Royal Mail & Our Posties

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

Something's should not be privatised the Royal Mail being one of them. How on earth are the Islands and Highlands rural communities going to be profitable for a private company. Hundreds of Post offices will be shut through out the country. Shareholders don't want the loss part of a biasness. Fully support the boys and girls working for the Royal Mail in their fight against privatisation and the Oxford, Cambridge boys of the Tory party.

Don't Give Up The Fight - A fund should be started for the forth coming long fight I would certainly put into it.

[oaksoft]

The current Post Office model appears to be losing money hand over fist across the board and can't continue to be subsidised by the public purse.

We can be pretty certain from experience that privatisation will bring job losses, increased charges, different charges depending on where you live in the country and fewer deliveries per week. If it was my company and it was losing this type of money, those would be the obvious things to do first. It will then probably diversify into all sorts of things - possibly franchising locally to allow small business owners to take care of their own local area. That would certainly cut costs too.

The question is whether we value the postal service enough to allow it.

TBH, it's not a vital service anymore. Not compared to essentials like gas, electricity and transport (and water in England and Wales) which should never have been privatised. Selling it would bring in billions of pounds and take a loss making venture out of the public purse.

I'm undecided at the moment but I can see a need for a complete overhaul. The 6 deliveries per week is just absolutely crazy. There should be no more than 2 deliveries per week unless you want to pay a premium.

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

It's taken a while Oaksoft but my understanding is the last two years have seen an increased rise in profits more to do with online shopping which is a growing market. Certainly the pension fund reads for scary numbers. Most of the rural areas including Islands are of an aging population who rely on Post offices. Depending on the size of post offices most rural ones are paid an income of 13,000 a year if this stops many will close. I understand what you are saying, for me the Royal Mail is a vital part of rural Britain where I can't see privatisation being good for people in these areas.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Lochwinnoch Saint

[Wilbur]

The current Post Office model appears to be losing money hand over fist across the board and can't continue to be subsidised by the public purse.

BBC News - 21 May 2013

Royal Mail profits jump as parcel sales rise

Royal Mail's annual profits have more than doubled, helped by strong growth in parcel deliveries as more people shop online.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22605734

Don't let the facts get in the way of a spout of p1sh, eh ?

[SergioTacchiniGuy]

BBC News - 21 May 2013

Royal Mail profits jump as parcel sales rise

Royal Mail's annual profits have more than doubled, helped by strong growth in parcel deliveries as more people shop online.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22605734

Don't let the facts get in the way of a spout of p1sh, eh ?

I couldnt agree more when its Oaksofts comments that your talking about.

[oaksoft]

BBC News - 21 May 2013

Royal Mail profits jump as parcel sales rise

Royal Mail's annual profits have more than doubled, helped by strong growth in parcel deliveries as more people shop online.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22605734

Don't let the facts get in the way of a spout of p1sh, eh ?

Fair enough but it's pretty clear that's been a VERY recent turnaround so don't get all snotty with me.

[Drew]

This depresses me.

The Royal Mail is a SERVICE. Much like the NHS is a service. Things change dramatically when the key imperative of an organisation is to make money for shareholders.

Cable has stated that he wants to allow the Royal Mail to fulfil its potential and 'grow as a business'. Aye, that's right Vince, after many millions of £s of public money have been invested to turn it round - for what, so some group of shareholders can reap the benefits?

Sickening.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Drew

[Eddy]

It's taken a while Oaksoft but my understanding is the last two years have seen an increased rise in profits more to do with online shopping which is a growing market. Certainly the pension fund reads for scary numbers. Most of the rural areas including Islands are of an aging population who rely on Post offices. Depending on the size of post offices most rural ones are paid an income of 13,000 a year if this stops many will close. I understand what you are saying, for me the Royal Mail is a vital part of rural Britain where I can't see privatisation being good for people in these areas.

LS - the Act from 2011 which allows privatisation of the postal service also allows for the 'Post Office Ltd' a subsidiary of Royal Mail to be retained by the Crown rather than privatised at the same time (not that it'll make a difference as the gov are shutting local post offices left, right & centre anyway).

[Reynard]

Edited July 11, 2013 by Reynard

[Reynard]

BBC News - 21 May 2013

Royal Mail profits jump as parcel sales rise

Royal Mail's annual profits have more than doubled, helped by strong growth in parcel deliveries as more people shop online.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22605734

Don't let the facts get in the way of a spout of p1sh, eh ?

Is that with or without inclusion of subsidy? If a business cant make a profit without subsidy then its not turning a profit and its not a viable business.

How does it envisage paying the unfunded pensions too? The sooner its off taxpayers hands, the better.

[Reynard]

This depresses me.

The Royal Mail is a SERVICE. Much like the NHS is a service. Things change dramatically when the key imperative of an organisation is to make money for shareholders.

Cable has stated that he wants to allow the Royal Mail to fulfil its potential and 'grow as a business'. Aye, that's right Vince, after many millions of £s of public money have been invested to turn it round - for what, so some group of shareholders can reap the benefits?

Sickening.

If it turns a profit as a privatised business then it gets taxed on its profit and the state will skim it for wedge anyway. Better long term bet that throwing money down the drain at it and also having taxpayers forking out for its ridiculous pension promises.

[Isle Of Bute Saint]

Reynard , explain how the population living on islands will be affected or in remote parts of the highlands with a company being profit driven. Simple it can't.

Edit to add

As usual this is driven by the power house of words who have no reality of rural life in Scotland where thousands of people live many miles from anywhere while others are across seas. This is another reason why Independence for Scotland wont be bad as we have an understanding of the wider population not like over populated England.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Lochwinnoch Saint

[Stuart Dickson]

Reynard , explain how the population living on islands will be affected or in remote parts of the highlands with a company being profit driven. Simple it can't.

Edit to add

As usual this is driven by the power house of words who have no reality of rural life in Scotland where thousands of people live many miles from anywhere while others are across seas. This is another reason why Independence for Scotland wont be bad as we have an understanding of the wider population not like over populated England.

Oh FFS LS. An Independent Scotland won't be able to fund the subsidy or the shortfall required to maintain a Royal Mail, especially not in the remote Highlands and Islands.

It's quite obvious that eventually they will have to pay a premium for their deliveries, just like they do when other courier companies deliver to them regardless of whether Scotland remains in the Union or not. This pish about independence having a bottomless pit of money to solve problems that England "neglects" is a complete red herring. The reality is that it it the volume of business done in the Cities where the Royal Mail can be more efficient that subsidies rural deliveries. Take away 58 million of the population and 6 million are left with the bill.

[stlucifer]

If it turns a profit as a privatised business then it gets taxed on its profit and the state will skim it for wedge anyway. Better long term bet that throwing money down the drain at it and also having taxpayers forking out for its ridiculous pension promises.

I read that the pension promises will still be the government's resposibility though.

The whole concept of the royal mail is to serve the nations and make sure that no one has to pay penalties just because they live in a rural setting. If the RM is showing a healthy profit then it is working and the government's coffers are swelled more than would be by the tax revenue.

A privatised Royal Mail would show no mercy in it's endeavours to claw in money. It MUST stay in public ownership lest we end up with the bus and train fiascos. This is simply another Tory policy to bring in short term finances while throwing away years of public investment that has gone into making what the Tories left last time the attacked this particular entity into a profitable concern.

I won't be telling SID. That's for sure!

[Reynard]

Reynard , explain how the population living on islands will be affected or in remote parts of the highlands with a company being profit driven. Simple it can't.

Edit to add

As usual this is driven by the power house of words who have no reality of rural life in Scotland where thousands of people live many miles from anywhere while others are across seas. This is another reason why Independence for Scotland wont be bad as we have an understanding of the wider population not like over populated England.

The populations on the island suffer from costs of getting basic food supplies to them as well. Its one of the downsides about living in remote areas I'm afraid.

I have no idea why they should expect everyone else to subsidise letter delivery to them anyway? To an extent, even after privatisation, there will be a bit of absorbtion of costs by the company when it comes to delivering letters. but they may pay more, they may not. They already pay more for parcels because it costs more to get stuff there.

Rural folk pay council tax for thins like street lighting and pavement maintainence and whatever "stuff" the local council decides its providing, even though their access to these sort of things may be non existent. With some people, its a choice they have made to live remote. Others are born into it. Tough titty I say. Its not as if letter delivery is anything remotely like on the increase, or ever will be again, all they are missing out on will be spam mail from Dominos pizza and Farmfoods. Maybe the odd birthday card from Auntie Morag if she happens to be a tight fisted old witch (assuming the postie hasn't rifled it beforehand for money)

[Stuart Dickson]

I read that the pension promises will still be the government's resposibility though.

The whole concept of the royal mail is to serve the nations and make sure that no one has to pay penalties just because they live in a rural setting. If the RM is showing a healthy profit then it is working and the government's coffers are swelled more than would be by the tax revenue.

A privatised Royal Mail would show no mercy in it's endeavours to claw in money. It MUST stay in public ownership lest we end up with the bus and train fiascos. This is simply another Tory policy to bring in short term finances while throwing away years of public investment that has gone into making what the Tories left last time the attacked this particular entity into a profitable concern.

I won't be telling SID. That's for sure!

"Tell Sid"? Oh yes that one of the most successful privatisations of all time. British Gas' monopoly was smashed, competition and efficiency increased, and the tax payer hasn't been saddled with the need to subsidise the industry for over 20 years.

[Reynard]

I read that the pension promises will still be the government's resposibility though.

The whole concept of the royal mail is to serve the nations and make sure that no one has to pay penalties just because they live in a rural setting. If the RM is showing a healthy profit then it is working and the government's coffers are swelled more than would be by the tax revenue.

A privatised Royal Mail would show no mercy in it's endeavours to claw in money. It MUST stay in public ownership lest we end up with the bus and train fiascos. This is simply another Tory policy to bring in short term finances while throwing away years of public investment that has gone into making what the Tories left last time the attacked this particular entity into a profitable concern.

I won't be telling SID. That's for sure!

The existing ones up to the point of privatisation will be I'm sure. Not afterwards, they will need to fund their own after that, which is one reason that the unions will be whining like bitches.

The whole concept of the Royal Mail is to get letters and parcels from point A to point B. I couldn't care less how its done and I also couldnt care less about rural types and their travails. They get subsidies ferries too. There should be a reason for populations being in certain places, and "nice scenery" may well be one and if it is then don't expect everyone else to subsidise your lifestyle choices.

[Lex]

Why should the rural communities receive subsidies from the urban communities? If they want to live in the arse end of nowhere they should have to pay more to send and receive their mail. Simple.

The Royal Mail is an uncompetitive disaster, the sooner it is subject to the rigours of the free market the better.

[bluto]

Why should the rural communities receive subsidies from the urban communities? If they want to live in the arse end of nowhere they should have to pay more to send and receive their mail. Simple.

The Royal Mail is an uncompetitive disaster, the sooner it is subject to the rigours of the free market the better.

The rigours of the Free Market, eh?

So it can flourish and be economical for "users", with no subsidies whatsoever... like the denationalised Rail System is?

[Reynard]

The rigours of the Free Market, eh?

So it can flourish and be economical for "users", with no subsidies whatsoever... like the denationalised Rail System is? :

The rail system sprang up without the need for government money in the first place because it was a brilliant, fast way to move goods and people about.

Then we all got cars.

[bluto]

The rail system sprang up without the need for government money in the first place because it was a brilliant, fast way to move goods and people about.

Then we all got cars.

Wow. THAT was a well-kept secret that history has been very tight-lipped about. How long has that news been bubbling under, I wonder...

[well st bud]

see if liz and the crew want to help out with the deliverys,as it is the royal mail after all.

[oaksoft]

"Tell Sid"? Oh yes that one of the most successful privatisations of all time. British Gas' monopoly was smashed, competition and efficiency increased, and the tax payer hasn't been saddled with the need to subsidise the industry for over 20 years.

Is this the same Gas industry which is being investigated over allegations of price fixing and having deliberately confuising price structures preventing meaningful comparison between suppliers?

Yeah Stuart - a HUGE success.

You couldn't have picked a worse example.

[beyond our ken]

If it turns a profit as a privatised business then it gets taxed on its profit and the state will skim it for wedge anyway. Better long term bet that throwing money down the drain at it and also having taxpayers forking out for its ridiculous pension promises.

What's wrong with taking the whole profit for the taxpayer as opposed to a percentage of the profit as a tax?

The tories privatised BNOC for a quick buck and a share of profits, but it was wound up by the buyers. Norway kept their Statoil in state ownership and now have a massive hedge against the future when the oil runs out. We only have comparative pennies to show for the so-called free-market economy model.

This is only intended to make a few tory backers a quick buck, in exchange for cash backing of the tory party and a few seats on a few boards

[beyond our ken]

"Tell Sid"? Oh yes that one of the most successful privatisations of all time. British Gas' monopoly was smashed, competition and efficiency increased, and the tax payer hasn't been saddled with the need to subsidise the industry for over 20 years.

But the taxpayer subsidises the gas and electricity networks quite substantially