Royal Mail has really only got itself to blame
The shambles of the Post Office/ Royal Mail/Consignia is self- inflicted. Management wailing about the regulator (the clearest indication that Corbett and Co are doing a good job) and private operators ‘cherry picking’ bulk mail is the last desperate excuse of a management that has failed to pay any attention to one of its biggest and wealthiest customers – the direct mail industry.
It has milked us for so long, that now it finds itself being forced to do what it should have done five years ago – behave like a media owner.
You may recall that some time ago this was in fact the plan. Royal Mail wanted to be a media owner. Top management spent some time talking to various people in the business (including yours truly), and asked the interesting question, how does a media owner behave?
We spoke about moving away from rate cards and selling distress /off peak deliveries at lower rates. We spoke about unhooking from the public tariff. We spoke about volume discounts, way beyond Mailsort. We spoke about down-stream entry so bulk mail was sent to central points, saving everyone a fortune. We spoke about non-time-sensitive delivery so post offices could deliver at leisure, within reason, if the price was lower. We pointed out that postage makes up 50/60 per cent of the cost of a mailing, often more, and that if this was slashed, the subsequent dramatic rise in volume would more than pay for the discounts.
Agency folk will appreciate that we also talked about agency recognition, earning poor overworked agencies an extra meagre crust. Do deals, be flexible, let agencies do your work, look as though you really want the business.
The net result? Nothing. Apart from the usual TMIs and pre-sort discounts, there were no deals, no negotiation and no flexibility. Take it or leave it.
Little surprise then that leaving it – with plenty of other media options around – has become an attractive proposition. Perhaps Allan Leighton, on his one day a week, could teach them a little about customer-facing marketing.
John Watson is one of the founders of WWAV Rapp Collins. He is currently on gardening leave.
