the competition would step in with their non union/temporary workers.

Nah, the physical part of walking up the street and pushing a letter through the door is the incredibly expensive bit, companies wouldn't touch it with a bargepole. All the competition want is the automated sorting machines that they can change money for, with little manual labour.

for years the royal mail turned a profit … which was spent by govt on other public services. the royal mail also used the profitable services to subsidise the loss making services, e.g. delivering post to out of the way places. since the government has opened up the market to competition, private companies have taken the profitable services and left the royal mail with a growing proportion of the non profitable stuff (which it legally has to provide). So eventually we'll just end up with a royal mail that has to be subsidised from tax revenues, while the private companies cream the profits to pay huge salaries to the directors and a healthy return to shareholders, and the govt has to either cut back on the services that royal mail profits used to be spent on or we pay more taxes to backfill the deficit.

Yes mrmichaelwright – the universal pricing policy means that regular stamped mail doesn't necessarily make a profit. But what's the problem with that ?

It's seen as providing a vital and necessary service, and since the Royal Mail makes plenty of profit in other areas – why should it be a problem ?

Of course it will be a problem when the Royal Mail has been asset stripped of all it's juicy bits ……. expect a worst and more expensive service then. Also expect some people to get very rich.

i'm not sure i made it a problem

I was pointing out to the previous poster who complained about junk mail that the commercial mail was the bit keeping the company in profit!

It doesn't bother me at all, I never even look at junk mail, it all gets recycled and as far as i can tell that's the senders loss, royal mails profit and my indifference!

I was pointing out to the previous poster who complained about junk mail ….

OK fair enough, but you should have slapped on a quote at the top of your post as someone had already posted a non-related comment. That's what I usually do to avoid confusion – as you can see 8)

fair enough. at the end of the day, we can all agree that Postie Rich doesn't deserve to be on strike as he has a beard and drive a girls car

got any spare elastic bands, i've never even seen a red elastic band so am fascinated by the prospect, apparently the rest of the country is knee deep in them

People on this forum don't seem to take the Chinese threat too seriously, obviously they have jobs that can not be out-sourced…….yet
They therefore perhaps have no real understanding of what is really going on.

However, as someone who has been made redundant as direct consequence of the project I should have been working on, you know, earning a living from, now being sent to China.
I am now suffering the pain of unemployment and stand to lose all I have worked for, for lack of a job.
I think that the UK is sleep-walking into an employment catastrophe.

So often on this forum now, I see posts like:

"Oooh, and the end of the world is nigh, because XYZ is now being made in China" followed by: 🙄

Posted by people who seem to exhibit a disregard for the fortunes of others who lose their jobs to Chinese companies exporting products bought by others who worship at the alter of CHEAP IS GOOD.

Well. ever stopped to consider how sh1t that is to read, for someone who has lost their job to China ?.

When you take the p1ss, like something that use to be made here, will now be made in China, resulting in job losses, and all you can do is laugh or post a 🙄

Its not pleasant to read.

Step back for a moment and perhaps take in a larger view of the UK economy.

Today its only postal delivery trolleys. Yesterday it was the DX – Bastid light.

Its going to continue. All those who just brush it off, when China sinks another UK company with a flippant, sarcastic remark "OOOOO, we're all doomed cos it'll be made in China".

Well, what will all those UK workers do ?, do you think its fun to claim JSA ?. Your whole life goes on hold. You can't go on holiday, you can't buy bits for your bike, you can't do anything but breath, when you're unemployed.

The employees of Pashley, for example, what will happen to them ? more to the point, do YOU care…..

Those of you who take the p1ss when someone else complains about the export monster that is China, and don't want to read about it here.

Those of you who remark "so what ?.

Well what about those who are so indebted for their house, their car, their credit cards, that they can only afford to buy Chinese bastid light.

Is that situation correct ?, is that our future ?. Those whos jobs can't be out-sourced to China/India stay in employment, laugh at those who lose their jobs, and pay taxes to support the unemployed.

Just so they can go on buying Cheap Chinese/Indian goods.

Just how cheap is it to buy Chinese ?.

CC.

is that our future

yes

is it correct?

no

should you be taking offence at peoples comments?

no

I'm off to draw some cartoons of mohamed

I've been on strike several times in my working life & each time it's been with good reason.We've always ended going back & what we were striking for has happened anyway,maybe not straight away but most times it's been one of the conditions of the next pay deal……

MMW

Quite silly post.

Someone in China will draw your cartoon, for less than you need to earn.

Just wait until your customers find out.

CC.

good point

i've got friends out there too, they've just opened up facebook again. I'll get on it

where i live at least for parcels the royal mail seem to have given up the non-profitable bit of actually delivering the parcel to the door, instead i just get the red slip delivered to me while i am out (while i am actually in) and i have to go and get it myself from the other side of glasgow.

now i aint blaming the actual posties for this because obviously they are in a system where they are given too much mail to physically deliver or a system where the bosses have said 'it costs too much to run a system where we deliver everything, so you are all just going to leave your parcels and take red slips' but it aint half pissing annoying. i have paid the royal mail to take a parcel from where it was posted to the address on the outside of that parcel, if they only vaguely take it to the same city then they are not really doing their job are they.

Much as I'd mourn another another British company that makes bloody good products being cut off at the knees by its main customer, that article doesn't exactly make a compelling case for keeping bicycles in service, other than them being all traditional and Little England and stuff.

I think the solution is that we should all rush out and buy Guvnors. 🙂

MMW.

You provide the perfect example of the half-wit UK consumer who places the opportunity to make a quick joke as higher priority than behaving like a human being.

Well done.

CC.

to expand a bit CC

my view is that it is not Britain that is walking into this problem, it is the western world. This is not about manufacturing, it's about power and the power is going east, fast. Whilst i'm sorry you have lost your job, your citizenship of this country does not give you the absolute right to be employed, employment is won not gifted. Whilst i understand that you more than likely had no possibility of affecting the decision, you are simply a victim of capitalism, the system by which your employment was provided and by which this country is run. this is by no means a comment about your ability, you are simply part of the catastrophic shift.

the apathy of which you speak results from a similar attitude. People believe they have a right to a job and if they do not then they have the right to be supported by the state. i guess it's a left over from the empire, in most working peoples lifetimes the power of the west has never truly been threatened and no precedent has been set as to how we react when our all powerful nation starts to slide down the ladder.

I have seen a similar thing happen with eastern european workers, when they first started to appear (my experience comes form the hotel trade) they were harder working, more pleasant, cleaner and well just better than the workers they replaced. After a few years what has happened is these workers have become Anglicised in their attitude to work and are no longer distinguishable form the lazy layabouts they replaced, lazy layabouts that felt they could be that way because they live in Britain, they deserve a job, because that's what you do in Britain.

i think we should all just start getting really good at shining Lotus shoes and cooking fast food to cater for the oriental taste.

this is purely my uneducated opinion, i should probably just start reading the Mail or something. Stoner/TJ et al (you know, the forum swats) will no doubt be along soon to prove me wrong.

Reading it back, i'm keen to point out that it is a comment on 'things' and by no means meant to be a personal attack on you.

As a foot note, i've every hope that the consumer will make the difference and turn their back on companies that outsource manufacturing etc, like they did to a certain extent with call centres

So CC, punitive tariffs on Chinese imports, or a re-valuation of the renminbi. Which do you prefer?

MMW.

I believe that you are not making a personal attack. After all, we don't know each other.

No, I do not expect a job cos I was born somewhere. I educated to do my job, at considerable personal expense. Therefore I went out and got my job, and didn't expect one to be awarded to me.

I didn't win my job, I earnt it. At any time I could have been "shown the door" so I had to maintain a level of performance.

I was pointing out in my post that we here are spending too much, borrowing too much, which opens us up to the temptation to buy Cheap Chinese/Indian/wherever goods.

Housing in the UK is silly prices, council tax is stupidly high, ie, the costs of living are what drive a mans wage demand. Our costs for living in the UK are so high now, that we can't work for $2 an hour. But Mr China can.

Our national minimum wage, has become our national maximum wage. Think about it.

If someone is in the situation where they owe so much for their house, car, etc, that they can only afford to shop in the 99p store, or buy the DX bastid light, then something is amiss.

There was a post on here I spotted earlier today, some twit asking "where have all the 100% mortgages gone ?"

WRONG !.

We in the UK have got it really wrong.

The city in which I live had a large shoe manufacturing base, amongst other industries that were here.

Its all gone now. UK people want to put £30 pairs of shoes on their feet and the people who live in my city attempt to buy houses for £180 K.

You can't pay a £150K mortgage making £30 pairs of shoes in a factory.

Tell someone that the real cost of a shoe is £150. They'll tell you that you're crazy. Well, a UK pair of shoes maybe £150, because the fella making them needs to earn so much to provide food and shelter, a Chinese pair £30 for the same reason, but if one can't afford to buy the £150 pair, then another UK job goes onto the fire. But why is that pair of UK shoes £150 ?.

How long can we sustain losing jobs to China/India ?, anyone care to answer that ?. I'd really like to know. What do people like me do now ?.

The West, whoring itself to those who produce and sell for cheap, is its own worst enemy. We are so indebted for our needs that we can only afford cheap imports. WRONG, wrong, wrong !.

I've seen posts on here, people claiming that they bought the cheap HK import cos it was all they could afford.
Question: How did you get into that situation then ?.

However, the pedulum would appear to have swung too far. Many everyday consumer items are only made in china now and you couldn't buy a European or UK produced alternative if you had the money to do so….

BD.

The Chinese have been manipulating their currency and have refused to re-value it…..I wonder why ?.

Perhaps you should work for the same money as your opposite number in china…..wouldn't need tariffs then. Perhaps the cost of living in the UK should be brought down to the same level as it is in China/India cos then items produced in the UK, would cost the same as Chinese items, cos the labour costs, etc, would be the same. No ?.

Anyone up for having the price they paid for their over-priced house, being slashed by 70% ?, no ?,…..didn't think so. See, we've painted ourselves into a corner. People buying overpriced housing with huge mortgages, leaving only pennies to live on. Que "MADE in CHINA".

Its all wrong, most know it, even if they wish to shut their eyes to it.
what else is there to say ?.

My original post was driven by those who always deride the news that something that use to be made here, is now going to be made in China.
As if it doesn't matter.

One day they are going to wake up to news that we have 50% unemployment, and all the time it was happening, they were cossy, in their job, wearing their economic blinkers, people who "don't do economics, or politics", purchasing without regard and posting on here that jobs losses in the UK, in the name of Chinese export, doesn't matter.

I think it does.

CC.

This idea that RM deliberately and intentionally leave parcels at the sorting office and only take out the red "sorry we missed you" slips (and I can believe they do) Surely it's an illegal breach of contract with the person who paid good money to have the item delivered to YOU, not near you and then you do the last bit yourself?

I understand that sometimes people are out, and thats different, I'm talking about the deliberate stuff.

well I think it's time to tell the EU to **** off…
I can't see any good in the privation/market economy for services.
By definition a public service such as post/gas/train/electricity is a service FOR the public hence paid BY the public.
You see how hard end expensive taking/booking a train is. What mess it is to choose a electricity provider, well wait until it is the same for the mail…
So rich you have all my support for the strike.

Sorry, what have the EU got to do with it?

Capt. – some generalisation there, but a top post.

Sorry, what have the EU got to do with it?

Open market…

You don't want to be part of an open market? Why not?

You don't want to be part of an open market? Why not?

The EU is an open market for those that are in it, It's not the EU you need to worry about, it's the UK and it's open market that has led to our wonderful and loyal businessmen(loyal only to profit) who have shifted the jobs east.

I like the EU because it's prepared to draw a line and use protectionism in certain circumstances.

Come to think of it, what we are seeing are the consequences of adopting the free market economics during the Thatcher period, which continues to this day.

Hope this makes you all happy. 🙂

A problem with mail being delivered by trolley is access due to parked cars blocking pavements,prams and wheelchairs coming the other way, and lastly security when the postman delivers up a long path or drive is he going to lock his trolley every time he leaves it, or tke it up the path.

In a months time expect to see a thread,

Postman damaged/knocked my wing mirror off my car.

or burnt out postie trolley in my street.

You don't want to be part of an open market? Why not?

Because I don't want a private Dutch company making a profit from the British postal services. I want all the profits to remain in the hands of the British state/people.

Now you explain why you want the profits from the Royal Mail to go to foreign owned companies ?

Because I don't want a private Dutch company making a profit from the British postal services. I want all the profits to remain in the hands of the British state/people.

Now you explain why you want the profits from the Royal Mail to go to foreign owned companies ?

I didn't say i did want that.

Should the UK also stop exporting services? Or just some?

Just how cheap is it to buy Chinese ?.
Quite. Mind, the Kung Po chicken has gone up 20p in the past 2 weeks.

Interestingly the private equity company lobbying for a tie-in has a interest in the said Dutch company. Strange that isnt it?