RIP Royal Mail

[Pyrotequila]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nn0n93zj4o

 

Quote

The board of the company that owns Royal Mail has agreed to a formal takeover offer for the 500-year-old organisation.

Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has firmed up an offer of £5bn, including assumed debts, for the company which employs more than 150,000 people.

 

It doesn't say it in the BBC story, but he has pledged to keep the headquarters in the UK "for at least 5 years"

I'm calling it now... mass redundancies, price rises for services/stamps, reducing delivery days... the promises won't last.

[Delbow]

1 minute ago, Pyrotequila said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4nn0n93zj4o

 

 

It doesn't say it in the BBC story, but he has pledged to keep the headquarters in the UK "for at least 5 years"

I'm calling it now... mass redundancies, price rises for services/stamps, reducing delivery days... the promises won't last.

 

Yeah, no-one pays that much for a business without intending to maximise the amount they take out. And remember, the share price at IPO was stupidly low - the Tories putting the international investor class before British workers and businesses, as usual.

[El Cid]

27 minutes ago, Delbow said:

 

Yeah, no-one pays that much for a business without intending to maximise the amount they take out. And remember, the share price at IPO was stupidly low - the Tories putting the international investor class before British workers and businesses, as usual.

 

But their shares were worth 455 and now they stand at 334, so perhaps they need new management in order to give a good service?

Does it matter who owns one of the UK's delivery companies?

[The_DADDY]

Can it still be called royal mail and use the crown logo if its foreign owned? 

[hackey lad]

I think the Royal Mail was doomed well before this decision. 

[Delbow]

1 hour ago, El Cid said:

 

But their shares were worth 455 and now they stand at 334, so perhaps they need new management in order to give a good service?

Does it matter who owns one of the UK's delivery companies?

 

IIRC (and happy to be corrected) the share price shortly after IPO was significantly higher, so bulk buyers could have sold quickly and made a tidy profit. I think it does matter who owns it, given that it provides a public good. It's the usual shareholder vs. public & workers dynamic.

[Baron99]

If it wasn't for delivery of junk mail, Royal Mail would have gone bust years ago. 

 

As the vast majority of the general public hardly sends any letters to each other, their business model just falls apart & they have to keep increasing the price of postage just to cover their costs, which reduces the number of people using the Royal Mail, which means they have to increase the cost of postage / reduce the frequency of deliveries, which reduces the number of people using the service, etc, etc.  It's eating itself into oblivion.

[Al Bundy]

I didn't realise anyone uses Royal mail anymore anyway!!

 

As long as it doesn't affect pensions be reyt!!

[pfifes]

 

1 hour ago, Al Bundy said:

I didn't realise anyone uses Royal mail anymore anyway!!

 

As long as it doesn't affect pensions be reyt!!

 

1 hour ago, Baron99 said:

If it wasn't for delivery of junk mail, Royal Mail would have gone bust years ago. 

 

As the vast majority of the general public hardly sends any letters to each other, their business model just falls apart & they have to keep increasing the price of postage just to cover their costs, which reduces the number of people using the Royal Mail, which means they have to increase the cost of postage / reduce the frequency of deliveries, which reduces the number of people using the service, etc, etc.  It's eating itself into oblivion.

But there is very much a market for parcel delivery.

As for ‘the general public hardly sending letters to each other’.  That has been the case for a very long time.  Probably since telephones (of the old school landline variety) became commonplace.  The issue is with the massive reduction of business mail.  

[SheffieldForum]

Royal Mail is one of those things we take for granted and don’t really notice it until it is gone.

 

When your post doesn’t turn up for a few days you’ll definitely notice it — when they cut back on deliveries you’ll definitely notice it — when something goes wrong and you miss an urgent appointment letter or bill and then you can’t get hold of anyone to try and find out what’s happening, then you’ll definitely notice it.