Very interesting and illuminating article by a serving postman on the link below. It paints a very different picture of what is meant by the usual incendiary outdated eighties claptrap buzzwords "modernisation" and "outdated working practices" to that which some would like us to believe.
Some of the more lucrative aspects of the Royal Mail have already been creamed off to private companies and this is the start of the rot. Both Labour and Conservative parties would doubtless like to see full privatisation if they could find anybody who wanted to buy it with the pension shortfall hanging over it.
The Royal Mail is a priceless asset to the nation whose contribution will only be fully realised when it has gone forever. The disaster that befell the railway system when British Rail was split into a myriad pieces is just one of a series of own goals where we have torn apart our national infrastructure and lived to regret it. Some things are just natural monopolies and need to operate as integrated national networks, owned by the people whom they serve.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n18/maya01_.html