Is this the chance?
The last few weeks have been potentially disastrous for those working in the postal industry in the UK as the Unions and Royal Mail management lay the battle lines for what could be a long and bloody war of words and actions.
This could be a turning point in the history of mail as it brings into focus the value consumers and businesses place on the mail service. The loser in this battle being the consumer of postal services and ultimately the industry itself.
What has been interesting has been the media response to the situation, which for many weeks has been very laid back on uninterested, until last week, when the Union balloted its members for strike action and got an overwhelming, if you believe the union, support for national strike action.
With regional strike action over the last few weeks there has already been problems for mail, but the majority of consumers and businesses, although inconvenient, have managed to make alternative arrangements and switched to alternative suppliers if their business relied on mail as a channel. Although this seems like a good plan, it is flawed in that many of the postal competitors in the UK rely on Royal Mail for delivery in the last mile.
There is also a view that the current problems in the UK mailing industry is encouraging a switch to online for businesses and this is a switch that is hard to recover from, as companies find that conducting business online is easy and cost effective.
As the mailing industry is now in the media and people are actually talking about it this may be an ideal, and maybe the last time to promote this channel.
OK, so the service that people receive over the coming months will be effected but at least it will be on peoples’ minds, and this, I believe, is a great time for Royal Mail and other postal service providers to be garnering the support of the general public and businesses by positively promoting the channel. Most of the comments from Royal Mail at the moment seem to be reactive, defensive and submissive in marketing terms – rather than using the media exposure to promote the great service that it provides to the UK society.
It may be too late for Royal Mail but if handled with sensitivity and stategically it could be the turning point for the company and the industry – as it is portraid today as the end of a once great service, or as a point when the value of the channel was seen and appreciated and there was a reversal in the decline in volumes.
It is time to take action and secure the medium (long) term future of the service for the benefit of society as a whole.
