE. Work out how much it would cost you to send a game to from Bournemouth to Scotland, and have it arrive the next day. A Christmas card from John O'Groates to Landsend...that distance, for that price? It's a joke.

The other countries charge a price that actually makes sense. The government won't allow RM to raise their prices, whilst simultaneously letting "competition" undercut them, whilst RM still have to handle AND deliver that mail!

RM must be the only company in the world to be bringing "modernisation" in to actually make the service for the customer WORSE.

[Malc]

After hearing all this mess and it's getting worse I don't think i'll be taking that job with the Royal Mail after all.

[ChrisF]

The UK's prices are pretty much on par with the USA's aren't they?

http://www.usps.com/prices/first-class-mail-prices.htm

They seem to get things from New York to LA for the same price as Landsend to John O'Groats...

[merf]

don't see this ending pretty, its got a feel of the miners & print unions about it to me, don't see a longterm solution that both sides will like unless the govt steps in and prints some more money.

[analog dog]

I went to post an xbox game yesterday.
?1.64 for standard 1st class
?2.39 if it was signed for
If I wanted to guarantee next day delivery
?5.46!!
**** THAT!!

[Jebus]

A standard first class large letter (any dvd based media) costs around 70p, so I dunno what those prices are.

Anyway, with all respect to everyone, I'm gonna step away from this thread well in advance. It's gonna get nasty in here eventually and I don't want to get involved in that.