Postal strike: how to detect it?

In France these days, it smells like postal strike despite not a word in the press.

New mail sorting facilities (said bigger, speeder, cost-killer) are opening. Employees transferred from old centers (said smaller, slower, expensive) are afraid. The Senate is discussing the future of La Poste (privatisation among other things).

Some have an October feeling of slowliness that confirms Postcrossing.

Today, six of my postcards to both Chinas, Australia and the United States have been travelling for a period of twenty to thirty-five... and are still looking for the goal. Normally, three days to allied Western countries to ten days top to Taiwan, certainly the time needed to go round Big China.


Facing such striky problems, Royal Mail found a solution to play the 'a-strike-sir-no-problem' face in front of clients: no date on the cancelling mark like Ian Billings discovered this week.


Selling companies communicated by mail to reassure costumers. Amazon.co.uk promises no problem to send and deliver goods during the newt November strike, or perhaps one/two days for some specific United Kingdom package.

What would be the solutions?

Did the Royal Mail guarantee service for its big senders? Easy to do for collection, sorting and sending from a mail center to another... but for the final step to your mailbox, outside high density populated area?

To use private operators? Either at the cost of the sender not to lose clients. Or at the cost (already in red) of the Royal Mail not to lose the big clients in a context of aggressive competition.

8 November 2009 : today's Sunday Times reports the effervescent activities of small private operators.