The Royal Mail Strikes and their effect on us…
Friday, October 30th, 2009Well we are all too aware of the issues facing Royal Mail at the moment, and the incessant striking action is an inconvenience to most of us. But to some it is more than just a slight inconvenience, it is a threat to the businesses that puts food on the table- I am of course talking about online retailers. Read on…
Now, I have been criticised by some for being insensitive to the RM workers, and for my views being against ‘ethical and fairtrade’ principles, but of course everyone will have different views on the matter dependant on where you stand in the big picture.
As an online retailer, who’s sole income depends on the success of our business, I can be nothing but frustrated, disgruntled and down right fed up with the whole situation- thats just how it is and I make no apologies for that.
Are my grievances against the Royal Mail as a company? Against the Government for not doing more? Or against the workers themselves? Well frankly I don’t know as none of us really know the whole story. But then that fact is one that bugs me most… We keep hearing from the RM workforce that they are fighting the ‘modernisation’, the ‘working conditions’ and are striving to achieve ‘a better RM service for its customers’ (well Im sorry, but ANY service is better than none!) But Ive yet to hear any solid, specifics about what the issues actually are, and it is my view that it basically boils down to pay. Fair enough, but I am afraid they will gain little sympathy from a society whos individuals are actually being made redundant left, right and centre…
So as a direct result of these striking actions, we have had no choice but to move all of our UK deliveries to private courier. We are simply not willing to risk our customers having to suffer serious delays just to receive their goods. Some people have argued ‘but customers will understand that the postal strikes will delay their packages’ but the fact of the matter is that yes while some will sit patiently, others will become stressed leading to us resending their items which is a big strain on us financially, and others will simply decide not to shop online at all.
Which brings me to my final point- plain and simple, less people are shopping online right now. Most sites will report a reduction in daily site hits, and consequently a reduction in orders. This can be nothing other than damaging and the longer these actions go on the more dangerous they become to online retailers.
But please remember that we all have food to put on the table, we all have families to provide for, and your custom is more critical to us now than ever, particularly those businesses who rely on christmas trade. So please do shop around online, and if the postal delays are a concern to you, find those businesses who have moved their deliveries away from RM over to courier (there are plenty of us!) or who offer a courier alternative. Here are a few examples to set you on your way…. 
www.fill-your-pants.com (of course!) All orders sent via courier
www.anaratoys.co.uk All orders sent via courier
www.justdolls.co.uk All orders sent via courier
www.funkydorypartybags.co.uk Courier option
www.friendlybaby.co.uk Courier option
www.icegems.co.uk All orders sent via courier
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Hear hear, completely agree with you that the damage is huge and probably irreversible as far as Royal Mail goes, I do fear that this is the beginning of them end for them.