Tag: Royal Mail

Coppers probe fraud in Post Office cases

Posted on January 8, 2024 by - News

The Met Police say they are investigating possible fraud offences linked to fraud prosecutions against hundreds of Post Office staff.

They are checking the money that the Post Office clawed back from the sub-post managers through civil actions.

For those who came in late, hundreds of sub-posties were wrongly convicted of nicking cash from their branches after a dodgy Horizon IT system supplied by Japanese tech giant Fujitsu made them look guilty. To make matters worse, the Royal Mail knew its system was spitting out false data and covered it up.

Bosses who ignored the problems with the software made the workers pay back the shortfalls. Some ended up in jail or out of pocket, while others lost their jobs and homes.

Royal Mail told LockBit ransomware gang to go away

Posted on February 17, 2023 by - News

Royal Mail rebuffed a £66m ransom demand from the LockBit ransomware gang, saying “under no circumstances” would it pay “the absurd amount of money” demanded.

Chat logs leaked by LockBit, published on 14 February, detail weeks of in-depth negotiations between LockBit and its victim, which was attacked on 10 January.

A month later, Royal Mail cannot provide a complete international postal service, although it has been steadily bringing parts of its operation online.

On 28 January, the logs show Royal Mail’s negotiator telling LockBit’s representative: “We have repeatedly tried to explain to you we are not the large entity you have assumed we are, but rather a smaller subsidiary without the resources you think we have. But you continue to refuse to listen to us. This is an amount that could never be taken seriously by our board.”

Postman Pat can print his own 3D cat

Posted on December 10, 2014 by - News

postman-patRoyal Mail is testing out a 3D printing service at its central London delivery office.

The move is to see if there is any interest for the “embryonic” technology, printing items including shoes, jewellery, soap dishes and phone cases.

Royal Mail is running a pilot this month that will let customers order “ready-to-print” items from 3D tech company iMakr from its New Cavendish Street delivery office. It will also be able to print customers’ own designs, which can be delivered by Royal Mail.

Customers can order items from 3D printing site MyMiniFactory.com, which sells designs for printable objects including home accessories, toys and stationery equipment.

Mike Newnham, Royal Mail COO said that 3D printing was an emerging technology that has many applications and offers an innovative way to create unique or personalised objects.

“It can be prohibitively expensive for consumers or small businesses to invest in a 3D printer, so we are launching a pilot to gauge interest in 3D printing to sit alongside Royal Mail’s e-commerce and delivery capability.”

Royal Mail claimed the market for 3D printing technology would grow 95 percent by 2017.

 

Amazon squeezes Royal Mail profits

Posted on November 19, 2014 by - News

Royal Mail CEO Moya GreenRoyal Mail declared profits of £279 million today, a fall of 21 percent compared to the six months to the end of September in 2013.

And the recently privatised firm, which said when it went public that it would concentrate on parcel deliveries, warned that Amazon schemes to deliver its own parcels would likely threaten its future.

Amazon is experimenting with all sorts of ways to cut out services like Royal Mail including whacky experiments using drones down to using taxi cabs to deliver parcels to its customers.

Royal Mail, as part of its privatisation, intends to restructure itself in its financial year 2016, a move which will save over £700 million a year but will also affect jobs.

CEO Moya Green said she was pleased with the company’s overall performance but said “the UK parcels market remains challenging”.

Shares in the PLC fell on the news.