The Old Hack

Imagine if you will an institution which is neither completely state run nor completely privatised; an institution which is subject to arcane and archaic rules imposed by the State, but which is expected to compete for business with companies which are not thus restrained. 
 
You have no need to travel to the planet Zog (though you may as well).  I am talking about the British Post Office.

Tomorrow you will not hear the familiar sound of the postman's knock, for today the Communication Workers’ Union called its members out on a 48 hour strike over an imposed pay deal of 2.5 percent.  Public sector pay rises in the UK have been running at an average 2.7 percent in the past few months, which is well below the average for private sector pay.  You may, then, have some sympathy with this particular industrial action.

If you rely on the postal service to do business, receive your pension cheque or receive news from your son or daughter on active service in Iraq or Afghanistan, your sympathy with the absence of the postman's knock may be tempered with a liberal helping of frustration and annoyance.

Since the 1st January 2006, the Post Office or Royal Mail, no longer holds the statutory monopoly which it held for the previous 350 years.  Any new company, appropriately licensed, may compete for business.

The Royal Mail currently charges 32 pence to send a letter First Class (delivered the following day).  Post Office bosses say that they lose about 5.5 pence on each letter delivered.  UK regulation means that the Royal Mail cannot increase the price of delivery without jumping through hoops of fire.

You begin to see my ‘planet Zog’ analogy….

Postage stamps may only be made by the Royal Mint and must bear an impression of the head of the reigning monarch – who also has to give approval for each and every stamp designed. Employees of the Post Office still wear a uniform bearing the Royal Crest.

Meanwhile, you or I are at liberty to obtain a licence and start our own mail delivery service.  We don’t need to have the Queen’s head on stamps, we are not restricted to a charge of 32 pence per letter and we don’t have to wear any uniform.  We can make profits and we can negotiate pay on an individual or performance related basis if we choose.

I’m not against state run institutions.  The post office in France seems to manage just fine, as does the state railway, SNCF.  The Royal Mail was in reasonable shape until competition was forced on it.  Now it is going the same way as the railways in Britain – slowly but surely down the pan.

There used to be a time when we could just blame the Tories….

Today's futuristic image is by Fossel Suki, and is called "Sterbender Planet"