In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

The minute you give people in the management chain targets (particularly if things like performance-related pay or bonuses come into play) you start driving inappropriate behaviour. The management focus changes from running an efficient customer-facing business to achieving personal targets which may actually involve behaviours that are contrary to what would benefit the business the most.

Well said.

Classic example currently happening in Royal Mail. The top management tell a parliamentary committee that they have issued no instructions to prioritise parcels over letters and that they are both given equal priority. Front-line and middle management have targets which give more priority to parcels than letters. Result: at the front line parcels are given priority with letters on the back burner. I hear from the front-line staff out on deliveries that our local Delivery Office has many duties where letters are only taken out a couple of times a week, the rest of the delivery time being used for parcels.

In reply to a post by GonePostal:

Classic example currently happening in Royal Mail. The top management tell a parliamentary committee that they have issued no instructions to prioritise parcels over letters and that they are both given equal priority. Front-line and middle management have targets which give more priority to parcels than letters. Result: at the front line parcels are given priority with letters on the back burner. I hear from the front-line staff out on deliveries that our local Delivery Office has many duties where letters are only taken out a couple of times a week, the rest of the delivery time being used for parcels.

I am sure you can appreciate that Daniel Kretinsky is a clown and should never have been allowed to own Royal Mail.

I have two close friends who have both experienced late post delivery recently. One, about 3 weeks ago was told by her postie ,"sorry but letters are being 'batched' and parcels given priority". The other friend had to ring the hospital last week to explain that he'd missed a follow-up appointment after a cancer operation because the appointment letter had just arrived when the appointment was for the previous day. They live in different counties/postal districts so it's not just a local issue.

We where told last year by our postie that parcels had priority, this was when gf had many hospital appointments being made, after several discussions with the hospital she started getting appointments by SMS and email as well as post, several times she has had the letter after the appointment.

Apparently this is not consistent across all deports, which has likely favoured royal Mail in less scrutiny.

My letters I tend to get loads at once, once or twice a month and thats it.

I have had first class letters take 3 weeks to arrive and 2nd class a couple of months.

I found my depot on a list somewhere which was apparently the worst performing Royal Mail depots.


But anyway with what you said is bang on, top management will give themselves deniability, even though they know whats going on within the company they manage. The managers below that level wont get interviewed by entities like a parliamentary committee. So it all carries on.