Member Info for mike1974

I thought we had the commercial freedom to charge pretty much whatever we like with pkts?

I thought it was only letters that are governed by the USO?

I just can't get my head around how any investment platform or institution can legally lend their investors shares to shorters?... Surely that institution has a fiduciary obligation to always act in the best interest of their investors?

Yes I meant not getting too excited about the proposal as a shareholder (there's definitely nothing exciting about it for us posties!)

In the short term at least I predict it will actually cause more downward pressure on the SP with the almost certain threat of IA that will come if they try to force this proposal through without CWU backing.

I wouldn't get too excited about this apparent proposal going ahead easily and without opposition... it basically involves taking about 10 minutes work off posties by removing the large pkts from their duty, but giving them about 50-60 minutes extra work in the form of 20% of a 'collapsed' walk.

Nuri - Where and when has Rico demonstrated he is '' incapable of driving through efficiencies'' ?

I'm not aware of any efficiencies that he has so far tried to implement in his short time in charge?

We're veering wildly off topic here, but I'd disagree about the ''huge income'' from tourism making those places ''wealthy parts of the world''... I live in a part of the UK where tourism is the biggest income provider in the area, yet it's still one of the most economically inactive and deprived parts of the UK, with virtually all tourism related jobs being part time, min wage and seasonal.
Yes A few business owners catering for tourism might be doing very well but the majority of ordinary locals are poorly paid and relying on in work benefits and certainly can't afford to buy property in the area thanks to inflated prices by holiday home/holiday let owners.
In my area we get a whole load of EU money, the vast majority of which is wasted on vanity projects and white elephants.
I just think the claim of tourism being an economic goldmine for any area be it UK or EU is a myth.

Madas - being obligated to deliver to every address in the UK 6 days a week isn't cost effective when mail volumes are dropping.

We can have still have growth in other areas and can expand our products and services to 7 days a week, but the current 6 day commitment under the USO is not commercially viable

If the job losses were through Voluntary Redundancy then I doubt there would be little appetite for IA... In fact I suspect RM would be overwhelmed with applicants for VR.

Thanks for the replies and the link, surely your broker has an obligation to be seen to be acting in the best interests of your investment at all times?
And by lending ''your'' shares to a shorter they're clearly not doing that and could surely be held liable for any losses?

A (stupid?) general question for those more experienced investors on here...

As a holder of a particular share why would I 'lend' my shares to an institution wanting to short them?

What's in it for me knowing that if that institution is successful in their aims then when they eventually give me my shares back they will be worth a lot less?

Whilst there is an undeniable decline in letters I do believe the impact is being made to look worse than it is by Rico... in order to get the USO revised, which I think is an almost certainty now.

I wouldn't get too optimistic about Christmas results, I'd say this year was busy but not quite as manic as other recent Christmases.

And I don't think it's a case of the competition taking work away from RM... I hardly saw any other couriers this Christmas, we're normally following each other around in one big convoy delivering pkts to the same usual suspects.

I think consumer spending is down overall this Christmas, both high street and internet.

I agree there is a huge discrepancy between the efficiency of delivery compared to processing... delivery has been absolutely cut to the bone with delivery offices having a skeleton staff at best and reliant on constant overtime to get the job done, whilst mail centres are still more like something from the 1970's, hugely inefficient with generally 2 or 3 people doing the work of one.

Oh right so you were referring to the shorters, just wasn't sure who you were talking about.

I agree it is a corrupt practice and I can't understand why it isn't treated as seriously as insider trading.

These large institutions who take on big short positions aren't taking a calculated gamble on that particular SP falling... they know full well they have the influence and ability to manipulate it downwards.

Who are ''they'' and what are the corrupt ways you're referring to?

(Genuine question, just wanting more insight, not looking for an argument)

As a postie this is one of my bugbears... I probably see at least £10 a day in unfranked stamps, more at this time of year.

Times that by the number of rounds across the UK and that's a huge amount of lost revenue, even if only a fraction of them are reused.

(I cancel any I see with my trusty biro)

http://www.cityam.com/270026/ofcom-worried-royal-mail-productivity-slump-could-threaten

I agree he's not far left, in fact if he does get into power and he stops hosing money at the banks and propping up the property market it would be the most capitalist thing that any PM has done for at least 2 decades.

That's irony for you.

Just out of curiosity, can anyone offer any insight into how RMG compares to other ftse 100 companies in terms of the amount of short positions being held against them?

Is RMG being heavily targeted or are the number of shorters pretty average?

Agreed, I got derided for my ''cooking the books'' comment but something really doesn't sit right with this.

The fundamentals of the business have barely changed from when we were apparently worth £5-£6 a share... we haven't had any major additional or unexpected expenditure recently, we're still far and away the biggest player in an ever growing domestic parcels market (the income from which more than offsets any loss from the slight decline in letters) the competition are threatened with action being taken on their ''gig economy'' work practices.

Such a dramatic downturn in fortunes just doesn't make sense, not to me at least.