What is happening with Royal Mail.

[gavroche]

A birthday card was posted to us, 1st class at the beginning of August and it took 22 days to arrive. My wife's birthday was yesterday and she just received birthday cards that were posted last Monday so that's 4 days. My question is: what is the point of using 1st class stamps if it takes that long? How long will it take for 2nd class then?
Like many other services, it seems that everything is going downhill fast.

 

[vickster]

I've had two parcels delivered by RM today, one order placed late Monday, the other early Tuesday. 48 hour service offered, perfect

 

[ClichéGuevara]

A birthday card was posted to us, 1st class at the beginning of August and it took 22 days to arrive. My wife's birthday was yesterday and she just received birthday cards that were posted last Monday so that's 4 days. My question is: what is the point of using 1st class stamps if it takes that long? How long will it take for 2nd class then?
Like many other services, it seems that everything is going downhill fast.

They were maybe waiting for the cheque inside it to clear.

 

[Beebo]

Royal Mail is in trouble. The daily postal service is no longer profitable.
No one sends letters via the post and the national network of daily deliveries is almost bound to fail eventually. Just as milk rounds and paper rounds have all but gone.
Parcel Delivery is the future, but a highly unionised workforce is never going to compete with the zero hours freelance staff at other companies. It’s a race to the bottom.

 

[Drago]

I was reading they want to ditch Saturday deliveries.

One must wonder how much longer the old bus will keep rolling. It's only legislation that's protected them thus far as mail carriers, but now the demand for physical letters is declining even that surely can't be enough.

R.I.P. Postman Pat.

 

[numbnuts]

And they are putting up the price of stamps again.......they have just out priced themselves.

 

[Drago]

I'm not sure how it works so correct me if I'm wrong, but IIRC the legislation protects Postman Pat by mandating a minimum price that rivals must charge for carrying post. If thats the case, every time the price of a stamp goes up the closer they get to doing their own knees.

 

[Adam4868]

Privatization for you....Royal Mail have missed its targets in every UK postcode this summer.Yet surprisingly shareholder Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský has had £100m in dividends since 2021.
Anyone who's worked at Royal Mail knows all too well there missing deliveries on purpose,they want to focus on the more profitable parcel side of it.Not enough money in letters for the shareholders.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Here they are short of staff and will usually only deliver parcels. I need to go to the sorting office to pick my letters up, how pathetic is that?

Also, yes, I was told not to bother using first class, it doesn't go any quicker.

 

[Cycleops]

Suspect it will end up the same as here, there are no doorstep deliveries. Everyone that wants to receive mail pays for a PO box at their local post office.

 

[oldwheels]

I ordered goods from Amazon on Monday and RM sent an email saying delivery Friday. The parcel arrived Wednesday so cannot complain.

 

[Beebo]

I ordered goods from Amazon on Monday and RM sent an email saying delivery Friday. The parcel arrived Wednesday so cannot complain.

Letters and parcels are very different.
There is competition in the parcel delivery market. So they compete for lucrative contracts.
No one in their right mind would start up a letter delivery business today.

 

[DCLane]

My final-year marketing students looked at Royal Mail as part of a major case study I'd put together for them in March. Trying to keep this out of NACA territory:

Royal Mail is no longer 'Royal Mail'; it's been secretly divided into two entities, one of which covers parcels only (General Logistics Systems) and is profitable. The other does letters (Royal Mail) to meet government targets and is unprofitable despite being the larger of the two.

The major Czech shareholder has been secretly buying up small amounts over years, then getting large dividends in a declining market. Why, and whether this is sustainable in the long-term is a NACA issue.

Simon Thompson as Chief Executive probably lied to Parliament when asked to give evidence earlier this year. He was re-called and asked to re-answer the same questions but under oath, this time changing his answers and confirming that they were not prioritising letters.

Throw into the mix a major industrial dispute in a heavily-unionised workforce who are reluctant to change in the face of ever-increasing competition.

So ... they aren't meeting their targets and aren't planning to do so. Your letters will get there. Eventually. Until the Royal Mail goes bankrupt. When they won't.

 

[wafter]

Like many other services, it seems that everything is going downhill fast.

Yup - we've been circling the drain for decades; Covid and Brexit seem to have really accelerated this decline

 

[GetFatty]

To me we need to level the playing field: either all delivery companies are subject to USO or we remove the requirement from Royal Mail