Royal Mail Misery Due to Start Once Again!

Sep 23, 2007

For anyone thats missed it, the Royal Mail are going on strike again during October, dates listed so far are 5th, 8th and then a series of rolling strikes from the 15th October onwards.

After it causing such misery and problems for my business I have had enough with their dire service and the fact that they think it's perfectly ok to destroy as many small businesses as possible just as we go into the Christmas shopping season.

I have moved what business I currently can away from them to SecureDX, which so far has been excellent, it's a £3.50 flat rate fee for up to 1kg on a next day delivery service within the UK, using secure, tamper proof envelopes, which I just drop into the nearest DX collection point (for me both are solicitors offices) they can also arrange collections if you have a lot of daily post to go out. As I send a fair chunk of items by special delivery anyway this works out cheaper, it has meant that I've had to increase the postage price previously offered on small value orders, but hopefully that won't make much difference.

If anyone wants to make the move then now would be a good time, before the strike hits. Web address is www.thedx.co.uk. Or contact ukbf member Steve - username ssb101 and get him to get you set up!

Now if I can just find a means to deal with my overseas & Irish orders & heavier orders then I'll be totally sorted

SillyJokes · Sep 23, 2007

Boho, when I saw this news I cried. October is the busiest time of year for us as a party store, (think Halloween) these strikes will virtually destroy our business this year and we will be left with £10,000s of stock which was ordered months ago and can't be shifted till next year.

The worst part is that customers just don't understand at all. The public are very badly informed regarding what is happending during these strikes.

We shift thousands of parcels during October so I suspect your DX solution would not be suitable for us. I'm thinking everything must go by courier but in order to make this less of a financial disaster we may have to impose a minimum order.

Markb · Sep 23, 2007

Disrupted services due to strike - how will we tell the difference?

swsw · Sep 23, 2007

They'll shoot themselves in the foot, just like last time (many years ago).

A company I was working with had to start delivery their own mail internally on trucks, found out it actually worked pretty well, and never went back to Royal Mail since they saved 1000's every week.

I never understand strikes. Nobodies a slave in this country, if you don't think you're getting a good deal, go find a better one.

Vote with your feet, not the ballot box.

Steve

ssb101 · Sep 23, 2007

Thanks Lucia, I'm glad we're giving you a good service.

If anyone else needs help during the forthcoming disruption then contact me at:

[email protected]

boho said:
For anyone thats missed it, the Royal Mail are going on strike again during October, dates listed so far are 5th, 8th and then a series of rolling strikes from the 15th October onwards.

After it causing such misery and problems for my business I have had enough with their dire service and the fact that they think it's perfectly ok to destroy as many small businesses as possible just as we go into the Christmas shopping season.

I have moved what business I currently can away from them to SecureDX, which so far has been excellent, it's a £3.50 flat rate fee for up to 1kg on a next day delivery service within the UK, using secure, tamper proof envelopes, which I just drop into the nearest DX collection point (for me both are solicitors offices) they can also arrange collections if you have a lot of daily post to go out. As I send a fair chunk of items by special delivery anyway this works out cheaper, it has meant that I've had to increase the postage price previously offered on small value orders, but hopefully that won't make much difference.

If anyone wants to make the move then now would be a good time, before the strike hits. Web address is www.thedx.co.uk. Or contact ukbf member Steve - username ssb101 and get him to get you set up!

Now if I can just find a means to deal with my overseas & Irish orders & heavier orders then I'll be totally sorted

Sep 23, 2007

Silly Jokes, I was thinking of you when I posted it, as I know like me you suffered last time, and you're right customers don't understand at all. If it's feasible for you to go the dx route (I would guess perhaps a largish chunk of your stuff would weigh under 1kg?) then definitely do it, with your kinds of volumes then I'm sure Steve would be able to pull the rabbit out of the hat and get it all picked up for you daily

.

The only reason I can't go that route is that I never know how many items I'll have to go out on anyone day, because of the made-to-order side of things there is a delay between order and despatch, and so for now I couldn't guarantee a consistent daily need for collections, it doesn't sound like you'd have that problem though.

Royal Mail are a nightmare! I cannot see how they can justify their actions and I don't think anyone will sympathise with their workers for causing such misery to the small businesses they will affect and do harm to right before Christmas, and even worse still for those that have Halloween to consider.

Sep 23, 2007

swsw the last strike wasn't years ago, it was a couple of months ago, and it caused chaos to people like Silly Jokes and myself, and did a lot of destruction to my business as it was right in the middle of peak wedding season and it meant customers were worried that items wouldn't arrive in time for their big day and a lot went elsewhere on the high street instead, also meant trying to deal with lots of frustrated customers when goods didn't arrive or were very late. With this repeat decision to allow random strikes, in different locations on different days there is not even any way of being able to predict and give a more reliable guestimate of when things might arrive.

Royal Mail should have the word Royal stripped from them...they are barely mail, let alone anything regal, the only royal they are is a right royal pain in the @rse!

ken_uk · Sep 23, 2007

The way Royal Mail has been going, I would not be suprised if the people in charge of its future had shares in rival companies!

They are out for money, at the expense of a service, more people are looking elsewhere for alternatives. This will probably mean they lose money, and have to push up prices, or introduce more stupidness, such as their recent 'does it fit through a certain size slot' sillyness, causing more people to move away to rivals, further pushing the downward spiral towards self-destruction.

When will firms learn, its not always a good move to squeeze every last ounce out of customers? To much greed kills in the long term.

Out of interest do DX delivery packages up to 2 kilo's if so whats the rate?

Sep 23, 2007

Lol, I think if I worked for Royal Mail I would have shares in the rivals! Their union has a lot to answer for, talking to post office staff most don't even seem to have a desire to go out on strike or any real support of the situation at all.

Unfortunately the maximum weight for securedx is 1kg. I think there would be a massive increase in business if they were able to open it up to packages up to a couple of kg though.

Cornish Steve · Sep 23, 2007

SillyJokes said:
Boho, when I saw this news I cried. October is the busiest time of year for us as a party store, (think Halloween) these strikes will virtually destroy our business this year and we will be left with £10,000s of stock which was ordered months ago and can't be shifted till next year.

The worst part is that customers just don't understand at all. The public are very badly informed regarding what is happending during these strikes.

While you work on an alternative shipping solution, have you thought about suing the Post Office for the extra shipping costs? Make it a very visible lawsuit, contacting various papers to explain how you're doing this to help your customers to receive their Christmas packages on time - despite the despicable behaviour of union scrooges. You might win some public support, but mostly it would be a unique way of informing your customers of the real situation - so they'll still turn to you in the future. Maybe one of the legal eagles at these forums would help you free of charge; just think of all the free publicity they'd get.

lajlaj · Sep 23, 2007

I am so hacked off about the new strikes as well. I have just contacted Steve by email to see if they can deliver to consumer.

The last strike was during out busy summer season on the kids ID stuff and so many people missed having the wristbands delivered on time for their holidays and us having to refund, it was beyond a joke.

I've just invested thousands of pounds into a new website and new stock/lines in time for Christmas and if the strikes continue then we are going to hit a real brick wall in terms of cash flow.

We have a fantastic post lady and one of my ex-employees now works for the sorting office and believe me I understand their woe's. But do they understand or give a hoot about mine?

OhSoCherished · Sep 23, 2007

Oh Boy!!!
Last time the strikes were a complete nightmare for us. We use Royal Mail for all our despatches and it caused all sorts of problems. We've been constantly looking for an alternative so was interested to read about SecureDX. Unfortunately some of our heavier items fall past the 1kg , we really wanted 1 solution rather than use a few companies for different weight packages so it probably wouldn't work for us.

When strikes are happening we put a banner up in our checkout section stating there are postal strikes and orders will be slightly delayed so please bare this in mind...not sure why we bother, customers tend not to read this and still blame us!

We got told off last week for leaving a package on a ladies door step and it got rained on, she told me I shouldn't be letting the postman do that!!!
I don't think she understood that we don't run Royal Mail

Games4Business · Sep 23, 2007

Unfortunately, not everyone uses services like The DX. Its fine for us to send out using services like this, but we're still left with inbound post, talking of which we had a letter that couldn't be folded or pushed through the letterbox of our office, so they left it outside and it was confidential information which the sender did not post recorded, silly mistake on their behalf, but not very secure on Royal Mails behalf, especially when they did try and push it through the letterbox, it got stuck so they ripped it out leaving the envelop opened at the top. Couldn't be bothered to complain, wouldn't do much good, but luckily someone was in the office to make sure it didnt go missing.

ssb101 · Sep 24, 2007

Hi,

Whilst SecureDX is upto 1kg and you may have items which go over this limit, if a large proportion fit this profile, I'm sure it will give you enough volume which can be used for the service. Even if it's not a total solution, any solution during October is positive.

SillyJokes said:
Boho, when I saw this news I cried. October is the busiest time of year for us as a party store, (think Halloween) these strikes will virtually destroy our business this year and we will be left with £10,000s of stock which was ordered months ago and can't be shifted till next year.

The worst part is that customers just don't understand at all. The public are very badly informed regarding what is happending during these strikes.

We shift thousands of parcels during October so I suspect your DX solution would not be suitable for us. I'm thinking everything must go by courier but in order to make this less of a financial disaster we may have to impose a minimum order.

Sep 24, 2007

RM Statement

The 5th and 8th strikes are actually 48-hours long, meaning the whole service will be in turmoil for the whole of that week.

estwig · Sep 24, 2007

Comspec said:
RM Statement

The 5th and 8th strikes are actually 48-hours long, meaning the whole service will be in turmoil for the whole of that week.

The useless buch of t**ers the 5th is a Friday and the 8th a Monday, they are looking for a long weekend off!!!!

These people are useless, lazy scum who lurk at the bottom of the lowest depths of a very small, very dirty pond!!!

Games4Business · Sep 24, 2007

They must be gnomes with fishing rods

estwig said:
The useless buch of t**ers the 5th is a Friday and the 8th a Monday, they are looking for a long weekend off!!!!

These people are useless, lazy scum who lurk at the bottom of the lowest depths of a very small, very dirty pond!!!

Sep 24, 2007

I am still p*ssed off about last time.

I never late file anything ever.

But this year I sent out a set of accounts to co house for one of my companies, a few days before the mail action: and 3-4 weeks before they were due - didnt arrive till the day after due day: where the hell they had been in between who knows!!!

Automatic fine £100...I think that is appalling. Most first time offenders for every offence get let off: like the kids who vandalsied one of my businesses. But me? no chance. - according to companies house, I had the choice to hand deliver them, or send them by courier. My answer was unprintable.

warnie · Sep 24, 2007

I must admit i don't know the ins and outs of the strike, but what i can say is one of my close friends works for the royal mail as a postman, as does his wife. Now i know for a fact they both earned £18k plus last year, leaving the house at 4.30am and getting back before 11am most days. For a job that requires you to post letters through a door and nothing else, i think its dam well paid!!

Theres people working on the front line in banks that struggle to gross 12-13k a month

.Spiralling. · Sep 24, 2007

warnie said:
Theres people working on the front line in banks that struggle to gross 12-13k a month

you mean a year surely?

warnie · Sep 24, 2007

.Spiralling. said:
you mean a year surely?

no a month!

.Spiralling. · Sep 24, 2007

warnie said:
no a month!

lol

on a more serious note, I'd be interested in finding out more about SecureDX, although I don't send out high volumes of nail (yet)

coultog · Sep 24, 2007

There is some irony... RM workers want to get paid more, RM's customers get sick of hit and miss services, so opt for a company like thedx...

RM lose more and more money and there's even less cash to pay their workforce...

I wonder if these people realise all they're doing is speeding up their own demise...

Cornish Steve · Sep 24, 2007

warnie said:
I must admit i don't know the ins and outs of the strike, but what i can say is one of my close friends works for the royal mail as a postman, as does his wife. Now i know for a fact they both earned £18k plus last year, leaving the house at 4.30am and getting back before 11am most days. For a job that requires you to post letters through a door and nothing else, i think its dam well paid!!

Theres people working on the front line in banks that struggle to gross 12-13k a month

Supply and demand. There are plenty of other jobs out there. If enough postal workers leave the profession, the service would have no option but to raise salaries. And this is part of the problem. Because the service is not a wholly private company, they don't work on the principle of supply and demand. The sooner we remove the government and its regulations from the picture the better.

The main reason usually heard for not doing this is the impact of higher prices on those living in rural areas. That's not a problem. The government could subsidise just those rates, just like some rail lines and some airports are subsidised. Plus, it's a lot better than facing the impact of these strikes.

Sep 24, 2007

goldctrsteve said:
Supply and demand. There are plenty of other jobs out there. If enough postal workers leave the profession, the service would have no option but to raise salaries. And this is part of the problem. Because the service is not a wholly private company, they don't work on the principle of supply and demand. The sooner we remove the government and its regulations from the picture the better.

The main reason usually heard for not doing this is the impact of higher prices on those living in rural areas. That's not a problem. The government could subsidise just those rates, just like some rail lines and some airports are subsidised. Plus, it's a lot better than facing the impact of these strikes.

In defence of the royal mail not the staff action.

I think that the fact that the market was put open to competition IS the problem, and this idea of privatisation done this way is crap.

Only royal mail MUST deliver ANYTHING to ANYWHERE at a regulated price. ALl of the competitors can cherry pick and choose and have taken away the lucrative business, leaving RM with the low price problem.

Either Royal Mail should be allowed to compete by charging whatever it likes to whoever it likes in a true free market situation and discard the services it does not like, or any competitor should be forced to play by the same rules it does.

But then when parts of the population are told it is either £10 a letter, or we wont shift it, there would be an outcry of course. The government have always pussy footed on this . They want both worlds, and they cant have it.

GiftGirl · Sep 24, 2007

This really worries me because I'm on the verge of launching my online shop. As a start up I won't have the volume to negotiate with courier companies, and will have to rely on Royal Mail in the beginning. If I can't get customers' orders to them on time I will be in real trouble before I've even had a chance to establish myself.

Does anyone know of a way around this? Are there couriers who don't require a minimum volume, or who would deal with a start up?

Furthermore, because I'm working from home I'm planning to take orders to the post office myself, in order not to disturb my neighbours with comings and goings of couriers. I don't want to be in a position where they are not happy with what I'm doing, as at the moment I can't afford premises!

What to do?!?! Any advice, I'm listening! Thank you!

Chris H · Sep 24, 2007

Seems that 12,000 Royal Mail managers are starting to get the hump over the proposed pension changes. Could be a strike ballot in the offing for them.

Looking at the level of vitriol towards the CWU union and employees at the Royal Mail I do wonder how many people have bothered to check the reasons behind this unrest. Maybe some of the knee-jerk reactions would be better directed towards the current RM management?

Cornish Steve · Sep 24, 2007

kimmrunner said:
Only royal mail MUST deliver ANYTHING to ANYWHERE at a regulated price. ALl of the competitors can cherry pick and choose and have taken away the lucrative business, leaving RM with the low price problem.

The answer is make all routes lucrative!

Let's draw the comparison with cellphone coverage. In the US, and I'm sure it's the same in the UK, everyone pays a monthly tax of about $2. It's called the Universal Service Fee and it's used to subsidise service in rural areas. Every cellphone user must pay this monthly fee, and it appears on every bill. If a wireless company serves a remote area, investing in cellphone towers, for example, despite the low population density, the government subsidises them at a rate that can approach $30/user/month. The money, of course, comes from that Service Fee that city users pay. This changes the economics completely, and all of a sudden there's a lucrative opportunity in the rural areas.

Why can't we do this for the postal service? While I hate taxes of any type, allow the government to charge a fee of 10p on all letters and packages shipped by any company. Use the income generated by this surcharge to keep delivery prices down in the rural areas by instituting a subsidy scheme.

None of this, of course, helps the forum members who are affected severely by the selfish actions of today's postal workers. Again, I'd recommend that someone file a very public lawsuit to bring attention to the impact of the strike on small business.

ssb101 · Sep 26, 2007

Hi,

As the disruption gets closer, I know many forum members are considering the alternatives to the Royal Mail.
For those who would like more information or have questions on SecureDX, or would like to use our service, please contact me directly at:

[email protected] 0r 07771674031.

I know our call centre has been swamped with enquires and applications and perhaps I'm better placed to deal with you enquires better and quicker.

Good Luck

Steve

boho said:
For anyone thats missed it, the Royal Mail are going on strike again during October, dates listed so far are 5th, 8th and then a series of rolling strikes from the 15th October onwards.

After it causing such misery and problems for my business I have had enough with their dire service and the fact that they think it's perfectly ok to destroy as many small businesses as possible just as we go into the Christmas shopping season.

I have moved what business I currently can away from them to SecureDX, which so far has been excellent, it's a £3.50 flat rate fee for up to 1kg on a next day delivery service within the UK, using secure, tamper proof envelopes, which I just drop into the nearest DX collection point (for me both are solicitors offices) they can also arrange collections if you have a lot of daily post to go out. As I send a fair chunk of items by special delivery anyway this works out cheaper, it has meant that I've had to increase the postage price previously offered on small value orders, but hopefully that won't make much difference.

If anyone wants to make the move then now would be a good time, before the strike hits. Web address is www.thedx.co.uk. Or contact ukbf member Steve - username ssb101 and get him to get you set up!

Now if I can just find a means to deal with my overseas & Irish orders & heavier orders then I'll be totally sorted

toystoyou · Sep 26, 2007

Hi
I am absolutely dreading the strike and the most likely future strikes which will affect me at my busiest time - Christmas!
I have in the past used a company called Bananadoo (used to be Consolidated Postage) to send larger packages (more than 1kg) and packages that need to go abroad.
The company is run by BritSuperstore who, because they send out such volumes of packages worldwide, have managed to negotiate lower courier shipping rates which smaller businesses can take advantage of.
I've had no problems with them and it's pretty easy to send packages with them. They do both UK and worldwide shipping and they can even do pallet shipping. And you just get one invoice per month which you pay to them.
Perhaps they might be able to help out some of us affected by the Postal Strike or those who're just starting out and would like to find an affordable way to use a courier.
Anybody interested in finding out more about about them their website is www.bananadoo.com.
Julie

Sep 26, 2007

This really worries me because I'm on the verge of launching my online shop. As a start up I won't have the volume to negotiate with courier companies, and will have to rely on Royal Mail in the beginning. If I can't get customers' orders to them on time I will be in real trouble before I've even had a chance to establish myself.

Does anyone know of a way around this? Are there couriers who don't require a minimum volume, or who would deal with a start up?

GiftGirl speak to Steve at DX, just because your volumes may be small doesn't exclude you, you just need to hand deliver your packages to somewhere with a DX point so that they can be collected (quite a number of solicitors offices have DX points and Steve would be able to tell you the closest location to you). I think if you are able to keep your business as far away from Royal Mail in the first place when you start up then it will definitely help.

I am getting great feedback from customers about their deliveries, it was one of the things I worried about making the change, also upping the postage costs for smaller orders that had previously gone by Recorded Delivery, but so far so good, it's not deterring customers and the feedback has been good.

Julie thanks for that link to Banadoo, I'm just looking at that now to see if that will solve my +1kg and overseas issues

DanMartin · Oct 2, 2007

More bad news from the Post Office: Branches named in Post Office cull

Cornish Steve · Oct 2, 2007

These actions are long overdue and just reflect the times. With online alternatives available for many services, the PO can't justify all the offices they have. Probably what will happen is that companies will sprout up that offer regular postal service, DHL, FedEx, and other delivery options - and sell PO boxes and stationery and packaging and cards and so on. This is change, and change is inevitable. And it's probably a good opportunity for entrepreneurs to open up in business.

Denise · Oct 2, 2007

Trying to put a claim in for late and lost or late parcels, is an absolute nightmare too, as a retailer you have produce copies of all the original invoices of the goods, that were lost. Its such a strain, just to put a claim in to recover some money for the losses, in the end, I gave up...

Oct 2, 2007

Just been advised that Birmingham Central have no deliveries or collections on the 4, 5, 8 & 9th..the chaos starts!

I think Royal Mails policy of only refunding the original cost of the item to the retailer is an absolute disgrace, we have to refund the customer in full and they should cover and insure the post for that amount, why should businesses have to suffer a loss for their inadequate service.

They claim it's in their terms and conditions, but also conveniently do not display this on the terms and conditions on the back or their Recorded Delivery or Special Delivery slips either.

SillyJokes · Oct 2, 2007

AND did you know that they have applied to not have to pay compensation to businesses due to poor service?

Previously they made a pay out for below par service an we did receive a check from them last year, but they are ducking it this time because of the strikes.

Again, I can't state it enough how damaging to distance selling businesses this is. Many of are small concerns struggling to get going, it just isn't fair on us all.

Ozzy · Oct 2, 2007

The Royal Mail strikes really did screw us before as, like SillyJokes, we send out loads of post every day.
We use Royal Mail collection from our office every day and we also have an account with DX for some of our post, but because my landlord would not allow us to give DX access to our office we were not allowed to have our office as a collection point

.

I wasn't aware though that we could use DX to deliver to non-DX addresses? Is this true because if so I suspect our DX useage will increase significantly!

Oct 2, 2007

Yes you can use Secure DX to send anywhere in the UK, only limitation is weight (no more than 1kg) and a couple of random postcode areas in deepest darkest Scotland. I use it for all UK post to my customers now and have had no problems so far. Just pm Steve and find out where your nearest DX drop off point is.

Ozzy · Oct 2, 2007

We already use DX and pay a flat fee per year for up to X amount of packages per year, I just didn't realise we could send to standard UK addresses through them.
I must admit that is a huge relief for me with the postal strikes coming up.

I have emailed Steve about collections and for more info, if we can sort that then I may consider dropping Royal Mail altogether. We already use DHL for overseas because RM were too unreliable!

lajlaj · Oct 2, 2007

Boho, I wanted to thank you for recommending Steve and SecureDX. We had a real problem before because like you with your jewellery our parcels are very small (A4 padded envelope size at the biggest, usually A5 envelope size) and so sending via courier just wasn't cost effective at all.

Steve came round to see me last week, and yesterday I received our first lot of labels and envelopes and we have sent out quite a few already and that is before the strikes kick in!

So thank you for this invaluable piece of information, it will help us greatly!

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