Postal delivery service

[SimonM]

What is it like where you are?

I’ve not seen any post for over a week. I’m expecting a 24hr delivery packet from 3 days ago, and also a standard letter from a company to send me some colour samples.

While out walking miss Molly earlier I met our usual postman doing a van delivery and stopped to have a chat and so Molly could say hello to him too.

I asked what was happening, no post etc. and he says they have all sorts of problems at the depot and they are prioritising Tracked 24, Tracked 48, official letterheads, Government , NHS etc. and our ‘normal’ letters will be dealt with asap.

are you experiencing the same delivery wait times?

 

[Pudsey Bear]

I used to work there Simon, VERY briefly, less than a week. They were/are in total disarray, managers have zero control, so the postmen jsut do as they please, 5 years ago, they got brand new vans for half the local fleet; they have yet to be washed, theother half of the fleet has so much crap on them they're green, they have to be a somesort of health hazard, no pride at all in the job and most are as surly as a very surly, surly thing.

I bought a Microwave from Amazon (So I didn't have to carry it up the steps to the house) used it once, and smoke came out of it. I rang Amazon, and they arranged for the post office to pick it up, talk about a moaning twat, he refused to take it as he'd parked his van too far away

 

[RichardHelen262]

Our post and posties are very good around here.
I now hope I haven’t spoken too soon

 

[trevskoda]

Main Newtownabbey post office is just round the corner from me and all seems to work very well.

 

[colinm]

The last time I asked our local postie they where only coming out to our village when parcels where to be delivered, but I think this has now changed to coming out every second day. We get parcels from EVRI overnight, but letters via Royal Mail can take weeks.

 

[Tezza33]

We get very few deliveries with Royal Mail, but, when we do the posties are cheerful, helpful, carry heavy boxes in to the house if I am not there, unfortunately I think the whole country has a problem of the Royal Mail service prioritising letter deliveries, I posted two letters last week, both birthday cards, both to the same area, the one with a first class stamp on was delivered the next day, the other had a second class stamp on it, it took nine days.
There was something on the news earlier saying they are being investigated, should be sorted after the hearing, about five years from now

 

[Steve and Julie]

I've just been ill health retired from royal mail after 39 years. The job is impossible they keep making rounds bigger as they say mail is dropping but don't take in to account parcel volumes have increased on my old duty I went from 20 to 30 parcels a day to 90 a day. So managers just told you to take out first class letters and tracked parcels nobody cared about leaving mail in your frame for days. It's not going to get better anytime soon I'm glad I've left

 

[Wooie1958]

Right on the edge of Blackpool DO's round at the boundry with Lytham St. Annes / Fylde, overall it's extremely good with daily deliveries and an another delivery pm right up to 19.30 catching up with extra parcels. They even do sunday deliveries when the extra amount of parcels thesedays.

This is the furthest point Blackpool DO deliver to and the starting point daily so you can almost set your watch by the time they arrive.

We have 2 regular posties and it's first name terms, they are brilliant but when stand-ins do our round which isn't very often it's variable.

 

[REC]

Our postie is good, very helpful. But...the sorting office has issues....arranged a redirection for three months, they stopped diverting after about a month...when I queried it was assured it was all in place but neighbour saw the letters piling on the mat. Complained with the result that ALL our post was "returned to sender" for the next two months + which caused no end of problems with bank and pensions. Finally we found out when a parcel was returned and company called us. Still discovering things which we missed...I did not know royal mail returned post like this. All they offered after we proved what was happening was refund of redirection cost and " monitor" it for a month. "A new employee " apparently was the fault

 

[ricc]

We've got a redirection on from our old flat in Sussex, it takes about a fortnight for mail to reach us in kent.lectric co were sending reminders before we'd seen the bill.

 

[mariesnowgoose]

It's sensible to get some historical facts behind where Royal Mail is today.

Knowing the history won't solve the delivery problems, but it helps to explain why we are where we are with our 500 year old UK postal service.
This is not a p*l*t*c*l post, btw, just a statement of facts.

(NB. my Mum was a postie for 15 years until she retired, but that was many moons ago when Royal Mail was a different beast altogether).

"Royal Mail is owned by the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who acquired its parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS), through his EP Group.

The Takeover: The government approved the £3.6 billion takeover of IDS, which ended 500 years of British ownership of the postal service.

UK Protections: As part of the sale, the UK government retained a "golden share" to safeguard the brand, headquarters, and the Universal Service Obligation (maintaining six-day-a-week letter delivery).

Company Status: Royal Mail Group Ltd currently trades under two main brands: Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide."

The postal service is now majority-owned and controlled by Daniel Kretinsky's private investment vehicle, VESA Equity Investment.

Based on the facts of the matter, and imho, it is highly doubtful that the government will be able to ensure Royal Mail adheres to the above "UK Protections" element.

They haven't dealt properly with the Horizon post office scandal yet and that has dragged out for decades now.... I rest my case...

OK - maybe it's a teeny bit p*l*t*c*l... !

Meanwhile, good luck with your letter post everyone

 

[Tezza33]

(NB. my Mum was a postie for 15 years until she retired, but that was many moons ago when Royal Mail was a different beast altogether).

Are you sure?
When we were kids we thought our neighbour was a postie because we heard my Dad say she earned a living walking the streets