Member Info for OliGarch

Bigfatty, I suspect that several million pounds might be enough to start the ball rolling into the tendering stage for an external contractor to supply and install the lockers. Then there's the site locations to be considered. Existing customer service points or car parks in delivery offices or mail centres could be utilised and would be free but many of these are not in convenient locations for the recipient so spaces in shopping centres, bus/rail/tube/service stations etc would need to be considered and rented out. I certainly don't anticipate that it will be a quick process and may require a decent outlay before results can be assessed so RM may well choose a city to carry out a trial before national rollout?

It looks like Amazon has 5,000 lockers (presumably locker locations) across the UK although no idea of initial setup costs, ground rent or timescales for RM?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/12/26/royal-mail-launch-amazon-style-parcel-lockers/#:~:text=Amazon%20currently%20operates%20around%205%2C000,courier%20Evri%20has%20about%201%2C500.

To be honest, given the amount of boxes per unit and locations of the parcel lockers where I live, I really can't see them being a massive threat to the RM workforce? I'm not sure what the average turnover per box per year is in the UK but I'm also sure that someone looking on here would know?

It would probably be easier for RM to have a locker for every residence and a bank of them every couple of hundred yards in residential areas. This way they might just be able to meet their service obligation......lol

Redceo, "imagine the profits IDS could produce if only it were run efficiently". Absolutely.

Perhaps this was the reason why Seidenberg sacked McPherson? Another one who must be skating on thin ice is Chaplain who joined in October 2022, also from JLR so presumably he and McPherson were mates of Thompson as neither had glowing resumes? Incidentally, I am led to believe that it was Chaplain who instructed the RM engineers to manufacture copy written parts. I'm really not sure how these senior managers actually get these posts but the old boy network must be strong?

I am now waiting for the usual posters to come out of the woodwork to call me a deramper, troll or ex employee hater but the fact of the matter is that these things go on within the business. The good news is that they usually have zero impact on the SP.

Redceo, hopefully all may not be lost. These machines are modular in design and are used by several postal administrations in Europe and elsewhere so they may be able to be resold? The good news is that Royal Mail always go for base spec and then try to make modifications in house (a bit like buying the L model and buying the aftermarket parts to turn it into a Ghia X Pack) so the price will be the minimum.

Redceo, unfortunately it looks like the contract was for the full quota of parcel machines plus support from the French engineers and a committment to purchase their spares and warranty returns for a decade. To add to the woes, the onsite French engineers have reported back to their bosses that the RM engineers have been manufacturing spares in house thus breaking copyright although I believe that this was a direct order from the head of engineering who came from JLR along with McPherson. As we know, JLR have recently been caught out fitting second hand spares for warranty work on their vehicles so it is very possible that this is how the current HoE rolls?

I'm not sure what is going to happen now but by all accounts the French are certainly not happy as some of the parcel machines have been built and are awaiting shipment but RM don't really want them plus they currently supply a huge amount of stock for the legacy letter machines.

Following on from Brendyboy's post yesterday, I can confirm that my local mail centre cleared last night and today's letter box collection is anticipated to be very light. The local parcels clearance would appear to be down to the super hubs and parcel sorting machines taking on a large amount, however this success has also brought on a bit of a downside with regards to parcels automation and machinery. At the start of Thompson's tenure, a deal was signed with the French company that supplied our letter sorting and sequencing machines to supply twenty medium to large size parcel machines in mail centres to supplement the existing machines. Only eight machines were installed and it is now believed that the remaining machines will not be necessary going forward so presumably the business is now thinking that full capacity has been reached in the UK parcels market?

Ispy, a nicely constructed post. Not bad for a "minimum wage, brain damaged bum"....lol.

I believe that the original poster, AngerSharkz, was buying in January 2021 when the SP was between 518p and 462p so your estimate of 450p was quite generous but I doubt that AS purchased 10,000 shares at 450p so your estimate of 1,000 shares may well be more accurate so 40p dividend isn't going to cover that loss. Perhaps TMS received an inheritance from AS when he departed which would mean that those shares were "free"?.....lol

Phunt, what are you talking about? I go out Evri day?.....lol

To add to my earlier post and regarding my personal post over the last two weeks, RM have delivered quite a few letters and one jiffy bag, Amazon have delivered several parcels but by far the bulk has been delivered by Evri. The poor guy is so busy that he has enlisted the help of his seventeen year old son (now on half term) in order to get through the deliveries. Obviously this is a local snapshot.

Sid, Darkesh, it looks as though the excess Amazon deliveries may be area dependent? Our area is awash with the grey electric vans and RM don't appear to be delivering anything from Amazon but that might be because we have a large Amazon depot about 1½ miles away? I guess the more Rural areas might be impacted more?

Ispy, with regards to casuals, I believe that this is the lowest number that RM have ever taken on so senior management must have been anticipating lower volumes? Unfortunately, low volumes may also equate to potential low volumes of return parcels post Christmas which also isn't good. I only hope that Seidenberg has a plan?

Ispy, I went for Christmas dinner and a few drinks with some of my ex work colleagues on Sunday and they told me that parcels were so light that the casuals were being sent home early however letter box collection mail through the machines were around 8% up on 2019 numbers. I'm not sure if this is just a local issue as Brendyboy was saying that his office was the busiest that it had ever been at the beginning of December?

PP, our regular postie is on Facebook almost every day with advice. He sorts out all sorts of delivery issues and has been doing this for years now. Our regular local Evri delivery driver has also done our area for several years and really upped his game to compete with the postie. Both provide an excellent service and both have received accolades and awards from the local community.

"Why the big jump today?"

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the increase was on the back of Seidenberg sacking McPherson as COO? He was fired/rejected from JLR only eighteen months ago and taken on by Thompson but has obviously been found to be lacking. The UK operation really needs a COO that has a proven track record in the parcel courier business so perhaps Seidenberg has a more suitable candidate?

Derek, thanks for the update. I knew that you would have a more precise description. From a mail centre perspective with an internal delivery office all I saw was regular DSA suddenly not having to go through the sorting machines and straight to the delivery office instead. Our late shift manager mentioned something about having to lose a certain amount of contracts.

Brendyboy, was this cut off date predetermined by the agreement with the union or has it been made because volumes are expected to fall?

Another negative news article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-67658970.amp

Even more worrying are the alleged comments from Royal Mail.

"In a statement, Royal Mail said "extensive measures" were in place "to improve our deliveries and ensure they are consistent and reliable at our busiest time of year.

"Our postmen and women are making deliveries at least every other day and we can confirm the vast majority of letters are delivered on time."

Every other day? So an admission of failure then? Surely they mean "six days a week"? It would be interesting to know the source of that statement.

If my memory serves me correctly, before privatisation could commence, RM were ordered to "lose" around 30% of it's large business customer base in order to give the competition a chance, therefore allowing companies such as Whistl to bid for some of the RM existing contracts at a very competitive price. I believe that BT and Lloyds Bank were some of the earliest adopters and beneficiaries here but I could be wrong. No doubt JB or Derek will be able to fill in the gaps here?

The problem here is that if you are the only company delivering the final mile for letters then you still have a monopoly even if it is an "obligation".