Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > alt.comp.os.windows-10 > #181177

Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal

Show all headers | View raw

On Tue, 1/7/2025 1:09 PM, Graham J wrote:
> Paul wrote:
> 
> [snip]
> 
>> The reason Post Offices must "stay the course", is they need income, badly.
>> You can't chuck away anything that makes money. You could for
>> example, have a lemonade stand at the PO, just so they can make
>> a bit of cash on the side.
> 
> In the UK the reality is that small POs exist within shops, the idea being that on their own they would never have been viable, but POs were expected to bring in enough extra custom to make the small shop a sensible proposition.  The financial side is quite separate, the only place that money changes hands is for possible rental income arising from the part of the shop used as the PO and the income paid to the sub post-master for the work involved in running the PO.
> 
>> If they stop doing things, just handling letter mail is never going to
>> work. I stand by my contention, that a letter that costs $1 today to
>> mail, is going to cost $40 ten years from now, simply because the PO
>> won't be around to deliver it. It will fail, as a business enterprise,
>> and some courier using Uber drivers will deliver your hamburger and
>> that Christmas card.
> 
> In the UK the letter mail is handled completely by Royal Mail Group (RMG) - which is not the same thing as the Post Office.  RMG may lease space from the PO for sorting and delivery purposes - and in the past such space was part of the PO - until the (completely pointless) administrative separation of RMG and the PO in 2012.
> 
> In the UK RMG has the USO (Universal Service Obligation) - unlike any of the competing enterprises - so it will of course be expensive just as you suggest.  If the government wishes to force the USO on RMG in the future I imagine it will have to finance it.  Government may decide that the USO is no longer needed because everything can be done over the internet.
> 
>> Some things in society, are going out of touch. Too expensive.
>> Public transit for one. Letter mail and even parcel mail for another.
>> The parcel mail here, is every bit as expensive as a courier would be,
>> and I just don't like the optics of the trend. It can't get cheaper,
>> and the Post Offices can't open up enough Lemonade Stands to compensate
>> for their operating costs. Perhaps they can offer shoe shines.
>> Or re-sole your shoes for you.
> 
> Amazon requires the parcel delivery facility, and it's evident that they have their own staff and vehicles for this, which can't be efficient. There's no such thng as "signed-for" deliveries and in my experience anything that is not delivered in a reasonable time is simply re-supplied.  So the losses in delivery must be quite significant. Perhaps explains why Amazon is so expensive!
> 

Our Post is modular too, not all the people doing things for
you are unionized postal workers. A fair number of them are
private or franchise. The Post Office here, bought its own
courier firm. It's not clear at which point, the parcels
leave the post office and go to the courier branch.

These are all of the "previous efficiencies" that are
bringing us to the brink of bankruptcy. The Post Office
needs to be 400% more efficient, the available leverage
might manage 10% more efficiency. Even if you fired all
the unionized employees ("union busting"), that's still
not enough to make them cash flow positive.

   Paul

Back to alt.comp.os.windows-10 | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-05 10:41 +0000
  Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> - 2025-01-05 16:49 +0000
    Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-05 21:54 +0000
      Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal wasbit <wasbit@nowhere.com> - 2025-01-06 09:35 +0000
        Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-06 10:55 +0000
          Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-06 10:05 -0500
            Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-06 17:49 +0000
              Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-06 17:32 -0500
                Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Daniel70 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> - 2025-02-16 23:52 +1100
          Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-01-07 00:01 +0000
            Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-07 08:45 +0000
              Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-01-07 13:57 +0000
      Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> - 2025-01-06 15:14 +0000
  Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal "Alan K." <alan@invalid.com> - 2025-01-05 15:42 -0500
    Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-05 21:57 +0000
      Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal "Alan K." <alan@invalid.com> - 2025-01-05 17:22 -0500
      Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Newyana2 <newyana@invalid.nospam> - 2025-02-26 08:42 -0500
        Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-02-26 14:45 +0000
  Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2025-01-05 22:10 +0100
  Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-01-06 01:46 +0200
    Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-05 21:44 -0500
    Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-06 08:28 +0000
      Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2025-01-07 16:09 +0200
  Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-01-06 07:37 +0000
    Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-06 08:33 +0000
      Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-01-06 18:33 +0000
        Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-06 19:06 +0000
          Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-01-07 00:11 +0000
            Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-07 08:55 +0000
              Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-01-07 14:00 +0000
                Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-07 15:16 +0000
                Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-07 11:14 -0500
                Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> - 2025-01-07 18:09 +0000
                Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> - 2025-01-07 15:08 -0500
                Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-01-08 07:45 +0000
                Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> - 2025-01-08 08:25 +0000
                Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Daniel70 <daniel47@eternal-september.org> - 2025-02-26 21:54 +1100
    Re: Very OT: UK Post Office and the Horizon Scandal Mark Lloyd <not.email@all.invalid> - 2025-01-07 16:20 +0000

csiph-web