In what is turning out to be a summer of discontent for the Royal Mail, 180 drivers from Birmingham and Coventry are preparing to join a series of 24-hour walkouts tomorrow in the latest twist in the bitter dispute between workers and bosses desperate to drive through “modernisation”.

The Communication Workers Union said the strikes will hit deliveries of bulk items to depots across the region, with business mail particularly badly affected.

Although the company recently announced that all four of its divisions returned to the black for the first time in 20 years, the future of the Royal Mail is far from rosy.

Leaving to one side the huge gaping hole in its pension scheme, the Royal Mail is predicting a 10 per cent drop in the number of letters, packets and parcels it handles in the next year, adding to the 5.5 per cent shrinkage of mail volumes it saw in its last financial year.

A combination of the recession and changing ways of relaying information have hit the Royal Mail hard.

The vast range of modern communication methods – email, Facebook, text messages – have made the need for putting pen to paper, buying a stamp and walking down to the postbox seem like a fast-disappearing ritual associated with a bygone era.

The Government’s U-turn on privatisation was a major victory for the trade unions but, on the issue of modernisation, there is no doubt there will be more gnashing of teeth ahead between unions and management.

But progress on this issue is vital if the Royal Mail is to find its place in the communications environment of the 21st century.

There will always be a need for parcels, birthday cards and special-delivery items – and there will always be competitors looking to swoop on these opportunities.