The Royal Mail must have a death wish

Has Royal Mail got some kind of death wish? Has its reputation not been trashed enough? Does it want, perhaps, to end all deliveries entirely and finally succumb to a wriggling, complaining last breath after decades of deterioration? 

We now learn that it is going to charge businesses a special premium of 5p or 10p for deliveries over the Christmas season. And on top of that, it is going to charge a “green surcharge” to help pay for its decarbonisation efforts. Oh, in case you hadn’t noticed an earlier story, it is considering giving up letter deliveries on Saturdays. 

It is a marvel to recall that, as a schoolboy boarder in Bristol in the 1960s, I used to write a letter to my parents every Sunday afternoon and it would arrive at my parents’ home in London in the first post at about 8am on Monday morning. Younger readers might wonder at the antique phrase “first post”. The explanation is that there used to be at least two postal deliveries a day in those happy times. 

But my experience is as nothing compared to the Tesla-speed of the post in the 1930s. My father, when courting my mother, took her out for a decorous evening, returned her to her parents’ home and then wrote her a letter of love. He posted it before midnight. It was collected and delivered in time for her breakfast. 

And now? The Royal Mail charges increasing amounts for declining services. One wonders whether some secret agent of Fedex has been planted into the company to hurry it on its way to the graveyard. But there’s no need. The trades unions are doing the job splendidly and have been doing so for years. They are attempting to do to Royal Mail what the unions did to the British-owned motorcycle and car manufacturing industries. 

The Royal Mail has the same problem as other legacy businesses, especially ones which were previously government monopolies. It has ingrained attitudes of pass-the-buck, inaction and “this is the way it has always been done”. Ever since it was privatised in 2013, it has been trying to modernise and automate its processes. But every time the union has wanted its pound of flesh: more money or job guarantees for being kind enough to allow changes that might just enable the company to survive. 

There were strikes in 2022-23 which bled the parent company, International Distribution Services, of £748 million in operating losses. And as if the strikes were not bad enough, the company’s chairman explains some of the bad service by saying there were “high levels of absence”. What? Really? Were the postmen taking lessons from civil servants and working from home? 

The management is not exactly helping. Its “green surcharge” is doubtless in aid of its boast that Royal Mail would be “the greenest carrier in the market”. But nobody actually asked it to be the “greenest carrier in the market”. The management just took upon itself to do some virtue-signalling at the expense of its customers and shareholders. The business can’t afford it and most of the customers just want a cheaper post.

It’s true that the winds of fortune have blown hard against the Royal Mail. The number of letters delivered has fallen dramatically over the past decade, smashed by the arrival of emails and WhatsApp. The young and callow now think it is acceptable to send “virtual” birthday or Christmas cards. Even some older folk are reluctantly giving way to this little crushing of civilised behaviour because of the extraordinary price of stamps these days. 

One cannot help but be struck by the contrast. While the Royal Mail wants to charge outrageously for the collection and delivery of letters and apparently give up working at weekends altogether, Amazon will take an order on a Sunday and, if you are a Prime customer, might deliver it the next day or even the same day. 

Which of these businesses do you think is most likely to survive the next 10 years?