PARCEL DELIVERY
Page 14
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Royal Mail strike action boosts rival parcel carriers
By Joanna Bourke
SPECIALIST PARCEL delivery companies are experiencing an inlux of customers on the back of a week-long series of strikes at the Royal Mail Group.
Between Monday 17 August and Monday 24 August, thousands of Royal Mail staff went out on strike. At its peak, on Wednesday 19 August, 1,300 drivers stopped work. They were protesting over “unacceptable” workloads.
Hermes, formerly Parcelnet, tells CM that during that period orders increased 59%, while registrations to its website rose 44%.
“People clearly aren’t prepared to be held to ransom. They are looking for viable alternatives so that they are not inconvenienced. We estimate Royal Mail could lose millions of pounds in business, which it is unlikely to win back,” says Carole Woodhead, chief executive oficer at Hermes UK.
The Communication Workers Union has claimed that Royal Mail is not honouring existing agreements with its members over modernisation and changes.
A Royal Mail spokeswoman contests: “The simple fact remains that we are handling almost 10 million fewer letters a day than three years ago. We have held more than 50 meetings with the union in recent months, and the door for talks with the union remains open.” Richard Adams-Mercer, business development director at courier website Parcel2go.com, says due to the latest strike action, turnover for the month ending 31 August is expected to be “substantially higher” than the previous month.
Parcel2Go has attracted 24,190 new transacting customers since the postal disruptions began in May. It says its business is growing by 7.7% month-on-month in regions where strike action took place. But areas where the strike did not hit are growing by 4.1%.