Bellevue resident Mary Rose Grieve coordinated a campaign two years ago to retain a well-established, highly trusted, locally resident postman on his delivery round in this part of Broughton (Issue 197).
Many residents signed her petition, and Malcolm Chisholm MSP and Mark Lazarowicz MP lent their support. The campaign was ultimately successful.
Now that the same postman's presence hereabouts is again threatened, Grieve has again taken up the cudgels. Her letter of complaint was promptly forwarded from an Edinburgh office to Joanne Taylor in Royal Mail’s London-based Chairman and Chief Executive Office.
Ms Taylor replied on 24 July in an email which we are not allowed to quote. She explained first how much she valued feedback, and how delighted she was that the postman in question is held in such high esteem.
She then went on to outline Royal Mail’s self-transformation into a 21st-century postal operator through making the best possible use of its resources. Changes, she said, would help maintain reliability, low cost, and allow the organisation to meet customer needs. She promised that Bellevue’s favourite postie would, after redeployment, be replaced by an experienced and fully trained alternative who would be made amply aware of local conditions.
She hoped she had been able to allay any concerns.
If only life were that simple. Mary Rose Grieve has now replied with the following, splendid counterblast against corporate one-size-fits-all solutions in general, and Royal Mail’s inane blandishments in particular. We reproduce it below in full, except for redacting the name of the Royal Mail employee at the centre of the storm.
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Thank you for your predictable response; this is exactly the reply I was given two years ago, and it of course means almost nothing.
The reason we are so keen to keep [XXXXX] on our walk is because, unlike your management team, we believe that it is not possible to replace an experienced, dedicated local postman with another one. Two years ago this happened, and his replacements, while also extremely dedicated and experienced postmen, had no local knowledge, took far longer to do their rounds and had no time or inclination to go the extra mile because they were not part of our community. As a result, [XXXXX] was put back on the walk.
You cannot train a fleet of human beings to behave like automatons and deliver a uniform, mechanised service, for however much you are trying to make the postal service a sleek, cost effective service to attract buyers as you sell it off, you cannot legislate for the importance that your staff on the ground have in their local community, with the relations they have with the people to whom they deliver letters, who are the very people who will make your business succeed or fail.
You may have thousands of machines to sort your letters, computers to organise your logistics, but in order for you to keep the loyalty of your customers you need to focus on your staff not your business model.
So no, you have in no way allayed my concerns, and my neighbours and I will continue to press for [XXXXX] to remain our postman.
Regards
Mrs Mary-Rose Grieve
What do you think about all this? Should one individual be retained at all costs, or should Royal Mail be left in peace to cut and mend as it sees fit? Tell us at the Spurtle via email spurtle@hotmail.co.uk Facebook Broughton Spurtle or Twitter @theSpurtle