Royal Mail Strikes and their Impact on Small Business

As many of you will be aware Royal Mail workers have chosen to strike for a large number of days. This is right in the middle of their busiest period. Royal Mail Strikes are causing a great deal of difficulty for all small business owners. I am not the only one and it is time somebody voiced the effects.

Normally I hate to put out such negative content as this but this post really is intended to highlight the issues faced and if one other Small British Business owner feels like they aren’t alone then this was worth it.

What are the effects of the Strikes on Businesses ?

The effects of these strikes cuts far deeper for small business. Some of us made a conscious decision to use Royal Mail and are now paying greatly for it.

Larger Businesses have maybe not just one but potentially teams of people to deal with each aspect. When you are one person, you do every role in your business from shipping to accounting to ordering or manufacturing. You are every piece of your business and this reflects back solely on you. As a result you no longer work 9 to 5, 5 days a week. In addition you have no steady income. The Christmas period should be time for you to get your head down, ship as many orders as you can and hopefully make it through the next couple of quiet months with the central heating on (but that is a whole other topic).

Having to deal with an exceptional number of complaints due to the inadequate service provided by Royal Mail is adding a lot of time to my working day. I am not the only one, small business owners talk to small business owners. We strive to provide excellent service and are being let down greatly. Furthermore when raising complaints due to late/missing/lost/damaged parcels with Royal Mail we are ignored.

Royal Mail Strikes reflect badly upon Small Business. In the eyes of our customers we have failed. We are the ones they complain to. Royal Mail does not care about the problems they have caused us. It is not their problem that we are having to work extra hours on top of extra hours to deal with problems of their creation.

Can you just change to another service ?

This would be great. Unfortunately as mentioned before when you do everything in a business and there is nobody else to take care of matters and the shipping is integrated into your website with supporting hardware… Not as easy. Combined with what is usually an annual peak in number of orders there just isn’t time to make a switch.

Grizzly Wears has automated shipping. This means when an order is placed, labels are automatically queued for printing and billing. Something that was set up with the intention of regaining all important time. In addition this means another supplier must offer a similar service and allow labels to be printed in standard 4″ x 6″ format. In the UK this is not a widely offered service without paying a large premium. This is why changing service is not such an easy task and requires more effort than googling another service. To make matters worse there is little contingency if there are issues with the new service and little opportunity to roll back.

An end to Royal Mail Strikes

Royal Mail need to stop the impact to their service by any means necessary. Whether it is coming to a deal with workers who are striking or letting them go. Currently we are heading for a recession in the UK. With cost of living prices at an all time high people are struggling to pay the bills each month. I see both sides of the argument but currently feel like if you have a job and steady income you should be grateful for this. Maybe you won’t be able to afford the luxuries you enjoyed as often but priority needs to be given to certain expenses.

If you don’t like the terms and conditions from your employer or find that work/life balance is not right then you need to be looking for a different job. Having been in this situation several times I know it can be hard. Make time to clear your mind. Learn new skills. Improve yourself. Start looking and applying for other jobs and opportunities to improve. Do not stay in a job you are fundamentally miserable in. Ask for help and seek support if you have to.

A Conclusion to my thoughts on the Royal Mail Strikes

These Royal Mail Strikes have greater impact than just Royal Mail. They are affecting everyone who pays for the service which is not being provided. Poor management of the situation is to blame in my eyes. Management so poor that many of the small businesses who rely on Royal Mail service would be bankrupt if they operated this way.

Royal Mail – You have let down all of your customers and your workers at a time when you should be performing at your best. I find it hard to believe that you could not increase your workforce, pay generous overtime and manage the situation. As a company that has been operating for 506 years I would have thought the experience to deal with busy and difficult times would be present.

Moving forwards I will be adding options for further postal services. I do not like to operate with single points of failure and feel I have been let down as a customer and let down my customers.

Support Small British Business

If you want to help me along my way, please check out my shop. If at all feasible I will hand deliver items locally, Alternatively you can come and see my items in person at my remaining events for this year.

I’m sorry for all orders that have been and may be delayed at this time.