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‘Modernisation’ at Royal Mail

Royal Mail recently raised the cost of a first-class stamp by a record 5p to 46p (about 90c). The company said its half-year profits had fallen by more than two-thirds and that it had been losing 6.4p for each stamped letter it delivers.

It will be the largest increase since first-class postage began in Britain in1968. The price rises should provide £380m in additional annual revenues. Royal Mail said it needed to make more money to fund its £2bn modernisation programme.

What does Royal Mail mean by ‘modernisation’ ?

Here is one report :

This year, the higher echelons of Royal Mail management have decided to implement some changes. So, for example, they are getting rid of our bikes and we're getting vans instead. To do this, they are restructuring offices, restructuring rounds, reordering the frames, and reassigning roles, offices are being turned upside down and the workforce is demoralised.

The changes are being rolled out in stages. Some parts of the country have already started to implement them, others will have to wait until next year. So if you live in Dundee, or Warwick, Formby or Herne Bay, or in any one of 30 to 40 affected towns around the country, then you will already realise something is afoot. You'll know because your mail will fail to arrive for five days in succession, but will come in one large lump at the end of the week.

Why we are getting rid of the bikes? In 2009 they said it was for efficiency reasons, earlier this year they said it was for safety reasons. But us posties have known all along that it's so we can carry more weight, take out more packets, and do more work in the same number of hours.

The new delivery method is called ‘Park and Loop’.

Two posties go out together in a van. In the back of the van they carry two golf trolleys, maybe 20 full pouches of mail, all the Special Delivery and Recorded Delivery letters, and all the tracked items. They park up and head off in two different directions, dragging their golf trolleys behind them. They deliver all the mail in a big loop, circling back to the van. Then they drive off to another spot and start the process again.

This would be great if it actually worked !

The procedure is overseen by a computer programme called Pegasus Geo-Route. It is the Royal Mail equivalent of Google Earth. Pegasus Geo-Route tells you exactly how much time each of the loops is supposed to take, how long, on average, each postie is supposed to spend at each door, how many packets he is supposed to be carrying, how long it is supposed to take to get from one door to the next, and what speed he is supposed to be walking.

The thing about computer programmes is that they are only as good as the information that is fed into them. And the problem with the information being fed into Pegasus Geo-Route is that it grossly underestimates the time it actually takes to do things. So, for example, for something called an ‘attendance delivery’ – when we have to knock on the door to get a signature, or to hand over a parcel – we are allowed one minute. That's one minute for the person to hear the doorbell, come to the door, sign the chitty and receive the parcel, and for us to note the time, put the chitty away again, go back to the trolley, and start on to the next house. What if it's an old lady who is at the top of the house? What if she's hard of hearing and it takes two knocks? The Royal Mail's own rules say we are supposed to wait for three minutes for the occupant to get to the door. And then, having waited, if the occupant is out, we have to write a ‘Sorry You Were Out Card’ and drop that through the door before we can go on our way. How long does all that take? A lot more than one minute

The amount of traffic passing through the offices has also been spectacularly underestimated. One office I know is supposed to have around 26,000 items passing through it a day, when the real figure is more like 42,000.

What this means is that there is a huge backlog of mail building up in all the offices where the new processes have been introduced. In one there is so much undelivered mail that for two days there wasn't enough room to bring any more mail in.

The post was literally spilling out of the door. They had to ring up the main sorting office to ask them to halt deliveries, and every office in the region had to send one postal worker over to help clear the backlog.

Four Chinese Stamps Sell for $1.4m

A set of four Chinese stamps from the Cultural Revolution era has sold at auction in Hong Kong, to a local buyer, for £708,000.

The set was bought by a collector in Hong Kong. The stamps feature a design called Mao's 1968 Inscription to Japanese Worker Friends.

The stamps were never issued, as the Japanese government objected to its design, fearing a reaction from its own population.

The 600-lot auction, which featured both pre- and post-revolutionary Chinese stamps and issues from Taiwan, raised more than $15 million. The auctioneers describe the level of interest and excitement in stamps from the People's Republic of China as ‘breathtaking’. Many have increased in value by 200% or more in the last two or three years.

Beijing's measures to try and cool the red-hot property market are making it harder for wealthy individuals to buy multiple properties, so Chinese are looking for new ways to invest their money.

Virtual Stamp Collecting Game

Created by Italian software developers, Stamp Art Fever is a simulation game for iPhone and iPod users.

In the game, you play the role of an art-stamp collector continuously searching for new pieces to add to your collection and compete against players of over the world for the most valuable collection. Using ‘virtual currency’ (which is given free at the start of the game and as rewards after completing each level) players try to build their virtual stamp collection by bidding, buying, and trading on line.

The game features a variety of stamp categories including flowers, cities, and animals, all with realistic art design. Fire and theft are virtual hazards that could hinder the collection process and ‘black market buys’ sometimes go sour.

Some reviews quote: “Great app! I don’t even collect stamps and I enjoy this game a lot!” “A Classic – this app brings back the nostalgia of bygone days when I was a stamp collector” “Stamp Art is a really neat app that lets you collect beautifully drawn stamps and share them online with your friends. It’s a fun social game.”

NZ to have new Bank Notes from 2014

Reserve Bank Governor, Alan Bollard, has announced a review of New Zealand's bank notes, and says the faces are likely to stay the same while the overall look is refreshed.

Dr Bollard specifically noted that Queen Elizabeth II would continue to feature on the $20 note, however her portrait may show an older queen.

The bank said the redesign, the first since 1999, was primarily aimed at staying ahead of counterfeiters, although the rate of counterfeiting in New Zealand is 'very low’ by international standards.

The new notes will be introduced progressively from 2014. Head of Currency, Alan Boaden said that New Zealand would probably have a $5 coin ‘eventually'.

Across the Tasman, the Federal Government is considering dumping the five-cent coin. The Royal Australian Mint says “it should be scrapped because it is too expensive to make and a nuisance”. New Zealand withdrew 5c coins five years ago.

News in Brief

 Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, said the Government was concerned about the rising cost of living which was occurring globally, and that issuing Food Stamps was among the options being considered in an effort to reduce its impact. Food Stamps have been used in the US for over 70 years to assist low-income citizens.

 Stanley Gibbons says that the Royal Wedding helped significantly boost sales and turnover in the first half of its financial year – turnover was up 25% on the same period last year.

 Stanley Gibbons is launching a new website especially for trading stamps in China.

 Elections in British Columbia have had to be postponed until August because a labour dispute at Canada Post meant voting papers could not be delivered in time.

 US Post is giving its customers a chance to preview is stamps for Christmas 2011 by posting the images on Facebook. In the meantime, the US postal service is considering the closure of 3000 post offices, having made an $8 billion loss in 2010.