dgpost: The Royal Mail lost its monopoly earlier this week, introducing competition into the UK postal service for the first time in 350 years. Essentially this means that, instead of your credit card being pilfered by a local postman, it can now be stolen by an amateur entrepreneur in a dodgy white van. Bravo.
The powers of the Royal Mail have been persistently whittled away over the last few decades. First the telephone service (and Buzby) were hived off for the benefit of the Treasury and the nation's new shareholders. Then half the post offices in the country were closed down to encourage old people collecting their pensions to take a bit more exercise. And the more recent imposition of corporate targets has created a culture driven more by profits than by customer service. After all, what's the point in maintaining daily deliveries to the Shetland Islands when stockpiling London's franked junkmail makes so much more economic sense?
So I've decided to set up my own private mail service - dgpost. I'm going to concentrate on a very small part of the national postal market, namely deliveries within London between Bow Road and High Holborn. I travel that journey into work every day, and I've reasoned that several envelopes and packages must follow an identical journey. If I can identify and acquire just some of that E3→WC1 traffic then I can make myself some money. No additional journeys are required. My potential customers merely have to leave their mail in my letterbox before 7am and I'll stick it in a bag, carry it into town on the tube and deliver it on my way into the office. Easy money. Plus I can offer a similar return service in the opposite direction in the late afternoon, which should double my business. I intend to charge "1 Creme Egg" for each delivery, which is a highly competitive rate compared to First Class mail (and I'm far more reliable too). I could start tomorrow, if anybody's interested?
[Smallprint: dgpostis available only along a very restricted part of Bow Road, E3. dgpostguarantees delivery within 100m of Holborn station by 8:30am, but only if the tube network doesn't break down. dgpostpromises not to leave your birthday card on the train by accident. dgpostwill never steal your identity by nicking your utility bills. dgpostaccepts Creme Egg cash equivalent during the summer months]
dgpost: The Royal Mail lost its monopoly earlier this week, introducing competition into the UK postal service for the first time in 350 years. Essentially this means that, instead of your credit card being pilfered by a local postman, it can now be stolen by an amateur entrepreneur in a dodgy white van. Bravo.
