Another Postal Strike
4 October 2007
Ok, it’s been at least ten years since I last saw it, but somehow I just don’t seem to recall Postman Pat starting with: -
“Another sunny day in Greendale and Pat arrives as usual at Mrs Goggins Post Office around 6.30am. The birds are singing in the trees, Farmer Fogg is out milking the cows, everything seems normal in this quiet little village. This morning however there is a difference.
Pat won’t be picking up all the post bags in his van. There will be no knocks, no rings, no letters through Reverend Timms’, Sam Waldron’s or anyone elses doors this morning. This morning the only thing Pat will be attempting to deliver is the clear message that he will not be accepting Royal Mail’s 2.5% pay offer. Neither will he be accepting their modernisation plans, which he says will put his, Pat Clifton’s and 40,000 other Royal Mail employees jobs at risk.”
Yes, today marks the start of another 48 hour strike by postal workers, with a further 48 hour strike starting on Monday. Consequently, any mail sent today is unlikely to arrive before next Thursday at the earliest.
Obviously this is a disaster for businesses which rely on the post office to deliver small orders and our site Girls Night will be hit badly. The only alternative we have is to send out every order by courier, which will cost a fortune and is totally impractical for low value items.
The bad news is that the CWU (Communication Workers Union) are now talking about rolling strikes every Monday until the situation is resolved, so we could be looking at disruption for the foreseeable future. From experience of the last strikes in August it normally takes them a couple of weeks to get through the backlog after a strike, so we really could be looking at a situation from which The Royal Mail will never fully recover.
Bad news all round for business and we can look forward to at best a week of fielding phone calls from angry customers looking for their orders. At worst, consumer confidence could be seriously affected by the strikes, resulting in a significant drop in sales, which as we are now in the important final quarter leading up to Christmas would be a disaster.
Troubled times in Greendale.
More information on the strikes at The BBC and on The Royal Mail website
on October 4th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
That’s bad :-(. The hogs may suffer badly because of this.
on October 4th, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Aye, and Jess may have to go back to KittyKat. She’s been getting used to Sheba too.
on October 4th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
No more Dutch shortbread either.
on October 4th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
The emoction was meant ot be a