Never knowlingly under-managed

I read a piece in the media recently about companies like John Lewis, co-operatives which give their staff a stake in the company, keeping salaries realistic while still motivating hard work, good customer service and sales. Their profits are rising. Royal Mail staff will get free shares in an effort to gain their buy-in and engagement, as part of the organisation’s privatisation process.

When I go into John Lewis, I certainly get a feeling their staff are proactive in selling while caring about giving a first class service and offering top notch, quality products. Can the same be said for Royal Mail, albeit prior to the share pay-out?

Every year, the postage increase gets worse and worse, so much so that this year’s hike and associated parcel size fiasco can only be classed as someone’s idea of a joke ... on the British public. It begs the question: how can they beat that next year?!

Have we got a better mail delivery system as a result of increased postage? Do we get deliveries first thing in the morning like we used to? Do we get a second delivery mid-morning? Of course not. We’re lucky if we see mail by lunchtime, and in some cases by suppertime. The Edwardians probably had a better service than we do. Yes I know there was far less post but in bygone days, they could post something in the morning and it’d be with the recipient by the afternoon. New technology should mean things improve.

Being British, do we complain? Again no, for fear they’ll take umbrage, go out on strike, picket our picket fences and stop deliveries altogether.

At this point, I should say that in the main, postmen and women are absolutely delightful and at least I get my post mid-morning. It’s not their fault that Elf & Safety and the unions won’t let them carry anything heavier than a bunch of A4 envelopes or a lightweight parcel or two, and advise them to keep away from a ‘Beware of the Dog’ sign in case there really is a monster pooch ready to take a bite out of them – quite sensible, really, and it’s to protect them. When the postman can’t get something through my letterbox or I’m out, I have to drive miles to the nearest delivery office, and there’s no Elf & Safety concern over whether I put my back out to carry it.

And don’t get me started on their offer to deliver packages to neighbours. You can’t specify who, just anyone else in the road who’s in. The last time this happened, they left a parcel with someone I’d never met, in a property I didn’t know, about a quarter of a mile away.

Increased costs should mean increased service. Maybe the bosses at John Lewis should take a turn as operational leaders for Royal Mail. Now that would be first class!

(Originally published in The Argus on 27.9.13)