The threatened postal strike.

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Having been self-employed most of my working life I never approved of strikes because I knew the damage it could cause to the business, and having spent ten years as a postman in my latter years, refused to come out on strike for trivial matters, but if the postal workers had a good cause for strike action I DID come out along with them.
This recent threat of action is one occasion where I would have come out on strike as the postmen on the beat have been getting exploited more and more every year by being asked to do twice the work and cover twice the doors in the same time, before this load was placed on them.
The Royal Mail is being run by managers who have no idea how the system works, and have no interest in customer satisfaction, putting profit before everything else.
They have been employed to streamline the business at any cost, and it is their actions that are putting the Royal Mail at risk, not the postal workers on the street who have to face the public and bear the brunt of managerial stupidity.
Government demands, and restrictions, also put a strain on this business, and the public are always kept in the dark about these matters, but if they knew the facts they would get a few eye-openers.
The threat of TNT and other courier services taking over, or stealing business from the Royal Mail has been held over the Royal Mail workers since the monopoly has been taken away from them by the government, but what the public don't realise is that these less efficient companies charge their customers an extortionate amount to deliver their letters and parcels, and end up sending them through the Royal Mail, making a killing at the expense of the Royal Mail.
Its only the high priced items that are specifically paid for to be delivered first class that are delivered by other couriers, the other second class items are dumped on the Royal Mail who, thanks to government rules have to deliver them at a lower rate, opening the door for the private couriers to abuse the system and their customers by pretending to deliver them by their own delivery men, while making a hefty profit.

The second delivery by the Royal Mail is being phased out, and delivery postmen only starting work,at a time when they used to have their first deliveries finished meaning businesses are not getting their mail until about dinner time unless they take the option of going to collect it at the nearest office.
Most businesses need their mail first thing, but if they have to go and collect it does that not demean the whole postal system, as they are not delivering the items that were paid to be delivered to the door, not the nearest sorting office.
Cutting the hours of the postman when new housing schemes are sprouting up all the time is stupid, and instead of trying to cut staff and turn the full time workers into part time as the management are trying to do is another hair brained scheme thought up by folk at the top who have come from other business sources and know nothing of the way Royal Mail should be run.
Until something is done about them, there will always be unrest within the postal services, and if the government want this efficient service to remain, it's the idiots at the top who need to be looked at first, then the policies of government,who by giving the Royal Mail more freedom to compete would solve most of the problems occurring now, and avoid strikes in the future.

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