The Post is Broken: How Royal Mail's Service Failures Demand a "Skin in the Game" Fix
The post is not arriving. Or, to be more precise, it's arriving on its own schedule, not the one a customer might reasonably expect. Anecdotes from communities where residents report receiving a "whole stack" of mail in a single, sporadic delivery after weeks of waiting, are not isolated incidents. They are a symptom of a systemic breakdown in service that has become a frustrating reality for many across the UK.
Complaints range from standard letters taking up to two weeks to arrive to documented nationwide issues with specific mail centers and delivery offices. These service failures not only inconvenience individuals and businesses but erode trust in an essential public service. The problem is not merely a logistical one; it's a breakdown of accountability.
A Proposal for Improvement: Applying Taleb's "Skin in the Game"
To fix a broken system, we must ensure that those who benefit from its success also bear the consequences of its failure. This is the core principle of "skin in the game" as articulated by philosopher and statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It is a simple but powerful idea: never trust someone who does not have a personal stake in the outcome of their actions.
Applied to the postal service, this concept requires a fundamental re-evaluation of incentives at every level of the organization, from the post person to the government minister.
1. For Post Persons and Local Management
Currently, the primary incentive for a postal worker is to complete their route, regardless of the quality of the service. The anecdotes from "Fuse" suggest a clear disconnect between effort and outcome. To introduce "skin in the game," a portion of a postal worker's pay could be tied to performance metrics directly visible to the customer. This could include:
Customer Satisfaction Ratings: A digital or physical feedback system where residents can rate the reliability of their deliveries.
Time-Sensitive Delivery Success: Performance bonuses for meeting targets on first-class and special delivery items.
Decentralized Accountability: Empowering local managers to directly reward or penalize staff based on customer feedback and service data for their specific area. This localizes the accountability, making the consequences of poor service more direct and personal.
2. For the Royal Mail Executive Leadership
The leadership of Royal Mail should be exposed to the financial and reputational risks of their decisions. The "skin in the game" principle here would mean:
Performance-Based Compensation: Executive bonuses and stock options should be contingent on achieving key performance indicators (KPIs) related to delivery times, customer complaints, and service reliability, not just overall profit.
Regulatory Penalties: The regulator, Ofcom, should impose significant, escalating fines for persistent service failures. These fines should be structured to meaningfully impact the company's bottom line, forcing a re-prioritization of service quality over cost-cutting measures.
3. For the Minister Overseeing the Postal Service
For a public service, the final accountability lies with the government. A minister's "skin in the game" is their political reputation and their commitment to public service. To ensure they are not insulated from the consequences of poor postal service, a new framework is needed:
Public Performance Reviews: The minister's office should be required to publish regular, transparent reports on Royal Mail's performance, including data on complaints and delivery failures, and face public scrutiny when targets are missed.
Direct Ministerial Oversight: The minister should have the authority to intervene and demand specific action plans from Royal Mail's leadership when service drops below an acceptable standard. Their career progression and legacy would then be directly tied to the success of this essential service.
By introducing "skin in the game" at every level, we can move away from a system of blame-shifting and towards one of mutual accountability. This radical shift in incentives, from a post person on their route to the minister in Whitehall, is the only way to ensure that the Royal Mail once again delivers on its promise to serve the public.