Cable Mail

PO Box, Winckley Square, Preston

When I worked on the strategic plan for West Central Scotland (the Glasgow city region) in the mid 1970's, Vince Cable was one of our trusted academic advisers from the University. He helped us evaluate the social impact of different economic and land use strategies on the population.  He was a doughty champion of the rights of the most needy and challenged with objective evidence and considerable passion the economic orthodoxy of encouraging inward investment from outwith the UK instead of nurturing the local economy and indigenous industries.  He was good company on Friday evenings in the Curlers bar and even amongst a group of academics, economists and consultants his politics were post office red compared to the pink tinge of the majority.

It was surprising to hear him over the weekend arguing for the privatisation of the Royal Mail.  He was careful to keep to the coalition script that it was just Royal Mail that would be privatised and that the post offices would remain public. Who do they think they are kidding? Most rural post offices, assuming they have survived the last government's unwelcome purge are privately run. Hundreds of Mrs Goggins are paid a pittance for the privilege of working dawn to dusk, 52 weeks a year and 6 days a week in their shops to provide an essential service particularly to the elderly, disabled and those on various benefits. They certainly have a strong public service ethos and they are stalwarts in their communities.  They also work closely with the Royal Mail staff to provide a seamless and important service that reaches all parts of the UK.

The arguments for the privatisation are taken from the revised Hooper-report, which estimates that the number of items delivered will fall by 25% -40% over the next 5 years. Really?  The amount of mail seems to be increasing all the time, admittedly a lot of it is junk and another big tranche is from internet shopping which is rapidly increasing as men realise that they need never go to the shops.  The post workers seem to confirm this on discussion boards in response to the recent proposals. The second argument is that the government could not afford to make the necessary capital investment to the Royal Mail infrastructure. What a feeble argument, in order to attract a private buyer they are prepared to fund the £8bn pension deficit, which is larger than the investment needed to modernise the Royal Mail. As with many private companies it is the pension cost that is most threatening to the long term sustainability of the organisation and if this can be offloaded onto the government then they are happy to take the profitable business.

So instead of the post offices and Royal Mail providing an integrated postal service, it will be privatised or some company (such as the dutch based TNT) will buy the Royal Mail and make the 'necessary investment' to modernise the service.  In practice this will probably mean divesting many of the Royal Mail property assets in our towns and cities.  The previous government did this with the post office reviews and instead of a network which included some magnificent Victorian city centre post offices we are now expected to go to tacky counters nestling beyond the chocolates and magazines in the far corner of WH Smiths.  The new 'Cable Mail' will operate through a smaller number of regional depots and many towns and villages will lose their sorting offices which are part of the post office.  The railways will no longer be a vital part of the network as the transport of mail will increasingly switch to road.  It will be narrated as 'modernisation and efficiency' and you can forget sustainability. Auden's night mail poem will need to be edited.

'Thousands are still asleep,...

They continue their dreams,

And shall wake up soon and long for letters,...

And none will hear the postman's knock.......'

I have no problem with competition from other parcel delivery companies, sometimes they work very well for bulky items and they have seized the opportunity to grab a share in the growth in parcels as we increasingly rely upon internet shopping.  But I have observed that the much vaunted parcel companies are generally slower than the Royal Mail and its ancillary, Parcel Force, and they are usually more costly, check it out on eBay.  And if you are not in at the time of delivery, instead of popping into the post office to collect your goods, you have a 30 or 40 mile drive to the nearest depot, or you pay for a redelivery. It is not what you would call an improvement for working households and those without private transport.  Have we not learnt the lesson from splitting up the railways?  Disassembling integrated services seldom suits the customer and inevitably leads to price increases or huge subsidies. Vince seems determined to hive off the red pillar boxes and vans but it could just be a ploy to open a new front at a time when many other public services are to be savaged by his coalition stablemates.