Tag: Royal Mail

Junk Mail will send council tax bills soaring

Posted by | Oct 30, 2006 | |

Scots householders face huge council tax hikes to pay for extra rubbish collections caused by an explosion in junk mail deliveries.

Royal Mail bosses have agreed a controversial deal to deliver vastly more unsolicited letters, meaning homes face a blitz of unwanted post.

Scots householders face huge council tax hikes to pay for extra rubbish collections caused by an explosion in junk mail deliveries.

Many councils are currently slashing rubbish collections to only once a fortnight in a bid to cut costs.

But with an expected junk mail deluge from the start of next year, there are fears extra collections will have to be arranged with council tax payers left to foot the bill.

Through its ‘door-to-door’ service, the Royal Mail currently delivers about 340 million items of junk mail addressed ‘to the householder’ in Scotland every year.

But this is likely to double from January, when the Royal Mail scraps rules which limit such junk mail deliveries to around three a week for every home.

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UK post offices may go, warn MPs

Posted by | Oct 30, 2006 | |

Britain’s post office network could vanish unless the Government acts to protect it, MPs have warned.

Sub-postmasters feel “betrayed” by the decision to axe the Post Office Card Account, which has threatened their livelihood, according to the Trade and Industry Select Committee.

The committee is chaired by Mid Worcestershire MP Peter Luff (Con) and members include Julie Kirkbride (Con Bromsgrove) and Rob Marris (Lab Wolverhampton South West).

Post Office Card Accounts were introduced when the Government began paying benefits and state pensions directly into customers’ bank accounts.

They are the equivalent of a very basic bank account, designed to ensure people who did not have traditional bank accounts can still receive their money.

However, the card accounts are now set to be axed, hitting the income of many post offices.

The MPs said they were especially concerned about the impact on commercially unvi-able parts of the network and the implications Post Office branch closures would have on their wider communities.

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Employee shares key to modernising Royal Mail

Posted by | Oct 30, 2006 | |

Royal Mail’s Chief Executive Adam Crozier insisted today an employee share scheme involving a 20 per cent stake for postmen and women was the best way to ensure success for the investment package to modernise the company.

Commenting on a report from the Commons Trade and Industry Committee, Mr Crozier said: “Of course the investment plan in the company and an employee share scheme are linked.

“There is no doubt that the Government is generally supportive of employee share schemes and recognises their importance, and they have made this clear on a number of occasions.”

For example Stephen Timms, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Employee shareholders have a direct interest in the performance of their company and a real stake in its success. Research in both the US and the UK shows there is a clear link between employee share ownership and improvements in productivity.”

Mr Crozier said no-one should under-estimate the challenges facing Royal Mail.

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MPs attack plan for Royal Mail share payouts

Posted by | Oct 30, 2006 | |

The government should reject Royal Mail’s proposals to give up to 20% of the company’s shares to employees, an all-party committee of MPs has concluded.
The trade and industry committee said Royal Mail’s arguments about motivating staff “lacked robust evidence and were little better than mere assertions”.

Senior managers at Royal Mail, led by the chairman, Allan Leighton, have insisted the share scheme should be an integral part of its business plan. The group needs to tackle a huge pension fund deficit and invest in automating its letters business, through a combination of government support and higher stamp prices.

In its latest report on Royal Mail, published today, the committee said it was “surprised to hear that the management of Royal Mail has placed conditions on agreeing to the government’s financial package (in the form of a proposed employee share scheme) given that the company is technically insolvent because of its pension liabilities.

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Will there be any post offices left when I get old? – Save our post offices campaign

Posted by | Oct 29, 2006 | |

Britain’s 14,300 post offices are fighting for their very survival. The Government is starving the network of vital funding in a move that could leave it with as few as 4,000 branches in the next decade. But many communities are putting up a fight. Toby Walne visited the Isle of Wight to find how the bestserved region in the country is aiming to keep it that way.

They are a belligerent bunch on the Isle of Wight. Faced with a Government that seems determined to smash Britain’s post office network, the islanders have fought back by issuing a ‘unilateral declaration of independence’, calling for their post offices to be removed from Royal Mail control.

And there is good reason to fight. The island has 52 branches serving 120,000 people, which is one for every 2,308 residents and almost double the national average.

But that does not include the 2.6 million ‘grockles’ tourists – who holiday on the island every year and often use the post office network. Yet the Government is poised to destroy this thriving network, allowing the closure of 35 branches, leaving only 17 post offices by 2010.

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