This years xmas post has become a disaster, I've been waiting over 2 weeks for half a dozen things which should have taken 1 week tops

I think the post office may be stuck with almost no extra staff this year, so the system has fallen over

There is another aspect of modern delivery which is 100% frustrating. You pick up your mail from the mat, four parcels and a printed card. The card says 'Yodel: I'm sorry you were out, and …' there are boxes to be ticked saying 'I've left it in the porch / left it with your neighbour / taken it back to the depot.'

None of the boxes is ticked, and there is no contact number or name filled in either. So perhaps it was one of the parcels? No, none of them says anything about Yodel. Onto the Yodel web-site for a contact number, and ring. The automatic voice says 'If you want to send a parcel press 1 …' and so it goes on.

In my case, it turns out (I think) to be one of the parcels, but I have no way of knowing (and neither do Yodel). All designed by a university graduate, no doubt, whose contact with the real world is not part of his CV. Ho hum

And a merry lock-down cock-up for yuletide to you all.

Tim

From a trusted friend on the inside;
Royal Mail has a record number of temp staff this year; in the order of 33k, compared to a more normal 15-20K (ish). From by own perspective, maybe they could do with more, but training and workplace facilities etc must be taken into account.

Parcels are at a pretty much unprecedented level, due to home shopping.
According to my friend, his mail centre is the fullest he's ever seen it in many years, and this year they've even taken on a large extra warehouse, which is also bursting at the seams.

High absence rate of permanent and temp staff, both due directly to Covid illness and preventative isolation. (I'm also aware, from other sources, of stress related absence increases )
Add into all that, due to Covid, van sharing is largely suspended, and vans should really be cleaned before drivers swap-over, potentially causing further delays.
Van rentals into RM are also well up this year.

Covid secure workplaces, whilst obviously required, don't help efficiency either.

An article I read elsewhere suggested that, quite understandably, tracked items take distribution priority, both internally and the last leg to the recipient.

Bill

Edited By peak4 on 20/12/2020 13:12:10

Found a 'we'll be back tomorrow' card from dpd on the doorstep this morning. Checked yes my doorbell does work and my letterbox is not sealed. I guess they knew I was only ten feet away listening to the streamed church service and didn't want to disturb me. So considerate. The reference number on the card does not seem to be recognised on the dpd website.

My daughter in law works in the HR department of royal mail and tells me they have taken on over 33,000 extra people this year. Can't get much closer to the horses mouth.

From a personal point of view all the things we have recently posted have arrived at their destinations promptly, possibly quicker than the rest of the year. And no, we don't get any preferential treatment.

Peter

My daughter recently ordered some earphones from Amazon, the parcel followed its tracked route and time and arrived precisely at the appointed hour. When received the parcel was delivered by Hermes, apparently Amazon had contracted them for some deliveries because of the volume that they had for delivery. When received the box had Hermes logo tape sealing on top of the Amazon trademark tape, on opening the box it was evident that the parcel had been opened and then resealed with the Hermes tape, the product packaging inside was empty, the earphones had been removed. Daughter contacted Amazon who without question replaced the missing item. So it appears that it is possible for parcels to arrive bang on schedule whether they are empty or full.!
Dave W