2009-11-11 11:41:25 - Businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire are in line for further misery with more postal strikes planned across the region this week.

A preliminary survey undertaken by the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce has shown that 98 per cent of company owners questioned believed further postal strikes would affect their businesses.
And over a quarter of the 68 companies surveyed stated that the strikes would have a significant effect on their business.
Payment and correspondence was highlighted as the main concern by

66 per cent of companies ahead of delivering orders to customers with 17 per cent.
Over two thirds of the companies had already made contingency plans in the short term to deal with the strikes.
These include sending by special delivery and courier wherever possible, using email more extensively, telephone billing and using staff to make deliveries.
However 57 per cent of businesses stated they had no plans to look for alternative postal suppliers even if the strike was prolonged.
Among the reasons given for this were that alternative postal suppliers were only cost effective for high value items, email invoices and payment direct to banks could be used instead of posted documents and that companies needed more time to find out more about other delivery options.
Graham Aylott, policy officer for the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “These figures show that the postal strikes are having a detrimental effect on business in the region.
“Any delay in payments caused by the strikes will have a detrimental on a company’s cash flow and this can be a major concern, particularly for small businesses.
“We hope that the Government and the Communication Workers’ Union can work together and come to an agreement as soon as possible.
“These strikes could continue for some time and if businesses are struggling I would urge them to take positive action and to contact the Chamber.”

ENDS
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