The Royal Mail last night issued a fresh warning of heavy job losses amongst its 200,000 staff after its parent company Consignia crashed to a £281million loss for the first half of the year. Neville Bain the Chairman of Consignia said that the escalating losses underlined the urgency of achieving the £1.2billion cost savings announced this summer.
Read MoreUNION LEADERS yesterday threatened to call the first strike across the UK’s entire state-owned postal and parcel delivery service for more than 20 years. The controversial threat comes after Consignia, the renamed Post Office group, threatened to close Parcelforce.
About 160,000 workers at the group are expected to be balloted after Consignia told union leaders that the loss-making parcel delivery service will close unless workers agree to become self-employed.
PARCELFORCE, the loss-making arm of Consignia, the postal group, is to try to make a quarter of its drivers self-employed in an effort to cut costs and boost productivity.
Under the scheme, which has the reluctant backing of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), drivers will be offered the option of giving up permanent employment and an average salary of Pounds 15,500, for a new contract based on the number of parcels they deliver.
Drivers will be asked for an initial Pounds 1,000 down payment to cover the lease of a delivery uniform and Parcelforce van.
The division wants to put the first of about 1,500 “owner-drivers” on the road by Christmas.
Did you know that if a delivery fails because nobody is in, they could end up paying for the inconvenience of picking it up at the Post Office?
Consignia has introduced a 50p charge to people picking up failed deliveries from their local Post Office. However, one customer ordered some books, and got a postcard from Parcelforce, saying it had been unable to deliver them. It couldn’t guarantee redelivery when he’d be in, and he couldn’t get them sent to his work because it was in a different postal area. The collection point was miles away.
He gratefully seized on the remaining option – picking his books up from a nearby Post Office. When he turned up, he had to pay a 50p “handling charge”.
Consignia’s Caroline Pearson says: “It’s a new service which costs us money to provide, so as a business we have to charge.”
Read MoreA report prepared on behalf of Postcomm (by Arthur Andersen) in connection with the draft licence for Consignia. Advice from independent consultants on which products might be included within, or exclued from the scope of initial price control.
Read More
Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.
