Parcelforce sell-off row by Karen Miles • Parcelforce's business operations
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are being undermined by Government dithering over the nature of its pending sale.
A furious senior source at the state-owned parcels company says the Government is to blame as private carriers capitalise on uncertainty within Parcelforce. Sales staff and managers are forced to concentrate on smoothing over the worries of customers and staff, says CM'S source, when they should be working to win new business: "I wish they'd get on with it. We're fed up with this pathetic and frustrating situation."
The £500m-turnover company is in limbo when it comes to financing investment. Since announcing Parcelforce's sale on 15 July the Government has frozen most of the investment needed to set up combined express and standard services sorting centres. And as a nationalised company Parcelforce is unable to borrow the money from the private sector. There is also disappointment as directors see the chance of a management buyout slipping away. A flotation of the whole Post Office, including Parcelforce, Royal Mail and Counters, is an attractive proposition for the cash-starved Treasury "A separate sale is no longer as certain as it was on 15 July," the source says, and that prospect is damaging for Parcelforce: "We will always be having to fight them (Royal Mail) for capital and resources." A flotation of the whole Post Office business would not rule out competition in the letters market.
The Government has already proposed to reduce the level of the Post Office's letters monopoly— currently at £1— and to improve the scope for private carriers to trunk mail to final delivery offices.
These proposals were made in the Citizens' Charter and at the end of July last year the Government said it would consider the future organisation and structure of the Post Office.