I agree we are sending more parcels, but I think it’s the courier service which has and is benefiting from this.
The courier companies deliver seven days a week from early morning till late evening, you can order something from Amazon in the morning and it is delivered the same evening. Unfortunately the Royal Mail as it stands cannot compete with Evri (Hermes), DPD etc.
For the RM to continue it has to refresh its business model to make it current for 2022 and beyond.
As for the NHS, I think the elephant in the room is agency staff. It must be disheartening to be doing the same job alongside a colleague you know is earning twice as much because they are there via an agency.
If the Trusts can afford agency staff it’s not rocket science to pay their contracted staff more without the agency fees, they are finding the money at the moment! Why has nobody put this to the government (or have they)?
I have listened to many discussions regarding the various rail workers who are striking and again some of the sticking points seem to be modernisation.
The one that sticks in my mind is that there is rolling stock fitted with diagnostic equipment that can detect faults on the rails quicker than the current system of men walking the lines which is in itself dangerous . The unions are not fans of this apparently.
All organisations have to move forward and in doing so have to find a way to take the workforce with them. To not do so will leave the U.K. as a 20th century backwater as opposed to a 21st century forward thinking Country.
The above needs direction and leadership from the very top, Government. For too long the Conservatives have been obsessed with untying links with the EU and the Labour party has been infighting and navel gazing.
I truly hope that by the next election that all parties have a manifesto of hope and innovation, but I will not hold my breath.