EU diktats have turned gas, electricity , water and postal services into cash cows for companies, a lot of which are foreign owned. The shareholder is all that matters, not the consumer.

Ros, Surrey,

This is what happens to a badly managed company, there is always competitors to take their place, not to worry. If you cant run your company correctly then this is what happens, no need to bail them out.

They have failed to modernize there business model and have paid the price.

Andrew T, England, UK,

Who's to blame?EU for imposing deregulation,New Labour for allowing it ti happen and Leighton and Crozier for carrying it out.
No doubt John Hutton won't allow the Government or Leighton or Crozier to take the blame either.All evidence pints to the New Labour Government-another fine mess.

john, shrewsbury, uk

Ask why this has happened and you get a combination of EU directives and corporate/government greed.
The reason our Royal Mail is open to competitive forces is that the Government decided to enact the Eu directive early. Germany and Holand refused and have taken our business! get out of the EU!

John Stretton, Albrighton, Shropshire

I seem to remember that Royal Mail always maintained that the opening up of the postal market would enable competitors to skim the cream off the business, leaving Royal Mail to finance the Final Mile and the USO. Both Government and Postcomm, the Regulator, begged to differ. Sadly RM got it right.

matthew, London, United Kingdom

an honoured and respected name 'the royal mail' is changed to 'consignia' for no other reason than management ego and then changed back to royal mail !

with decisions like that is it any wonder the whole thing is going under and when it is gone , like the beeching rail cuts it will be too late.

david c, purbeck,

If it ain't brok don't fix it! Electricity, Gas, Water, Telecoms and public transport and Royal Mail should all be run for the benefit of the public. Privatisation produced a decline in service and profits for the money grabbing private sector, at public expense. Re-nationalise our core services.

ron, Milton Keynes, Bucks

the govement whant to sell it off.so they dont have worry about it any more.and they are push in to debt

sam browne, mk, england

The Royal Mail was originally a government department, and dates back to the 17th century. The universal Penny Post, which allowed letters to be sent anywhere in Britain at a standard charge, was introduced in 1840. As was quite obvious to Victorians, it was an essential public service. No longer!

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

Those complaining loudest are mostly those who supported the break up of RM. We who worked for the business when it provided a service to its customers all knew where the changes would take us and said as much. Extreme bad management of a very poor plan confirms the addage dont fix what aint broke

mike gee, bournemouth, uk

How come the US, Canadian and Austrialian equivalents have no problem in maintaining a one price structure over far larger countries?

Roger Tilbury, Worthing,

We don't need the PO today as we used to 50 years ago. We have to accept that. The universal service obligation should be abolished. The post offices that are unviable should close. The PO should not be used to channel benefits to claimants. There are bank accounts for that. Slim down Royal Mail....

Fred, Luton,

John, I've got to disagree.

When, by EU diktat, the postal market was de-regulated, the goverment failed to apply the same conditions of service to the companies as to the Post Office which allowed them to "Cherry-pick" from the services and therby caused the present problem

Chris Davison, Middlesbrough,

private sector parcels + email + online forms + e-commerce + time = future demise of post offices

David, Croydon, UK

The government has allowed the private sector to cherry pick all of the profitable parts of the business, leaving the delivery of letters to the Royal Mail. Unfortunately, unless the government wakes up and does something, there will be no mail delivery at all.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

Despite moans from those who blame the Government for everything and others who blame deregulation, the current state of the Royal Mail merely shows what happens when you make a somnolent public institution cost-accountable. Full privatisation is the key and closure of all lossy branch offices.

Golodh, London, UK

Our local Post Office are happy to close two popular post boxes. It looks as though it isn't cost-effective to collect the post - and another reason for us to use emails instead.

Jack Briggs, Huddersfield, England

The universal service obligation has always been a millstone around Royal Mails neck, even more so in this heavily deregulated market. So lets see a level playing field for all our competitors and see if DHL ect can get a letter to anywhere in the country with there own network for 36p.

Ted, Camberley,

The prices that go on the dimensions, thickness and weight have reduced the amount of mail I send. I used to be able to pop an envelope on the kitchen scales and into the local box. Now you need the skills of Carol Vorderman to calculate the variables. Post Office queues are too long. So I email.

Robert, Manchester, M13 9UY

There was a time when Royal Mail a highly dependable organisation. Sadly this is no longer the case. Like so many aspects of our society the standards of Royal Mail have markedly detriorated and the present Government, without doubt has been a major contributor to this decline.

Ian, LowerHeswall, Wirral, UK

As usual in the public sector, money will follow failure. The worse the Royal Mail does, the more money we have to give it. £3.9 billion is about £65 each - more than most of us spend on stamps in a year.

Frank Upton, solihull,

The solution is simple the goverment has to go and we have to nationalis everythign again, prvitishastion was only to give tony blairs mates a bit of extra cash, If the goverment keeps on going like this it wont be long before the far right get in.

MR W Jones, Liverpool, England

Thinking back to the days when the Royal Mail was something to look up to, something there as an example to those who worked in the post offices out here, The Royal Mail was considered the best in the world, without equals.
It could be again. if the current government rectified what eroded it.

margie , victoria, australia

This government has dismantled every institution that was good - and dumbed it down to something that delivers nothing. I live in Germany now in a village with post office , rail link, bakery, shop, banks. But the ones to really blame are the apethetic British who have allowed it all for money!

Richard, Plymouth,

Deregulation and its benefits was always a myth, and more about enriching the friends of the government than delivering competitive prices to the consumer. Most British people yearn for the good old days of the Electricity, Gas and Water Boards, as well as post offices in our villages.

John, London, England