Member Info for OliGarch

Ispy, we were discussing managers not OPGs and how ineffective some are.
F-F, yes that would include DSMs as well. Rico should be encouraging the SB8 and above grades to ensure that their junior managers are doing their job effectively. I have seen far too many JV4 "porters" in my time.

Just received a WhatsApp Comms from the CWU.
Davie Robertson is holding a Facebook live session on Wednesday at 6pm.

Red, sorting out ineffective JV4 grades is well below Rico's pay grade. It's the Area Managers and DOMs that need to get a handle on the situation.

Wolves, as you are aware, RM has a lot of managers that have worked their way up through the system, quite often promoted by their manager who also worked their way up so you end up with a management chain that quite often is reluctant to ask their ex-colleagues to work a bit harder when required. No qualifications were required or asked for when these managers were promoted so they are quite often ineffective and will end up doing OPG work rather than 'cracking the whip' when necessary.

DerekR, that would be a very tough decision for the RM BoD to make. A cut in the dividend would certainly be a blow to the shareholders but may be necessary for the long term stability of the business.

One of the comments states that we will "get the Post Office shut down" and another says "Vince Cable and the conservatives have cost us tax payers millions helping out their mates".

Fruitster, we were tantalisingly close to most of our targets but couldn't quite cross the line.
Clearly letter volume decline is a huge issue as we now have to phase out letter sorting machines and phase in parcel automation machines. Some of our buildings are clearly not going to be suitable without alteration, upgrading or even relocation. This is not going to be done overnight so I would expect a transition period of around three years before we start to see clear daylight. I also predict that the workforce will shrink by around 15,000 by 2024 as parcel automation becomes the norm.

We had a work time learning session yesterday evening regarding my office's performance. The only target that we hit was quality. We had overspent by 12,000 hours over the Christmas pressure period which senior management are planning to claw back by cutting overtime over the next 8 weeks.

DerekR, I think that the results regarding letter volumes may be worse than expected. Posted letter volumes for December were down by 8% in my office and although January is traditionally quiet, the last 3 weeks have been really quiet. The situation has progressed so quickly that we ran out of work after 8 hours of my scheduled 12 hour Sunday shift!

Ispy, this is very interesting. Are you able to add any more detail? Was this an unofficial trial?

So, should Falkland change his chant to £1.64 in 2020 IMHO.... DYOR..... Cheers.....etc......?.....lol

DerekR, both of us were responding to an earlier comment from alaninvestor regarding a 4day week USO.
"There is no comparison here between SET and Royal mail as the postal service is near enough obsolete now. Will the general public notice the strike, really! Of course not, many associate this with no junk mail etc. 4 days a week should be the USO".
I don't think that he has ever worked for RM or has much knowledge of the internal workings of RM which doesn't help!

Alan, a 4 days per week USO for letters might be okay, but that won't work for parcels. If anything this area of the business needs to be expanded to 7 days a week.
On the subject of 7 day working, my manager has intimated that we may need to adjust our shifts in order to accommodate Saturday and Sunday night working so that we can go 24/7. This will mean taking in more staff which will put a dent in the bottom line!

Quinny, your earlier post today stated "I'm sorry but we ain't in the 60s now that's ain't going to happen. All out strike for weeks on end no matter what you say when members start losing money and see the business on its knees they will see a job is better than no job".
South West Trains staff were on strike for 27 days during December 2019 and crippled the service to London.
You are also forgetting that 47% of RM staff are over 50 with mortgages paid for, more disposable income and more savings and could afford to take industrial action plus most have been in the business for many years and have seen this before.
I wouldn't rule out the possibility of industrial action before the end of the financial year. If the CWU plan and target certain shifts or groups of employees correctly, the effect could be spectacular. It would be even more effective to call for industrial action, wait for RM to take on agency staff in advance (with guaranteed hours) then call the action off at the last moment. This would cost the business a substantial amount plus all the managers that were drafted in as extra cover would be all over the place.

Bristol, RM has though about the "evening delivery" before but as Ispy points out it has it's pitfalls. What happens with Special Delivery items for example? The only way that I could see this working is as a "second delivery" for items that did not get delivered during normal daytime hours but this would be at an extra cost to the business at a time where every penny counts.

Quinny, your 13:23 post states "All out strike for weeks on end no matter what you say".
South Western Railway were on strike for 27 days during December 2019.

Alan, your 07:46 post read
"I'm going to ask him what barber he goes to. His haircut is awesome, it's stayed the same level of receded for 30 years and he's made his luscious locks and cut look groovy".
Only Shaggy from Scooby-Doo uses the word "groovy"! You're so last century......lol

DerekR, I believe that back in 2008 or 2009, RM were told to lose around 25% of it's contracts by Postcomm (or the Monopolies Commission) in order to promote competition but all this seemed to promote was an increase in 'mailing houses' and DSA.
In the meantime, RM took their eye off the ball and let the parcels market slip to our competitors.
Strangely enough, RM were market leaders in parcels automation back in the 70s and 80s but the bosses back then weren't interested in parcels and let our R&D department slide into decline instead of selling our best ideas to other Postal administrations.

Fruitster, I have not heard of this sort of investment strategy before as I don't generally dabble in other shares but nonetheless it is quite fascinating and sounds quite smart as long as the investor stays within their limits.
In your opinion, do you think that this passive/tracker investment has played a part in the current RM share price and do you think that it may have been a contributing factor to the £6.31 spike that we saw in October 2018?

PP, it may surprise you to learn that my previous moniker was GigoloFerrari.......lol......Then I woke up...