Royal Mail Sell Off

[MuckleJoannie]

You may have heard on the news the the government is planning to sell of the Royal Mail. One consequence of this could be that  the universal service it provides will come to an end. You may not able to post something from Shetland to the other end of the UK for the same price as sending between addresses on the mainland . I was going to suggest that we all buy shares so that we can have some small influence on the privatiased company's conduct but I see the minimum investment is £750.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24058989

[shetlandpeat]

Rural areas will not get the same service, islands like Luing will also loose their Post Office bus. Rural discrimination will entail.

[JustMe]

Her Majesty should not be amused!.  How dare that little upstart Cameron sell the Royal Mail.  Different if it was just a state monopoly but this is part of Britain's history.

[MuckleJoannie]

The prospect of an immediate price rise of 20% became very real this week as private carrier TNT Post UK confirmed it was applying to the High Court to review Royal Mail’s VAT exemption.

TNT argues that, following privatisation, many of Royal Mail’s services should be subject to VAT as is the case for all private carriers.

Save Our Royal Mail Campaign Director Mario Dunn said:

“A company like TNT would not incur the legal expense of such a case if it did not have a strong chance of succeeding.  Businesses and charities will suffer large cost increases should VAT be introduced on letters considered to be outside of the universal service obligation. Certainly the Government should halt the sell off until the conclusion of the case has been reachedâ€.

There is also a real danger that a judicial ruling could see VAT applied to those Royal Mail services that are not subject to price regulation.

 

http://saveourroyalmail.org/2013/09/press-release-vat-shock-for-government-hits-royal-mail-privatisation-plans/

[BigMouth]

Camoron will flog everything. Shame to see the mail go as the service is pretty good on the whole.

[BigMouth]

A good way to inject life into Da Street though?

[peter.l]

Money! Money! Money! Grab! Grab! Grab! Child benifit for those earning up to £300,000 a year to 'Maintain their lifestyle' is a nasty joke. Then Ofcom (Govt) authorised an excessive price hike in postal rates which just about doubled the price of a letter.  You can bet your life postage rates are going to double again to pay the tax man and shareholders. It's hardly any wonder the voters have absolutely no confidence in british (small 'B') politics any more. They should all be sacked for failing to look after the people of Britain as per their remit. Instead - overspending, fraudulent claims, mismanagement and incompetence.

Edited September 30, 2013 by peter.l

[Urabug]

Years ago we had hundreds of small grocer shops trading all over the uk,all buying most of their supplies from wholesellers,then along came the supermarkets who were buying direct from the manufacturer and were able to sell their goods much cheaper ,consequently putting the small shops out of business, but giving us all the oppertunity to buy cheaper goods 

 

Now along came Margaret Thacher  who thought it would be good to create wholesellers (suppliers)competition  in the utility market and this would give us better choices and better prices . Now we see the result of that by paying extortionate rates to these suppliers ,where we used to be able to get our electricity /telephones direct.  

 

It’s not difficult to see that the introduction of a wholeseller†middle man†in the utility market was a job creation ploy that is now costing use all dearly. We should be able to buy direct from the source of supply and bypass the sharks in the middle.

 

I can only see the Royal Mail charges go one way and that is up.

 

If you cannot beat them join them,buy a few shares the†divi†might offset the extra costs !