|
|
Post by Patrick on Sept 11, 2010 14:19:13 GMT
Well that last great bastion is about to meet it's maker.
Funny isn't it. The Post Office was at it's most profitable when it had more rural Post Offices. More local sorting offices and more foot soldiers and less automation. It now has vans - further apart sorting offices fewer post offices fewer employees and it's only just struggling to keep it's head above water. Although I've heard it's just scraped the threshold of profitability in the last year or so.
I know, I know it's all down to email etc etc. Not to mention the first lot of most lucrative commercial contracts being sold off to Private firms. The same firms who will now circle and pick off the carcass of what's left
Add to this the dumping of the idea of using bicycles which to me ranks amongst the more stupid of decisions - along side the ending of the underground railway in London (only the fastest way of getting round the congested capital) and the axing of Post Office Trains - which lasted until they suddenly realised that that was the fastest thing to use to get around the country.
It might not have been so bad if they let it become a 'mutual' which they were thinking about to put one over on the unions, but it seems (so far) that they want to go the whole hog and just divest themselves of it all - Another failed privatisation to come - sold off on the cheap for short term gain and a few more tax cuts for the multi-millionaires in charge best mates.
So. Telephones gone.
Post Office Going.
Steel gone.
Coal Gone.
Electricity Gone.
Water Gone.
Gas Gone.
Gold reserves gone.
Next time the Government and the bankers flush our economy down the toilet what are they going to have left to sell off? Scotland?
|
|
|
|
Post by alanseago on Sept 11, 2010 15:03:42 GMT
If they follow the Great Biddy's doctrine, the post office will be sold off to La Poste and you will help subsidise our postal service as you do with water and electricity.
|
|
|
|
Post by riotgrrl on Sept 11, 2010 18:07:47 GMT
Apologies, but I'm going to be controversial.
There is no longer any point to the Post Office. There never was to start with. It provides a range of services which could easily have been provided by other suppliers had the Post Office not been given a state monopoly.
As for rural communities, god bless them. But if you choose to live in a rural community with all the benefits that that has, I think you forfeit your right to complain when you then don't have access to a Post Office, or a cancer specialist, or whatever. It's kind of how it works. The bigger the settlement, the more services, the more crime, the more drugs, the more danger. Smaller settlement, nicer life, fewer services. That's the pay-off.
|
|
|
|
Post by Patrick on Sept 11, 2010 22:56:01 GMT
That's the cheeky thing about it - Services have been given to other providers which is why "Post Offices" are struggling. Mind you - the Government is going to be hanging on to them - so they say. It's just - and my fault here for not entitling the thread properly - The Royal Mail that will be Privatised.
|
|
|
|
Post by riotgrrl on Sept 14, 2010 10:06:39 GMT
That's the cheeky thing about it - Services have been given to other providers which is why "Post Offices" are struggling. Mind you - the Government is going to be hanging on to them - so they say. It's just - and my fault here for not entitling the thread properly - The Royal Mail that will be Privatised. But why was the provision of these various services parcelled up into one state monopoly in the first place? |
|
|
|
Post by riotgrrl on Sept 14, 2010 10:07:05 GMT
(Or am I getting confused between the Post Office and the Royal Mail?)
|
|
|
|
Post by Patrick on Sept 14, 2010 10:16:37 GMT
Because it was 'created' by the state in the first place. I suppose, given time that Private 'carriers' might have become the norm - but way back when - there was the need for a Nationwide Postal Service. Post Offices themselves also expanded when the Telegraph System of message sending was invented.
|
|
|
|
Post by Weyland on Sept 14, 2010 10:24:03 GMT
But why was the provision of these various services parcelled up into one state monopoly in the first place? Nobody but the state can, or will, provide a nationwide postal service which includes delivery to any and all addresses. It's a utility and, like ALL utilities, should never be in private hands. I'm in Holland just now, where TNT "runs" the privatised postal system. You'd be hard pushed to find anyone here who thinks that was a good idea. I stopped sending packages to my family here long ago. Fewer than 50% got delivered. That only started happening after TNT took over. It'll be the same in Britain, only worse. We don't even seem to be able to make privatisation blunders as well as our neighbours. We can kiss goodbye to a fully functioning postal service, unless you happen to live in or near the City of Westminster. |
|
|
|
Post by everso on Sept 14, 2010 15:06:46 GMT
That's the cheeky thing about it - Services have been given to other providers which is why "Post Offices" are struggling. Mind you - the Government is going to be hanging on to them - so they say. It's just - and my fault here for not entitling the thread properly - The Royal Mail that will be Privatised. But why was the provision of these various services parcelled up into one state monopoly in the first place? The GPO (General Post Office) used to be a government department which included the Post Office, Mail and telephone service. The post office as we know it began during Victoria's reign and I would imagine that when telephones came into being they were included because they were a means of communication. A quick glance at Wiki tells you that Royal Mail began in Henry VIII's reign and the General Post Office was started during Charles II's reign. So it was always state owned really. |
|
|
|
Post by Patrick on Sept 14, 2010 17:52:18 GMT
The GPO (General Post Office) used to be a government department which included the Post Office, Mail and telephone service. The post office as we know it began during Victoria's reign and I would imagine that when telephones came into being they were included because they were a means of communication. A quick glance at Wiki tells you that Royal Mail began in Henry VIII's reign and the General Post Office was started during Charles II's reign. So it was always state owned really. ........and like all the other Privatisations before it it will be sold off on the cheap in order to finance short term tax cuts six months before the next general election. With all the eventual profit - once the pension has been sold off to a Private Equity firm going to the Dutch I expect (via TNT) Probably. |
|
|
|
Post by Patrick on Jan 12, 2011 23:53:48 GMT
The rotten ball has begun to roll;
12 January 2011 Last updated at 20:31
MPs have approved legislation paving the way for the sell-off of Royal Mail.
The Postal Services Bill, which could see 90% of the firm end up in foreign hands, was approved by the Commons with a government majority of 81.
Ministers say a sell-off is needed to attract new investment, to modernise the business and to protect the existing universal service obligation.
But Labour said ministers had "not made the fundamental case" for privatising such a "vital part of infrastructure".
Under the proposals, which have yet to be approved by the Lords, employees would be in line get at least 10% of shares in the company.
The business will be split from the Post Office, which will remain in public hands.
During Wednesday's debate, the coalition saw off an attempt by two backbench MPs to ensure that Royal Mail would have to agree a 10-year deal with the Post Office to guarantee its custom.
The amendment, by Conservative Brian Binley and Lib Dem Bob Russell, was defeated by 58 votes.
The legislation had been previously amended to ensure the monarch's head remains on stamps issued by Royal Mail amid fears a private buyer could drop the Queen from its designs.
|
|
|
|
Post by everso on Jan 13, 2011 14:13:09 GMT
While I am pleased that the Queen's head is being kept on stamps (me being a royalist and all that), now that the Royal Mail is going to be privatised it seems a bit silly in a way. I mean, the Queen represents the State doesn't she? If our food was provided by the State I'd expect the Queen's head to be stamped on the packaging. You wouldn't expect Tesco to put the Queen's head on its packaging, would you?
|
|
