Motorists, Equity & Unity Party
Opinion Column Archives
32. The Postal Strike - October 2007
The UK has had, until now, the best postal service in the World. In the UK we have the anomaly of the shareholders (the UK government) preventing the managers from increasing their postal charges in order to reduce the losses, or even make a small profit !
Any other business, for example a postal service competitor would be obliged to increase costs in line with the cost of fuel, wages, business rates etc.... It would appear that the government are deliberately forcing the Royal Mail into a situation where they are obliged to continue making losses on a daily basis in order to change working practices. A change in working practices inevitably means the downgrading of the service that this country has enjoyed for many years.
Surely, in a business environment the Royal Mail managers must be allowed to increase their charges in line with costs and allow the market to decide the acceptable price for mail delivery. It should be remembered that the cost of sending letters to John O' Groats is exactly the same as a letter sent to an address in the same town. The cost (comparitively higher for local) balances out for the entire country which is surely the more reasonable way to charge, rather than by mileage which would introduce untold complications.
If we are to retain our Royal Mail as it has always been, the best in the world, then the government must allow management to decide postal costs and let the market decide what is reasonable and what is not ! Hands off our mail service. The present losses are not acceptable and no business can be expected to operate under such conditions.
Any other business, for example a postal service competitor would be obliged to increase costs in line with the cost of fuel, wages, business rates etc.... It would appear that the government are deliberately forcing the Royal Mail into a situation where they are obliged to continue making losses on a daily basis in order to change working practices. A change in working practices inevitably means the downgrading of the service that this country has enjoyed for many years.
Surely, in a business environment the Royal Mail managers must be allowed to increase their charges in line with costs and allow the market to decide the acceptable price for mail delivery. It should be remembered that the cost of sending letters to John O' Groats is exactly the same as a letter sent to an address in the same town. The cost (comparitively higher for local) balances out for the entire country which is surely the more reasonable way to charge, rather than by mileage which would introduce untold complications.
If we are to retain our Royal Mail as it has always been, the best in the world, then the government must allow management to decide postal costs and let the market decide what is reasonable and what is not ! Hands off our mail service. The present losses are not acceptable and no business can be expected to operate under such conditions.
Copyright © 2010 - Motorists, Equity & Unity Party
All rights reserved.
