Royal Mail Are Dead............

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NATURAL ANKLING
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Joined: 24 Oct 2012, 10:43pm
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Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Out of hundreds of items some good some bad I have lifted from the local tip..............paid of course, only sold two items and they flew out of my hands.
Paid £1 sold £35 :D

Postage -
Royal mail < 2 kgs = £2.80
> 2 kgs ?
Parcel is 2.063 kgs :(
Quoted £12 something for the extra 63 grams :?

Myhermes 1 - 15 kgs bracket was £5.79.......dropped it at the local spar type shop, 20p extra from my house.
He had a pile of parcels waiting to go just two doors from the post office.
Just go online pay with paypal print your label and he scans it at the shop.

I no longer have to wait for courier or have to reschedule because they don't turn up :)

It appears Myhermes is winning the battle and royal mail are losing customers.
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
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Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
Bicycler
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Joined: 4 Dec 2013, 3:33pm

Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by Bicycler »

As you've twigged, RM have the edge for small sub-2kg items. I've never been sure why their prices go up so much above that amount. Then again, other services aren't completely comparable. The RM has its universal service obligation whereas the others can pick and choose. Want to send to NI or the Highlands or anywhere else deemed to be remote? With RM they are bound to charge the same and deliver within the same timeframe as if it is sent to London or Manchester. Other couriers may refuse to take the order, charge you extra and/or take longer to deliver. No doubt the RM could be more competitive if they were allowed to compete on the same terms ie. by disadvantaging those in more remote locations and choosing only to collect once at some point on a weekday from a small number of locations.
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
I see all the problems and pitfalls.
But cost is always the first factor to the customer.

I have been let down badly by Myhermes in the past, when I had to constantly resend a parcel four times over four days (log on redo etc,) and the parcel was finally picked up by the DIY courier with his car when he called to deliver my parcel.

He said is this to go, I explained what was going on, he offered me his mobile number in case there were problems again.

Now I drop off at my local shop some 2-300 yards away (courier arrives each day) the parcel is on paper and physically in the system.

DIY couriers get 55p per parcel and IIRC 25 p per mile.........................

Myhermes have logical parcel weight scale

I can see using DIY'ers mean they are not employees (looks good in accounts).........way of the world...........

Wonder if royal mail dropped delivering all my unwanted junk mail how they would survive then.............

0-1 kg
2-5 kg
5-10 kg
10-15 kg

Royal mail is 0-2 kg (same cost as Myhermes 0-1 kg)
but then its 2 - 20kgs IIRC...................... :?:

But these scales for each firm seem to change every few months.
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
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Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
Psamathe
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Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by Psamathe »

Bicycler wrote:As you've twigged, RM have the edge for small sub-2kg items. I've never been sure why their prices go up so much above that amount.....

I suspect/guess it is because they don't want to take too many of the lager parcels; maybe because their delivery network is not geared-up to volume. When many of your delivery people are walking the routes with a modified "shopping trolley" they have limited capacity. Similarly, small vans would quickly be bursting with too many larger parcels.

Maybe why they have ParcelFarce (which is only a trading name - at least it used to be). Push the larger volume stuff into larger vans visiting fewer premises. Except that ParcelForce are not so "cost effective" for smaller/lighter stuff.

But I can see how Royal Mail are not so enthusiastic about loads of large vole items going through their standard delivery network.

Ian
Bicycler
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Joined: 4 Dec 2013, 3:33pm

Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by Bicycler »

Well fine, but they could then make Parcelforce more competitive. It makes no sense to decline the business entirely. Incidentally I'm not sure why they have RM and Parcelforce operating competing parcels services :?

One other thing I hadn't thought of earlier is that small parcels pricing might be regulated like letter pricing is, so they may be unable to raise prices to levels consistent with larger parcels

EDIT: BIngo! http://www.royalmailgroup.com/about-us/ ... ce-control

Ofcom have decided to retain a price cap on a number of “safeguard” products. Stamped Second Class letters, Large letters and Parcels up to 2kg will continue to be subject to a regulatory safeguard cap. The safeguard cap, which is in place until 2019, increases in line with inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index.
Psamathe
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Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by Psamathe »

Bicycler wrote:... Incidentally I'm not sure why they have RM and Parcelforce operating competing parcels services :?

Competition between the same company does happen and when the competitors are "closer" than Royal Mail and ParcelFarce (who many think of as completely different companies). I remember many years ago we had two different services from TNT trying out outbid each other for our business. One service would offer a price and then the other service would undercut them and then the 1st service would lower their price, etc. more basically two different groups/services lowering the profit for the company in their efforts to get more business for their service (service was something like "24 hour" vs "next day" - run by different competing groups within the same company).

Ian
PH
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Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by PH »

I’m sure RM could compete better with Hermes, Yodal et all if they employed the delivery staff on a pseudo self employed basis, with zero employment rights, not entitled to the minimum wage, no holidays or sick pay and had them use their own vehicles and work from home. Well maybe that’s the plan on the road to RMs full privatisation, in the mean time I’ll spend the little extra.
blackbike
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Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by blackbike »

PH wrote:I’m sure RM could compete better with Hermes, Yodal et all if they employed the delivery staff on a pseudo self employed basis, with zero employment rights, not entitled to the minimum wage, no holidays or sick pay and had them use their own vehicles and work from home. Well maybe that’s the plan on the road to RMs full privatisation, in the mean time I’ll spend the little extra.


Yes.

It is amazing that many couriers get paid nothing at all for an attempted delivery where the recipient is out.

The whole parcel delivery industry is becoming very sordid and exploitative, like a lot of low paid employment.
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
When you talk about Royal Mail you need to remember their appalling sickness record we were paying for.
http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/delive ... oyal-mail/

Its a culture-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... ector.html
"Overall, just over 4 per cent of all NHS employees are absent at any one time but in some trusts it is nearly 7 per cent.
This compares with 1.6 per cent for private sector workers and 2.6 per cent for those employed elsewhere in the public sector
One reason NHS staff may be more inclined to take time off is that their sickness benefit scheme is so generous.
Employees who are absent for long periods will still be paid any bonuses and overtime they are likely to have received over that time – on top of their normal wage.
And they can even go on holiday while they are supposedly off sick if they can prove it is for ‘recuperation’ purposes."
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
You'll Still Find Me At The Top Of A Hill
Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
TonyR
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Joined: 31 Aug 2008, 12:51pm

Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by TonyR »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,
When you talk about Royal Mail you need to remember their appalling sickness record we were paying for.
http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/delive ... oyal-mail/

Its a culture-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... ector.html
"Overall, just over 4 per cent of all NHS employees are absent at any one time but in some trusts it is nearly 7 per cent.
This compares with 1.6 per cent for private sector workers and 2.6 per cent for those employed elsewhere in the public sector
One reason NHS staff may be more inclined to take time off is that their sickness benefit scheme is so generous.
Employees who are absent for long periods will still be paid any bonuses and overtime they are likely to have received over that time – on top of their normal wage.
And they can even go on holiday while they are supposedly off sick if they can prove it is for ‘recuperation’ purposes."


Reminds me of a staff memo I saw on the staff noticeboard at a hospital a few years ago. It said "Staff sick leave is disrupting operating schedules. Could all staff please book sick leave at least two weeks in advance"
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Location: English Riviera

Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Sending shorts back that are all sewn wrong........

RM = 2.80
Myh = 2.78

RM means I don't have to print a label and try and stick it on,............still 200 yards up the road............ :)

Edited if I could squash the packet to 2 " I could send letter post.
NA Thinks Just End 2 End Return + Bivvy - Some day Soon I hope
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Please forgive the poor Grammar I blame it on my mobile and phat thinkers.
TrekMad
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Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by TrekMad »

IMO Royal Mail are still the go to mail provider, 5 stars on parcels under 2kg. My Hermes is absolutely awful if even the slightest thing goes wrong...

Their Reseller Parcel2Go should be outlawed, once they have your money any contact stops there, cant phone, or email... Shocking service level.
Psamathe
Posts: 17650
Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by Psamathe »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,
Sending shorts back that are all sewn wrong........

RM = 2.80
Myh = 2.78

RM means I don't have to print a label and try and stick it on,............still 200 yards up the road............ :)

Edited if I could squash the packet to 2 " I could send letter post.

If it's a new purchased item that is faulty from a UK vendor then the vendor should pay return postage.

Ian
Lawrie9
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Location: Powys, Wales, UK

Re: Royal Mail Are Dead............

Post by Lawrie9 »

The Royal Mail is alive and well in my area and I spend over £1000 a year posting stuff all over the world for my business with them. I use the drop and go and they do a excellent job.. Any Post Office is a valuable asset to he community and proide a wide range of serices for example you can get foreign currency and well as all the other usual things and as the banks all seem to be closing down they are a lifeline.
No jam doughnuts stored here overnight
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