Debate

[highlander]

I am listening to a debate on radio 2 about royal mail and do we really need it. There was a guy who said, we dont as everything can be done online and people who dont have computers should be given help to buy one. It made me think just how often do i really use it, birthday cards.......can be done online but feel its not the same, sympathy cards.....no way online, sending letters to the forces, they all cant get online, but it does make me think what does the future hold, will everything be done by a click of a button.

[ShelleyCowie]

I really hope this wont become the situation. What will we have to go out for?

The internet has made life too easy, people sit at home all the time ordering online instead of taking the time and exercise to go down the street to pick something personally.

I hate ordering clothes online because it always seems different when you see a picture of it on a website than when you go clothes shopping, DVDs and games i order online because there is nowhere in thurso to buy the latest games so i have no choice there now that woolies is gone.

I enjoy sending cards and letters, so yes we do need the royal mail!

[davie]

Certainly a lot of business can be done online but what about 'tangible' goods like the Chrismas pressies or that book (or whatever) that you have sent off for.
Imo in the North or any 'remote' area we need to have Royal Mail.
Like any organisation they have faults and get things wrong from time to time but none of the courier companies vying for their business will deliver to Caithness as cheaply or as efficiently as Royal Mail, be that letters,bills, or parcels.

[Kodiak]

To say that everything can be done online and that we do not need Royal Mail is just silly.

I know more and more is being done online and less and less letters are are being posted. This is also confirmed by Royal Mail.

Since that more and more is being done online it also means that more and more Packets are being posted. This is due to people buying items online, things like DVD's, CD's and other items that are of a certain size.

Royal Mail Bosses say that Letters are down by 10% this year but they neglet to say that Small Packets is up by 70% so far this year. The increase is due to more and more people buying items online. The Royal Mail handles the final delivery of 99% of all letters under 350 grams. This includes all the mail that is sent by all other carriers. Royal mail are forced to do this by Postcomm and not only that but to do it at a loss to Royal Mail.

So to say that Royal Mail is not required is a very silly thing to say. Do not say that other companies could deliver these packets for they would not. They do not deliver to all addresses and just go and ask one of them just how much it would cost to deliver One DVD to an address and then wait for the shock.

They will give a company a good price to deliver Hundreds or Thousands of Packets but they are not interested in just one, so the price for that then goes sky high. Also when would it be delivered, if there was no Royal Mail people in a rural area like caithness would be lucky to get one delivery a week and perhaps not even that.

There is still no other company that will deliver a Single letter from John O'Groats to to Lands End for only 39P other than Royal Mail. Please note I said a SINGLE Letter.

[Geo]

Just had my post so I guess they're not on strike up here.

[Kodiak]

Actually Mail deliveries should be done all over the UK today.

It is NOT the Posties that are on Strike today it is the Lorry Drivers that deliver the mail from Town to Town that are on Strike. They will be back at work tomorrow.

It is Tomorrow, Firday, that Posties will be on Strike and then delivery through your Mail Box will not happen if your Particular Postie is in Strike. All Postal staff will be back to work as normal on Saturday.

On saying that I am fairly sure that most posties in Thurso will not be on Strike tomorrow, no idea what will happen in Wick.

[Geo]

Ahhh right. Does anyone know what the actual details of their grievances are? I've seen interviews on TV but it's all very vague; "working conditions, being messed around, modernisation" etc but nothing specific.

[Kodiak]

Royal Mail Bosses want to reduce all Posties Jobs to Part Time. They want to do this over a long period of time. So that all new staff would be brought in a a Part Time Worker.

The thought process for this is the automation of sorting of letters. At present when mail arrives at your local sorting office it is sorted by hand into the delivery areas by the posties. It is sorted out so that they go sound the route the best and quickest way. They then take out the mail and deliver it.

Now the Bosses want to bring in to every sorting office machines that sort the mail into the delivey rounds. This would not mean that the mail would be sorted in the best way for that delivery and might need to be resorted.

It is then claimed that the Posties would only need to deliver the mail and since they would not need to sort the mail they would only need to be employed for a few hours a day. Therefore only Part Time Posties would be required.

No thought has been given to all the packets and parcels that could not be sorted by any machine so in actual fact it would be a complete waste of time and money as these machines cost Millions of pounds.

Money as in Pay. All Posites were Promised a Pay rise if they worked harder and help to get the Royal Mail out of the Red. This was long before the recession.

This they did and nearly all of them worked extra hours for no Overtime Pay to help achive this. They managed to get the Royal Mail out of the Red and ito the Black but were told that they had to keep on doing this for at least another Financial Period to show it was Not just a one time thing.

The Posties kept on working extra hard and still for no overtime pay and by the next financial period had passed the Royal Mail were still in the Black and making a profit. They were then advised that they would not be getting any Pay Rise at all, as it was not in the public interest.

So what did they do? They paid out over £10,000,000 in Bonuses to the few Royal Mail Bosses for getting the Company back into the Black. It was alright to make this payment but not to give the Posties the pay rise that they had worked hard for.

[Mik.M.]

As usual,bonuses for the bosses but none for the hard working staff.Britain all over it seems.Ask yourself would you do the job for the money and the hours?Support our hard working posties,surely they are worth a fair pay rise.