According to leaked internal figures last week, only 50% of mail that arrives at mail centres in Dublin leaves that day. This makes a mockery of An Post's targets of 94% next-day delivery.

My acecdotal experiences support these leaked figures - only 1 in every 2 of my letters/postal items reaches my home the day after it was delivered. Proof of this can be found with my online DVD rental account at dvdrentals.ie. I know exactly when my DVD is dispatched (usually around lunchtime). I know exactly when I receive it. The anticipation for my latest rental "Downfall" was something else. It was sent at lunchtime on Thursday somewhere in Dublin. So I'd definitely have it for the weekend, right? Wrong. Instead I'll hopefully receive it on Monday.

Back to the matter at hand.

The market is due to be opened up in 4 years time. How fit will An Post be to compete in this new open market? At the moment, it'll be like an overweight Junior B footballer - too lazy to run and too envious of the entreprising 15 year old who's marking him. Eventually, he retires.

State-run monopolies have their comfort zones. Jobs for everyone and the taxpayers' money can always be counted on when profits are non-existant. However, with our high-flying, high-cost economy, competition is king.

An aside - post your Christmas mail now. This latest strike will mean chaos for all those boxes of Barry's Tea that you intend to send to Americay.

Published by Colm.