Distress Sale?

[Chancer]

I fear that the pound may take another spanking tomorrow when Gordon Brown announces what assets are going to be sold in the hope of raising £30 billion.

Given his track record with selling gold those of you with a few bob that dont wnat to see them falling even further against the Euro might want to consider buying the Dartford river crossing or the Channel Tunnel (well half of it I guess) or whatever else will be on offer.

You wont get a better deal [6]

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

I bought Wales last night for £250.

Was ripped off I think.

[Chancer]

Les Gallois, de quoi ils servent? - Mme Anne Robinson

[woolybanana]

Perhaps the NHS for a bouchée de pain?

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Apparently, Gordon Brown was sold for 25p and a tube of smarties.

[woolybanana]

they didnt need to throw in the smarties

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

They were mouldy.

[woolybanana]

maybe they should give away the Post Office

 

[Dog]

[quote user="woolybanana"]

maybe they should give away the Post Office

[/quote]

I thought better of you Wooly - they already  have - they got rid of the bit that made money - the parcel service. Now called Parcel Farce and even gave them an amazing bonus by letting them trade without charging VAT.

It's criminal they way the UK government are messing about with the PO a national service that benefits all - or should.

They also wasted millions on computers for the PO.

[woolybanana]

Oh, I agree but it has to move forward and it seems (I don't know but have to guess) to have the worst possible industrial relations; But then, so do the French and Belgian equivalents. it seems almost impossible to move these dinosaurs into the next century of their development.

[Dog]

Because they are run by dinosaurs - who treat the workers like dirt while pocketing massive wage cheques. It bring tears to your eyes when you visit a sorting office and see how it is run - a total them and us system. For years they have been run so badly that there is a bloody minded attitude from everyone within the service.

Running a Post Office service is not rocket science and it is a national shame that government doesn't care about a basic necessity.

All of these countries POs could be turned to profit  within a year but the governments are stupid and greedy - just waiting to sell them off to their mates for peanuts.

[Quillan]

Seeing as Dog is such an expert on all things (I haven't seen anything talked about on the forum of which he does not have an expert opinion) I am supprised he has not spotted the obvious reason for the Post Offices decline and why it will continue to decline further. The answer is of course technology and in particular the Internet and Email. You have a new generation of people now who actually communicate more than the present but they do so electronically. Mobile phones don't have just SMS these days they have full blown email as well. Even games consoles have email capability. What the Post Office should have done (and probably would have done it better than the French) is to become a ISP in their own right, if you can't beat them join them as it were.

As to post office workers, well theres letters put through the doors of empty houses, mail bags thrown in bin's. Credit card theft via the postal service and the only person I knew who worked for them seemed to be getting a load of money for doing very little. The problem is, or so it appears, is that the dinosaurs do want to move on but it means the loss of jobs. Some people seem to think that work is like a charity and that even when a companies outgoings is far more than its income they should keep hold of their staff which every one knows may be their best asset but is always their most expensive.

[Chancer]

The pound has fallen rapidly since the market opened.

What time does Flash Gordon give his speech?

He is our only hope to save the pound, for someone who saved the world it shouldnt be too onerous [6]

[Dog]

[quote user="Quillan"]

Seeing as Dog is such an expert on all things (I haven't seen anything talked about on the forum of which he does not have an expert opinion) I am supprised he has not spotted the obvious reason for the Post Offices decline and why it will continue to decline further. The answer is of course technology and in particular the Internet and Email. You have a new generation of people now who actually communicate more than the present but they do so electronically. Mobile phones don't have just SMS these days they have full blown email as well. Even games consoles have email capability. What the Post Office should have done (and probably would have done it better than the French) is to become a ISP in their own right, if you can't beat them join them as it were.

As to post office workers, well theres letters put through the doors of empty houses, mail bags thrown in bin's. Credit card theft via the postal service and the only person I knew who worked for them seemed to be getting a load of money for doing very little. The problem is, or so it appears, is that the dinosaurs do want to move on but it means the loss of jobs. Some people seem to think that work is like a charity and that even when a companies outgoings is far more than its income they should keep hold of their staff which every one knows may be their best asset but is always their most expensive.

[/quote]

I will ignore the usual snide comments.

82 million letters are sent each day in the UK. Electronic technology cannot replace mail and most people do not want it to. The Post Office also offers more than just a post service.

Only a dinosaur would consider that the performance and direction of a company  is decided by its employees, it is the management of the PO that are solely responsible for the mess it is in.

I spent 25 years dealing with the post office with many millions of pieces of important time sensitive mail to be delivered. I came across massive fraud, useless management and hard working posties that were treated so badly that they became bolshie. I used the service so often in bulk that I could bypass security and drive straight into the sorting office and go directly to the managers I knew would get my mail into the system ASAP. When you could find the right people to work with it was a pleasure to deal with the PO but most of the management saw customers as getting in the way of a good sleep at the desk while they dreamed of the next pay check.

I also ran a weekly poetry club that hired the Post Office Club and at the bar got some useful insights from PO workers into how the PO is run.

From previous comments Q it is obvious you never really ran a company - you may have been part of one, perhaps now you may finally have found your position in life.

 

[Quillan]

See a good businessman would know what he is talking about and do his research properly.

You can download and read all the annual reports from the Royal Mail Portal. In 2002 the Royal Mail were delivering some 96M items, that's letters, small packets and other items every day whilst Parcel Force was delivering just under 300M parcels 'world wide' per day.

With the growth of Electronic mail (which incidentally on the UK node is around, after removing spam about 560,000 emails and SMS messages per second) they have seen the number of letter, small packages and other items drop to 75M per day with the greatest drop being over the last three years. The Post Office has continuously said every year since 2003 in its annual report that the greatest threat to its business is electronic mail.

On the Parcel Force side (who's business is still part of the Post Office) they have seen a rise from just under 300M parcels world wide per day to 404M. The main reason for this is the amount of people buying online.

When you stack these figures against the growth in industry, small business's and the increase in the UK population over the same period you can extrapolate that they are loosing even more business than the figures given.

Most companies have not sent invoices etc via the post for some time, they are normally dealt with online or via email. Legal documents are sent via "Document Exchange" because the Post office cannot guarantee both the security or its ability to deliver.

I don't know where Dog lived and worked in the UK but I had a small office in Redcross Way in Southwark to service my city clients and there was a very large sorting office nearby. Likewise I would quite often go past Mount Pleasant (?) sorting office and whilst this was some years back security was pretty tight. So for somebody to claim they "used the service so often in bulk that I could bypass security and drive straight into the sorting office" I find difficult to believe but even if true I find the lack of security frightening. Who knows what could have got past, letter bombs, drugs, etc.

The future of the Post Office lies in Value Added Services (insurance, currency exchange etc) where it is currently being directed. There will always be a need for a postman but not at the current scale. Likewise people won't stop sending letters completely but as the number drops off the price of postage must increase substantially if you want to retain both the coverage and quality of service. Now your in a Catch22 situation as higher prices means even less people using it which gets us back to the original post and that it would be better to sell the Post Office now before it becomes unsellable.

[Dog]

You see Q it's easy really, if you can spend a few minutes on the internet reading old statistics anyone even the politicians should know how to save the PO.

There would hardly have been a reason for security to stop me on a regular basis as I produced the security passes.

I guess you just sent a few bills I sent bulk mailings.

[woolybanana]

Well, I feel jolly sorry for all those chaps and chapesses who work for the PO and them being maltreated and all that. In order to keep them in jobs for life, some of which can hardly be called stressed, I would suggest that the cause of  all their woes should be punished and that a tax should be levied on every electronic message that is sent, and given to the PO to invest in improved facilities, like free health clubs, enhanced pensions, lower retirement age. Plus a benevolent management that works for their interests and is less concerned with such nasty things as efficiency, value for money and making an operating profit. Bah sucks to electronic mail.

Eh, why has my car got a man with a red flag in front of it?

[Quillan]

[quote user="Dog"]

You see Q it's easy really, if you can spend a few minutes on the internet reading old statistics anyone even the politicians should know how to save the PO.

There would hardly have been a reason for security to stop me on a regular basis as I produced the security passes.

I guess you just sent a few bills I sent bulk mailings.

[/quote]

Give a link to where you got your 'up to date' information from and is it both audited and approved.

I don't believe you (and with good reason after reading what you have said on other forums and your website, there is to much contradiction).

It would have been a bit stupid to use the post when you work in the IT industry designing massive email post offices and alike. Bit like 'we build it but we don't trust it' doesn't exactly instill much client confidence in your abilities does it.

Good for you sending out all those invoices, we probably could have saved you thousands of pounds. I never knew that there were so many people who bought Jellied Eels and white buttons. Are you and the wife still Pearlies by the way. Give me a break!!

[Chancer]

In the dark distant past before France Telecom and La Poste (and probably another that I am unaware of) it was called P.T.T. (poste telecom et telecommunications I think) rather like the old G.P.O.

Anyway the working practices in La Poste have not changed since that time unlike France Telecom and a job with La Poste is still referred to as P.T.T -

Petit Travail Tranquil [6]

[Dog]

It becomes more obvious by the day, why after you suggested IQ tests you do not seem to want one.

Take a little time and read wat I hav wrot.

You obviously have your own belief system and a system of denial involving quaint unneeded proof on unasked points other than those made by yourself.

Your memory seems to be playing tricks with you.

Was the sorting office you went by and the post office you used in The City one you had designed?

I realise that many people may think you have had a humour bypass except when you mistake something more sinister for comedy.

There is no way you could have saved me thousands on bulk mailings (and no they were not my invoices - they were sent by post - in handmade envelopes on deckle edged high cotton content substrate) - perhaps it was better you say you worked in ether rather than in delivering real physical items to professional bodies.

Please tell what you know about the Revenue Protection Department within the Post Office and about discounts for bulk mailing and how to save further money when sending real objects?

It will only be after the PO has been decimated and asset stripped that the public will realise what they have lost. I won't mention the miners strike.....

I'd love to give you a break but even if I was a Pearly King I wouldn't swap it for your dressing up box.