Is there any point in me posting anything? Ever?

Probably not in a postbox for a few days, although postmen say they are being told to prioritise the most recent mail, so the backlog built up before yesterday — anywhere between 9 and 30 million items — continues to gather dust.

There are options if you absolutely need to get something somewhere, but they are not cheap. Various premium services offered by postal operators, including the Royal Mail, will guarantee delivery. They are not obliged to take your custom and very few courier firms accept letters.

For packages, there are problems with using the standard services of a company such as TNT or UK Mail. They still rely on the Royal Mail’s infrastructure, which has a near monopoly on “final mile” delivery.

Amazon, Marks & Spencer and John Lewis say they are using alternative delivery companies and that there there will be no disruption to customers. Today will tell.

Weren’t postmen delivering letters yesterday?

The workers doing the “final mile delivery” were not striking. As they had less mail coming into their offices — because staff at the main distribution centres were striking — management in some areas told them to deliver letters stuck in the system, but already sorted, from earlier in the week.

In a nutshell, why are the two sides fighting?

Threats to jobs, pay and working conditions. The union says it accepts the need for modernisation and that jobs will be lost on top of the 55,000 since 2002 but wants all workplace changes to be agreed with it. The company — which says its financial position is parlous, not least because of a burgeoning pension deficit — says the union is resisting changes necessary to secure the company’s future.

Don’t both sides suffer if Royal Mail loses business?

Rival operators looking for business have a huge problem: they depend on the Royal Mail network as nobody else provides a postman for every home and business in the country.

Rival companies that have won corporate contracts to deliver bills still drop the mail at a Royal Mail centre for it to actually deliver, and often sort, the letters and parcels. Royal Mail makes some money, but not as much as if it had the contract, yet delivery is the most labour intensive part of the operation.

Is Royal Mail fighting for survival? It turned a tidy profit this year.

All four divisions were in the black for the first time in many years but Royal Mail says profits are tiny in comparison with revenue. On top of this is a burgeoning pension deficit which Adam Crozier, Royal Mail’s chief executive, has said is approaching £10 billion. The Government was forced in the summer to drop proposals to part-privatise the state-owned company, which would have seen it assume responsibility for the deficit, after opposition from Labour MPs. If the Tories win the election, they will probably resurrect privatisation plans.

Any other problems on the horizon?

Yes. Banks and utility companies — some of the biggest users of mail — may accelerate their moves towards paperless billing and direct debits. BT is piloting an e-signature application that enables documents to be signed, tracked and filed without ever leaving the internet. One of the booms of recent years has been in internet retailing; perhaps people will decide the high street is, once again, good enough for them.

What about the customer?

Well, if rival operators decide to set up rival networks of postmen — TNT has expressed interest — they will not be bound by the Universal Service Obligation, ie, to deliver to any house in Britain. They will cherry pick the cities. Why would they want to deliver a Christmas card, with a 39p stamp, to Mrs McDougall in the Outer Hebrides?

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