For those in business and not knowing how the Royal Mail Strikes will affect you, here’s the latest update and views from around the UK.
Royal Mail Site
Service Information for customers
Service Summary for customers – Thursday 15th October
"All collection, processing and delivery services are operating in all areas of the country today, including London. Stoppages were held by members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at many units in the capital yesterday. Deliveries were performed only from a number of delivery offices (DOs) in the SW postal district yesterday. Today, Thursday 15th, staff at the London Airmail Unit will be taking industrial action, disrupting international mail into and out of the capital. A stoppage planned at the Southwark DO for today has been called off by the CWU.
National Ballot Update
The CWU has notified Royal Mail of the results of the recent national ballot. The result was in support of industrial action, although nearly 60% of all postal workers did not vote for strike action. Whilst this is disappointing news, this is not a notification of strike action and we have not been notified of any dates when national industrial action may take place.
Talks between Royal Mail and the CWU leadership are considerable and continue. We are continuing to urge the CWU to call off all strike action and concentrate with us on supporting customers during the Autumn and Christmas peak period.
We are really sorry for the impact current industrial action is having on our customers and the added uncertainty the CWU’s actions are causing."
If you want to see how you are affected in your area check if there is more information about service in your area http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm
From AMAZON
"Dear Sellers,
As you are probably aware, industrial action will soon be taking place at Royal Mail. This industrial action may result in parcels being delayed. In order to minimise the impact of this industrial action on your business on Amazon, please remember to:
* Dispatch the orders within two Business Days once the order confirmation is made available to you
* Pro-actively send an email to your buyers when an order has been dispatched, reminding them that the industrial action may delay the delivery, but that the order has been dispatched within the time limit of 2 working days.
To contact a buyer via your Seller Account, follow the steps below:
* Go to the "Manage Orders" section of your Seller Account, find the order for which you want to contact the buyer, and then click the name of the buyer in the "Contact Buyer" column.
* Find the order for which you want to contact the buyer, and then click the name of the buyer in the "Contact Buyer" column.
* On the next page, enter the message you would like to send to your buyer.
* When you are finished with your message, click the "Submit" button.
You may also want to consider choosing another carrier."
From EBAY
"What’s happening?
On Thursday 8 October 2009, the Commercial Worker’s Union issued strike notice to Royal Mail. This means a national strike is possible from 18 October 2009.
As a result of this, postal deliveries throughout the UK may be severely disrupted.
What is eBay doing?
* We’re temporarily removing the option for buyers to rate sellers on dispatch time in the Detailed Seller Rating (DSR), from the start date of any national strike action. Full details of the exact date and length of this suspension will be announced shortly.
* We’re working with a number of alternative carriers to ensure sellers can provide the levels of service that are critical in the run up to Christmas.
* We’ve expressed our concerns directly to the business secretary The Rt. Hon Lord Mandelson that it is unacceptable many hard-working small business owners selling on eBay are victims of a dispute that is beyond their control.
We are also offering the following advice to sellers.
Advice to sellers
We understand the position you are in and the impact this industrial action will have on your sales on eBay. We are fighting your corner with the parties involved in the industrial action and taking your case up with Government.
We also appreciate this industrial action may have an impact on dispatch time in the Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR). As a result, we’re temporarily removing the option for buyers to rate sellers on this from the start date of any national strike action. Full details of the exact date and length of this suspension will be announced shortly.
There are other things you can do to reduce the impact of this industrial action
Firstly, if your item is suitable to be sent by another carrier, we suggest that you offer this as a new delivery option. Our recommendation to buyers is that they choose sellers who can deliver using carriers that are not affected by this industrial action.
If your item is suitable for local pick-up, do offer this as an option to local buyers.
We understand that many items are suitable for delivery by Royal Mail only and if that is the case, please make sure you contact the buyer after purchase to inform them of potential delays. We also recommend that you make this clear in your listing description for the duration of the industrial action. Please remember that overseas buyers may not know about this industrial action, so do make sure you let them know because the suspension of dispatch time in the DSR does not apply to overseas buyers. Please keep up to date with developments by checking this page and also the Royal Mail website."
Guardian Newspaper
"Small businesses urge intervention over Royal Mail strike
*Sellers want government to avert Christmas disaster
*Private couriers too costly for retailers of small items
Online retailers and small businesses are calling on the government to intervene in the ongoing postal dispute, amid fears of a "disastrous" Christmas if mail strikes continue.
While large and medium-sized companies are better able to absorb the lost revenue caused by regional strikes, or have contingency plans with rival operators, some small businesses are already reporting significant losses.
This week, the Guardian revealed that the online retailer Amazon, the Royal Mail’s second largest customer, has already discussed moving its £25m contract to deliver packets larger than 500g to the rival Home Delivery Network.
As the Communication Workers Union said that 76% of its members had voted for a national strike, Argos joined a growing band of retailers preparing to move their business elsewhere.
But those worst affected by the strikes – including online retailers selling small items – do not have that option. For those dispatching items weighing 500g or less, no couriers offer cheaper delivery than the Royal Mail.
Rachael White, managing director of Thingimijigs, an online children’s gifts retailer, said wildcat strikes had already hurt her business and threatened the reputation she had spent six years building.
"We’re losing £500 a week," White said. "I have one member of staff spending most of the day tracking down deliveries and speaking to customers. She is literally queuing up phone calls, one after another. We’re having to refund, resend or cancel orders. Customers are getting more frustrated. Like most retailers, Christmas is our busiest time. If it goes to an all-out national strike it will be disastrous."
Steve Woodmore, who runs Householdsuperstore.com and sells batteries on eBay and Amazon, said his business had been hit twice – once by the Royal Mail strike and again by eBay’s feedback ratings system, which penalises sellers when customers blame them for postal delays. "Most sellers I talk to have experienced a drastic increase in dissatisfaction over the speed of delivery and, when you get low ratings scores, you are penalised by a loss of discount," Woodmore said.
Woodmore, whose warehouse is based in Chislehurst, Kent, said his business had been cut by half since May. "We run on very tight profit margins and offer free delivery, which we are able to do because our smaller items generally go at the Royal Mail rate of a large letter, less than 60p. The cheapest we can achieve by courier would be £3 delivery. No one is going to pay that for a £3 packet of batteries."
Graham Winn, of the Guernsey-based online floral business, Flowercards, said that delays hit floral businesses badly because of their limited lifespan. He said: "I have to make a decision next week about whether to hire more staff, put an advert in the paper as Christmas is coming up and its our busiest time. But the uncertainty is hanging over me."
Although many small businesses contacted by the Guardian expressed sympathy with the striking workers, there was growing anger at the lack of progress towards a settlement of the dispute.
Nigel Swabey, president of Catalogue Exchange, said: "The CWU is in danger of losing public support for their action. Competitors to Royal Mail are quick to point out that RM’s postal workers receive higher rates of pay than their own staff … and that they enjoy better conditions of employment overall. If this is indeed the case, why is the CWU calling for a 35-hour week and why are they recommending strike action that they know will undermine Royal Mail further?"
Chris Dawson, the co-founder of the eBay-related blog TameBay, said: "By choosing this time of the year to strike, the Royal Mail is going to have a crippling effect on trade. For them to be raising costs to businesses in this manner, in the middle of the worst recession in living memory, is despicable."
I was quite impressed with ebays stance on the proposed action as they are going to remove negative feedback if given for slow delivery during the strike period. I hope Amazon will do likewise, although they are not stating they will do so just yet.
What I will be doing is to contact buyers with the following email:-
For UK customers:-
Hi….
Due to continuing industrial action please allow further time for delivery of your orders. Please accept our apologies but this is out of our control as we, like you, are totally at the mercy of Royal Mail.
For overseas customers:-
Hi…
Just to inform you that in the UK we are currently experiencing industrial action from our mail delivery service, Royal Mail. This may impact on your delivery. Thus please allow further time for delivery of your orders. Please accept our apologies but this is out of our control as we, like you, are totally at the mercy of Royal Mail.
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