Mail Deliveries in your area

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

Before we switched over to this new site I was going to pose a question to all UK residents concerning the delivery of their mail. This also affects the magazines Mortons’s send out and many of the traders who use the postal service.

What has prompted this question is that earlier in the year we went 6 days without any mail. How do I know this to be a fact. Well that bit is easy. We have received a weekly magazine on a Tuesday since before the pandemic. During the week in question this magazine arrived on the following Tuesday one week later. That Tuesday’s magazine arrived the following day. Checking with the Magazine provider the magazine was posted on the same day as usual. Even during the postal dispute we only ever had this magazine a day late.

Three months later my MP was told that there had been severe staff shortages at our depot due to illness and that we would now be receiving mail every other day. You may be wondering what has happened to postal deliveries 6 days a week as required by Act of Parliament. I too have wondered that, as well as the delaying of mail, which is covered by another Act.

A week ago we had another 4 days without mail. Our Postie was on holiday it transpires, so this time this event was a planned one. However there were still insufficient staff to cover for this absence.

Yet the usual spiel came back that we were having delivery every other day. If that was the case then the Magazine should have arrived on Wednesday or Friday, not on Saturday as it did. To top it all they even lost a “Tracked 48” packet. Here’s the rub, and I have it in black and white. The package is not tracked until it is delivered and there is no guarantee the package will be delivered within the time frame. It is only a guide!.

From my experiences so far this year. Our postal service is making the rules up as they go along. The “Tracked” mail is in my opinion in breech of the rules on trades and description.

From talking to others via email it seems this experience is not an isolated one.

Thus what is is the postal service like in your area?

Regards

Gray,

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Delivery-wise … excellent

But I am still struggling to remember that

1. the local Post Office [in the next village] closes for lunch, and
2. last-collection times are surprisingly early.

Goes with the territory, I suppose.

MichaelG.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Had a 6 month or so period earlier in the year where we only go one or two deliveries a week. Back on track now with a delivery most days and that is within the M25 not the back of beyond.

[Nigel BennettParticipant @nigelbennett69913]

Up here in Leeds it’s dire; we’re lucky if we get two deliveries a week. Whenever we do get mail, it’s always a big wodge of stuff. You can’t tell me that Royal Fail aren’t merely keeping the stuff until they can be bothered to deliver it.

I’ve always wondered why there are so many warehouses being built all over the country. If course! It’s storage for undelivered letters!

It’s made a mockery of being the first to get subscriptions magazines, “before they reach the shops”. Yeah, right…

And apologies to any posties on this site – we know it’s not your fault!

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

A Mr Standingford went to Newport Crown Court on Friday, November 10. He had £900 refunded from a fine and a reduction of license endorsement points after successfully claiming that proof of postage was not proof of delivery when using the Royal Mail. Just three days later, Ofcom closed an investigation into Royal Mail which found they had failed to meet their national performance targets for 2022/23. Upsets a seeming precedent that has been around for a while that the Royal Mail is perfect.

Martin C

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

My recently purchased Thermal Imaging camera was ordered on ebay 15-Nov, posted 15-Nov, and delivered [Tracked 24] by a nice man from Royal Mail on 16-Nov … he rang the door-bell and asked politely for a signature.

Whole process ran like clockwork and I doubt they could have done much better in the days of the Penny Black.

MichaelG.

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

Royal Mail – absolute rubbish. Deliveries frequently delayed or lost, or a note saying no one in, when I was.

Had a RM classic this week – note left to say they needed a signature and would try again next working day (Monday).

I stayed in all day – no delivery.

On my way to a job I called at the sorting office pick-up point next day at 11:00 – closed. They only “work” between 8:00 and 10:00 and 16:00 and 18:00.

Was going to try again the next day at 16:00, but found they’d delivered the  signed-for parcel without getting my signature. I suppose at least I actually have the thing now, which has to count as a result in Royal Mail World.

[Nigel Graham 2Participant @nigelgraham2]

It seems to work well in my patch of South Dorset.

However, the idea of booking a re-delivery / collection from a local Post Office is a joke because firstly not all sub-Post Offices give the service, or they do but are not on the web-site list.

And secondly, the web-site is very badly-designed and difficult to use, though this seems Standard Industrial Practice  for any organisation in the Communications trade generally*. There’s probably an ISO-xxxxx Arcanity Approvals number for it, but you’d never be able to find it!

Instead I collect from the Sorting-office in town, which like Andy’s, works to limited hours. In fact I don’t think the Weymouth one has the afternoon slot at all.

.

By the way, I heard an interesting observation on stamp prices, on the radio the other morning. It did surprise me. Rowland Hill set the any-distance-one-price, paid by sender not recipient, principle at 1d. per letter (that’s 0.416^r New Penny for you post-1971 youngsters.) He not only made the service universal, more reliable and often cheaper than hitherto. People moan about the present prices ‘cos they expect everything for “free”, but pro-rata the cost of sending an ordinary letter has hardly risen in the approaching 200 years since then!

 

[JAParticipant @ja]

Less than three days a week. When I asked my postman a year ago about this I got the reply “Six days a week except sometimes” which amused me (it should be said quickly).

JA

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

Thanks for the replies, it is more or less what I was expecting. Currently it would seem from those friends who have contacted me, and those who have posted here so far, that the further North or West you go, so the service worsens.

Keep them coming,

Regards

Gray,

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

I should mention then that I’m in Kent (the above mentioned sorting office is the Tonbridge one).

[peak4Participant @peak4]

No issues with any of the staff over here in Buxton, as they are all great; I can almost see the sorting office from my house, about 200m as the crow flies.
Royal Mail seem to be prioritising timed deliveries, 24/48 hours etc, due to genuine staff shortages, and have also recently restricted collection times from the sorting office.
Actual on-foot deliveries are two or three times a week; I regularly get eBay purchases and similar, which do arrive on time if they are sent 24/48 hours deliveries.
Even small times ones normally come by van, unless they coincide with a foot delivery day, in which case they arrive with a bundle of letters. Obviously large parcels come by van anyway, and these arrive promptly.
I’ve had no issues with letters or parcels getting lost, or damaged, in the post with Royal Mail; less so with other couriers, so the opening up of RM/Parcelforce deliveries to other couriers does concern me.

Bill

[JAParticipant @ja]

I live in the south of England. If you could access my profile you would find that I am north east of Bristol.

As for the local post office in my town, it has been in at least four different shops over the last seven or so years. This does not include about nine months in a large PO mobile office that opened two afternoons a week. I don’t think I blame the PO for this.

JA

[Andrew TinsleyParticipant @andrewtinsley63637]

I could not wish for a better mail service There are no problems in this neck of the East Miidlands.

Andrew.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

It seems to be very variable even over short distances depending on which sorting office serves you.
Near London I see the postie every day and sometimes extra vans driving down the road probably to make a parcel delivery.
In Devon the town Facebook site often has reports of weeks delays especially in the villages. Some people report going to the sorting office when in town but they don’t appreciate that the personal service they get probably delays post to ten other people. Some are saying they are 6 staff short, others that the staff are recruited but away on training, others that there are still vacancies.
I don’t get that many letters and thought the postie just banked then for a few days to avoid the 5 minute hassle of parking and getting up my path on wet days.

[Paul RhodesParticipant @paulrhodes20292]

Parcel Post and Mail are apparently different ends of the business. The latter in my area is provided by the former as of 6 months ago. So no longer a dedicated and much loved postie. Just “whenever in your area” with parcels, deliver the accumulated mail. I am told that “mail” makes a loss and the ?Swiss owned company wish to divest themselves of this arm of the business. So run it down, wring their hand etc.  Deeply unsatisfactory.

 

[File HandleParticipant @filehandle]

When the normal staff are on – no issues, but when we get different staff is can be bad. Deliveries 6 days a week. But in the past mail has ended up in hedge bottoms when they have temporary staff. One reason that I don’t subscribe to ME and MEW is that I don’t totally trust Royal Mail, plus I like to shop locally.We do get a lot of junk mail. We looked into blocking it but was told that they then might not deliver normal mail as often, I guess it helps pay the wage bill.

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

The last I heard was the Postie gets extra money for delivering the junk mail, paid direct by the junk mail companies. It supplements their meagre wage.

As regards staff shortages I think this has to do with RM approaching Parliament with a view to doing 5 days a week mail delivery. When they were told they had to stay with 6 days per week the Business Plan clearly did not have enough staff for this.

Regards

Gray,

 

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Gray

For info. https://www.royalmail.com/business-campaign/door-to-door/leaflet-distribution-pricing

So I suspect “last you heard” might be an internet myth

MichaelG.

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

Hi Michael,

The story about the junk mail was told to me by a Postie. At the time, which is now probably 10 years ago, they were paid something like £25 per week extra. No doubt when RM was sold off this lucrative little earner did not go un-noticed by the new owners.

Thanks for the info, I shall now be asking RM not to deliver junk mail to my door.

Regards

Gray,

[Martin KyteParticipant @martinkyte99762]

This is what you get from deregulation, disjointed services that focus only on the money. Mail has gone exactly the same way as the buses.

regards Martin

[Graham MeekParticipant @grahammeek88282]

Hi Martin,

What really gets me is that someone has made the decision to withhold the mail. Okay staff shortages might be the root cause but the only exemption in the Postal Services Act is Industrial Action. Ironically during the postal dispute the magazine was only once one day late.

Clearly Royal Mail works better during industrial disputes than when it is being “managed”, (I use that word in the loosest possible sense of the word).

Regards

Gray,

[Grindstone CowboyParticipant @grindstonecowboy]

Can’t fault the service here in Lancashire – mail deliveries Monday through Saturday, parcels a bit later in the day – sometimes twice in a day – and parcels also delivered on Sundays!

Rob

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

In Peterborough, Variable.

Sometimes a delivery each day, 6 days a week, tracked 48 parcels, next day, or the second day.

Other times, we might go three or four days without any mail, even junk.

No certaincy of what will occur.

Always use second class post to send anything.

Two TEAR post

Howard

 

[Robin DuftonParticipant @robindufton85682]

Well a new gripe can be added. In addition to 48 hours delivery taking over a week, we’re now getting packages that have been slashed open and items stolen. The first one was a of block steel gauge plate that had clearly been cut with a knife, and left when they saw it would be worthless to them. The second was yesterday with a few hundred £ worth of Prevost air line fittings going missing. The fact that the postman still delivered an empty package that had clearly been cut open is the hardest part to understand. They could have reported it.

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