Member Info for Scampthedog

As for the USO? I often wonder about those much touted "real" advantages to RMG they supposedly allow.

I can fully appreciate and understand the advantages to the CWU...but to Royal Mail? Not too sure about that myself.

How can it be an advantage to be compelled to drive out in a van to far-flung, outlying rural areas with a letter to a farm house, a parcel five miles further down the road to old Mrs Miggins; and than a further drive followed by parking up and a long sweaty walk down an old cinder track to deliver a birthday present for little mindy? Is that not all accomplished at great financial cost to RMG? I would say so.

And as for Ofcom? I very much doubt if Ofcom would be overly worried about seeing the USO relaxed more than just a bit...they would see it as promoting more fairer competition within the industry.

Whenever something vacates an evolutionary niche...something else moves in and occupies it.

Maybe Deliveroo or some other company very much like them?

And as for Royal Mail's pricing structure? Antiquated to say the least. Is it not time that they restructured all of this? After all, "one price fits all" is surely long overdue for a change...is it not?

Carrying on from that: what about the "First Class" and "Second Class" postage? Is there any need for First Class" anymore? Letters are in terminal decline, the growth, as we are all aware, is in parcels. Do parcels, in the main, really need a "First Class" service? By abolishing the "First Class" mayhem I see every night, as managers desperately fight a nightly losing battle in trying to prevent a lot of mail from failing, would greatly reduce costs...and not just in the Cross-Docking operations -- but right across the whole board!

Again I fully appreciate the CWU's abject horror at the thought of any of this. But change is inevitable. You can no more halt change than Canute could command the waves. Change is inevitable. All things must mutate...if not they die.

As a postie myself, EMMJANE, I do have to say you have undoubtedly scored a perfect bullseye...it does make one wonder, more than just a bit, about how you have so ably managed to put your finger right on the pulse. You are obviously both observant and intelligent.

Regarding investing here: when or if these two opposing sides actually manage to sort out their differences then RMG could really be a very good LONG term investment...especially if they reinstate the full dividend. And by long term I mean at least 5 years...in all honesty more likely longer.

As I have stated before: nobody, and I mean nobody, shifts mail in bulk like RMG does.

I truly believe that this insidious disease has been the saving of Royal Mail...people who never used the internet before, like many of the older generation, have now realised the advantages of shopping online; and as long as the coronavirus it out there wreaking havoc will continue to carry on ordering online.

This disease, and others very much like it (or worse!) are becoming more and more frequent...we might never see again the "old normality" that we as a free-speaking, unrestrained, uninhibited nation have for so long enjoyed. It really is a great, great tragedy of immense proportions!!

don't forget, if you are using "Short Interest Tracker" that is, only positions holding over 0.5 percent are shown. The true figure will be higher than 7.9%.

As for RMG's cash holding: I was under the impression it was £800, 000, 000...although I concede I may well be wrong on that.

You don't need to ask for advice on this one, matey. You must know if a strike does come then the current s.p will not be worth s..t!!

I could not agree more with you, ARSENAL...with all your points.

Without a doubt both Pullinger and Ward are "dyed in the wool" lefties....Ward far more so than Pullinger. Ward is just a raving mad militant!

However, that aside, do not think these two men do not care for their members. Indeed -- no one is more passionate!

Whatever people might think about these two peoples own politics they need to be reminded that Ward and Pullinger's own suspicions and fears about what RMG intended to impose upon the workforce has now all been proven to be correct.

It is not a question of what is needed here (.we all know that RMG desperately and radically needs remodelling) but rather a question of just: how that much needed change is managed.

So far that "much needed change" has been managed very, very poorly indeed.

In fact so poorly one now has to accept that, as many CWU members, including the leadership, have been saying for some considerable time, it really does look as if Rico Back wants this fight to happen. A sort of: bring it on and lets get it all over and done with kind of policy.

If so...then another incredibly foolish decision I would have to say.

Interesting debate going on here this morning...makes a change from the normal drivel spouted from the collective, back-slapping, self-congratulatory ramping-crew.

As an employee of Royal Mail and also a member of the CWU (and I won't always agree with everything the union might propose) regarding Terry Pullinger I can say at least this much: everything he has warned the members of the union to be vigilante about has either happened or is about to happen. People like Ward and Pullinger are naturally suspicious of RMG because they have the long experience of having, regarding broken promises and underhanded skulduggery, seen and heard it all many times before. Perfect example -- the "Four Pillars" agreement. Imagine what Royal Mail would be saying right now if the boot was on the other foot? If it was they themselves that had come to an agreement with the union...and then 12 months later the union just walked away from it all?

Let us be fair about all this. It is not the union that has caused this huge disgruntlement...it is RMG.

Yes, of course there has to be change. And yes the union is, can and has been, at times, rather too stubborn and intransigent to change (all things must mutate and change otherwise they simply die) and yes there are a lot of militants within the CWU who just want to pick a fight. But this whole situation has been badly handled, by RMG that is, right from the very start.

Rico Back thought, due to having zero experience of never having to work alongside a big, powerful union, that he could just come right in, disregard the CWU...and then do exactly as he pleased.

Now he is going to find out, the hard way, that he cannot. And it might well cost all of us (him, shareholders, employees and the business alike) very, very dearly indeed.

Well...duty calls. Night all. P.s no prizes for guessing what the topic of conversation is going to be all about tonight. Lol. :)

And thereby goes the share price. F**K*D!!!!

Jut took a peek at the CWU homepage on Facebook...still no announcement.

Not that it makes any difference...unless Mr Back retreats from his present position the end result is a forgone decision. And we all knows what that means.

EEEk!!!!

Perhaps I might be wrong, but having just had a look at yesterday evening's "questions and answers" with Terry Pullinger, are not the Postal Executive meeting today to discuss taking possible strike action?

And as for RMG reacting to any such proposed strike by embarking on yet another legal appeal...on what grounds?

A judge cannot make law, thats for the Commons, he is only there to dispense it. He cannot overturn the result of a lawful ballot...unless, of course, as previous to the last result, it was arrived at "unlawfully".

The only person that could prevent any strike action taking place, as long as this latest ballot result was indeed deemed to have been arrived at "fairly," is the Priminister, when using the extraordinary powers he, at this present time, has available to him; I suppose he could argue, with some justification one would have to say, that Royal Mail is a vital and essential
service...even more so now than ever.

Don't anyone be surprised if strike action is called for; and lets us also hope that Royal Mail don't call the CWU on this one...because in my opinion they are certainly not bluffing.

And if all this does come about and a strike is called? Then once again the "Shorters" will have been proven right!

You the only filters you use Redceo, you egocentric chump you, are the ones you use for your morning coffee. Filtered my fat @rse!

the only thing that is of any great importance here at this moment is the size of that "short" position. They are not often wrong.

Interesting contribution, panda1. Food for thought.

Well this has certainly caused a bit of a stir on this board today I must say. We have all been waiting patiently for some good news (admittedly most of us fearing the worst) and finally here it is.

Without getting completely carried away with it all I would have to say that both spottydog and earthling do make valid remarks...and also raise some legitimate concerns.

Of particular interest (preceding the concerns of both earthling and spottydog) is Fisky88's question. Anyone care to try and answer it?

Like I stated previously, AJamesW, your credibility, as far as I am concerned, here, on this particular board...is absolutely zero.

You have relentlessly pumped this stock from its highest point (based upon nothing but wildly overly optimistic speculation) all the way down to almost zero. Good effort!!

I am an investor here, albeit a very small one (still stand to lose several thousand pounds) but I invested my money into Block on the: "chance this might come off based upon the premise that new technology, coupled with historical data, might help rediscover and then exploit an area of hereto untapped reserves".

In other words...I took a punt. If it comes off it comes off. If it does'nt...then I take it on the chin and move on.

But what I don't do is to come on this board and make outlandish and ridiculously laughable comments when trying to explain away the company's present rather precarious situation as nothing more than the fault of bad luck, the coronavirus and the following crash in the price of crude.

The share price is where it is because as far as performance goes this company has repeatedly underachieved (although admittedly a lot of this is down to bad luck)...and has now fallen flat on its face.

Of course there is nothing wrong with trying and failing, after all it is only through failure that we learn the most valuable lessons, but what I most strongly object to is when a company tries to cover up its failures and then to further compound the problems -- attempts to put a positive spin on it all! Just not acceptable...and now we are all paying the price.

All rather embarrassing for the board at Block I do have to say.

In my opinion they have made a laughing stock of themselves and us the investors.

I have to agree with your comment regarding the volumes of parcels, callerone, they are indeed "booming".

Where I work we are experiencing record volumes for this time of year...some nights we are busier than at Christmas.

And no, IsleworthSpy, I don't actually agree with you when you answer your own question regarding the huge increase in traffic:-

" Is it a backlog caused by sickness, isolation etc?
Or is it due to the increase in items coming into RMG?
I would lean to the former as the main reason. IMO"

I would rather go with your first proposed answer: "or is it due to the increase in items coming into RMG"?

However, I would now think, myself, that this huge increase in parcels will start to dramatically fall off. Not only are people starting to get blase about the coronavirus disease and venturing out more with the advent of the warmer weather...but the government is starting to back-peddle on its formerly tougher stance; they are trying to give the impression they are still in control by stating that they never insisted that the many high street shops that shut did not have to shut in the first place but were just following government advice. They are starting to lose control of the situation...and it shows with their announcement of maybe allowing people to congregate outside in "bubbles" of ten or less. My God -- it will go through us like a dose of salts!!

All of this, which is preceding perhaps a return to some sort of "new normality", might well be what the shorts are banking on: a new normality heralding the return of hostilities between RMG and the CWU...in full view of the watching financial commentators and market analysts of course.

It may well be a hunch that pays off handsomely: the advent of hotter weather driving people away from their laptops and back outside in ever growing numbers.

If so, God help us all now...

I must confess that I too am rather mystified by the sudden big increase in the short position...having said all that I do have to confess I do not fully understand the more intricate details of the shorters arsenal, the options open to them and how it all works exactly.

I can understand how the threat of a strike in the near future would increase the short position, but that threat has now been blunted for the time being...and might well be for some considerable time yet.

After all, parcels are up in a truly massive way...and should continue to rise one would have thought.

Perhaps, as the news informs us, because people are now taking things into their own hands and we therefore seem to be heading back to some sort of normality, the shorts are betting that the big increase in online buying will now start to fall back down; plus of course if we do go back to "normality" then the strike will most definitely be on again.

Indeed it is all so very peculiar I do have to say.

And herein lies the great paradox: spend just a couple of grand and you are guaranteed thousands in return. Spend just 10 grand...and, well -- brewsters!

Errrrrr, question: if it was that bl00dy obvious do you not think every big city analyst and financial institution would have not already thought that one out? And they are hardly dealing in just grands are they? More like hundreds of thousands of grands!!

Thats why these shares are so damn cheap -- just a bleedin punt for Christ's sake. Duhhhhhhhh.

Volumes are absolutely crazy; it truly is, most nights, Christmas without Santa Claus.

As for the staffing levels: it varies in every place of course, but where I work there has actually been a decrease in the agency...most nights there are none at all. People are being required to simply work harder and be more versatile; certain duties, at times, being delayed and persons being "borrowed" to cope with sudden increases in traffic: "at the managers discretion."

And as for the outhouses? I have been wondering myself over the last couple of weeks whether Royal Mail will be forced to reopen some of them up. It seems as they now have; I was talking to a driver from Sheffield last night and he informed me that up there they have done just that.

There is the added cost of doing all this...but in all truth not as much as one might think. A lot of posties who travel (not uncommon for a postie who "works indoors" having to travel 20 - 30 miles to work...I know one girl who makes a round trip of 80 - 90 miles every single day) might now find it convenient to relocate to the nearest outhouse...as do several of the posties who work with me so do every Christmas.

Royal Mail is making a fortune at this very moment I can assure everyone of you of that. If they are not...then some very serious questions will require answering. Simple as that.

P.s Don't be surprised to hear that a token dividend (or "special" dividend) might be being considered...that will certainly placate the big institutional investors for the time being somewhat at the very least.