St Albans (United Kingdom) (AFP)

"It's like Christmas," says a postman from Saint Albans. In the London area as elsewhere, the pandemic created additional activity for Royal Mail which brought social ties to life during the confinement.

A large part of the British population works from home, avoids traveling and buys online, even though restrictions are starting to be gradually lifted.

As a result, orders are flying away from the giant Amazon and other sites, which is surging the number of packages distributed by the British postal group.

But this increase, however strong, is not enough to compensate for the lasting erosion of the use of letters, the British preferring to send SMS, emails or use social networks.

The number of letters distributed between the end of March and the beginning of May plunged by 33% to 308 million over one year. But parcel delivery jumped 31%.

These upheavals weigh on the economic model of Royal Mail, an institution dear to the British, and partly explain the precipitous departure last month of its managing director Rico Back.

He left his post less than two years after his arrival, in a stormy social climate, unions and staff criticizing the group for having delayed providing the necessary protective equipment at the height of the pandemic.

Vinnie Micallef, an official with the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said Mr. Back "had completely lost touch with his staff" and things have "calmed down" since the arrival as acting general manager of Keith Williams, a former executive of British Airways.

In compensation for their efforts, Royal Mail announced on May 15, the day Mr. Back left, that each employee would receive a bonus of up to 200 pounds as "recognition of their role during Covid-19".

"The announcements are good when Back leaves and the union returns to the discussion table," said the postman from Saint Albans, a small town in north London, who wishes to remain anonymous.

Born over 500 years ago, Royal Mail has had a troubled history over the past decade, marked by its controversial privatization in 2013.

The group tried to modernize in the Internet age but at the cost of many battles with the unions. At the end of last year, Royal Mail had even succeeded in having a strike planned for Christmas approached in court.

- "We feel loved" -

More recently the unions feared that the temporary suspension of distributions on Saturday, to lighten the task during the pandemic, would become permanent, which could cost, according to the CWU, 20,000 jobs, or 12% of the workforce.

Royal Mail staff are popular with the public, particularly because they played an important role in distributing test kits for the virus and helping businesses during the pandemic.

Sahir Saeed, a London postman who went into solitary confinement for 14 days after his father caught the virus, confides that he received on his tours full of food and drink from the British.

"Customers know that what we are going through. We really feel loved," he told AFP.

He recalls that until before the establishment of containment on March 23, nearly 40% of the members of his team were absent, either sick with the virus, or in isolation.

And according to him, work remains affected by distancing measures, which only allow one employee in each of the famous red vans of Royal Mail.

"Continuing to serve the country in these unprecedented times is crucial to us," said Shane O'Riordain, group marketing director.

Some letter carriers did not hesitate to disguise themselves as superheroes during their tour, while others volunteered to distribute hot meals to people stranded in their homes.

And the British do not hesitate to thank the staff of Royal Mail.

"Thank you. You allowed me to save my small business," said Sally on Twitter.

© 2020 AFP