Royal mail cyber attack - do you think they'll pay?

[IncompleteSenten]

On one hand they can't because that just means these criminals win and carry on doing it but on the other hand royal mail are fucked right now and god knows when they'll be able to deal with international mail again.

Also - what's the best alternative to royal mail for international packages, anyone know? I have an Etsy shop and if I can't send internationally I'm buggered. But the other companies all look far more expensive.

Any chance you can write off an alternate carrier against tax for the next few weeks and/or claim off your insurer? (Am not an accountant but very much a supporter of small business).

Fwiw I’ve used dpd for international and they were good.

I don't know. I will ask. Thank you.

I think GCHQ and probably MI6 are involved in investigating the situation - so I would expect that giving in to demands is not an option.

This is a prime example of why not everything should be digital. If society went cashless it would be very naive to think that banking systems can't or haven't been got at. Not that the banking industry would ever admit it.

it's appalling😟 part of our national infrastructure has just 'fallen over' leaving 100's of small business up the creek without a paddle😨
and what to we get from RM
<tumbleweed>

I know.

I'm fucked.

About 70% of my sales are international.

Other couriers' prices are bloody ludicrous.

God knows what I'm going to do if this goes on much longer.

They'll pay I bet. Too much chaos otherwise. The HSE in Ireland got stung and I bet they paid up as it seemed to be fixed quickly despite the initial chaos. They said they didn't pay. But that doesn't make sense.

@IncompleteSenten
I share & feel your pain🙏😟
platforms like etsy & ebay will surely soon be seeing a hit to thier profits as sellers shut up shop in despair, maybe they will be able to have more leverage in the situation than individual small businesses?

it's not just the prices of the other couriers....I mean who would have any confidence in evri/hermes after all the bad press we've seen😱

I'd rather take a rowboat and hand deliver than trust evri!

Re Etsy I just don't understand why they don't do deals with more services. A massive international site can surely get a good deal for its sellers.

from my various online browsing today I'm seeing 'no time frame' '2, 3 weeks at least', 'no end in sight' etc...
it's less than a week, so who knows how it will pan out. RM must be losing money, I understand that overseas mail isnt the bulk of the business but overseas shipping costs more so it must be a goodly portion of the turnover?

Royal Mail are being pretty tight lipped.
I have a sack of stuff now since last Tuesday.
Coming hot on the heels of December's industrial action it's really bad for small businesses.

they've said they expect to have a workaround soon, I think that will be parcel force...at a discounted rate (my post office is already offering this) but still twice (or more) of the price of the old RM service.
I think they want to shut down the international part of RM because small cheaply shipped packages are no longer profitable enough for them and they are using this as an opportunity to do so.
I'm not saying they are making it (the attack) up....although....?

If Royal Mail do get rid of international shipping I will have to close my business - 80% of my business is abroad and I doubt I’d be able to increase my shipping costs much

It seems that they can't, they have a legal obligation to provide an overseas shipping service, there is now an update:
personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5317/related/1
Also see this:

or the full version hopefully the management will now be held to account and the customers will start getting the benefits of our national postal service, rather than the shareholders!