Royal Mail

sockpuppetuk

Wife posted a letter today in our local box and forgot to put a stamp on it. Went back at 5pm when the collection took place and asked the postman if he could find the letter so she could stick the stamp on it.
The letter was right at the bottom of the box but when he pulled it out he wouldn't let my wife stick the stamp on it but he would take it back to the sorting office and then tomorrow she can go in and (as long as she has some identification) stick the stamp on the letter.
Im still trying to work out how identification is going to help when there is no return address on the envelope.

Phoned Royal mail and they said the postman had done nothing wrong as he does not even have to look for the letter .. which is fair enough but when he had the ruddy thing in his hand....

Absolute madness to me but there you go.

kuohu

Probably something to do with the Queen...?

smcaul

Interfeering with the queens mail, used to be a hanging offence, I think it has been downgraded now, but you get the idea. You should have just let it go without the stamp, they usually still get there on time.

sockpuppetuk

smcaul wrote:

Interfeering with the queens mail, used to be a hanging offence, I think it has been downgraded now, but you get the idea. You should have just let it go without the stamp, they usually still get there on time.

Well considering it was a cheque for something purchased on Ebay and they would charge the person at the other end £1.30 or something just to deliver it I don't think that would have been a good idea.
It's just the fact he had the letter in his hand and he wouldn't let her stick a stamp on it.

I used to own a Post office and we were always told to go out of our way to help the public and the postman doing the box outside the office would always help in a situation like that .. I suppose a lot has changed in 5 years.

Becles

Officially you cannot have a letter back once it's been posted.

I know RM delivery staff have been warned that there are "spies" out there who are following them on their deliveries and checking up that they are following correct procedures. If procedures are not being followed disciplinary action will be taken.

I wonder if the collection driver thought your wife was a spy checking up on him, hence his reluctance to hand the letter over. If he had and your wife was a spy, he could have been sacked for doing that.

IvanOpinion

It may seem silly but the postman was correct. Once you have posted the letter it then becomes the responsibility of Royal Mail right up to the point when they deliver it. For all the postman knows you could have been trying to do some kind of switcheroo etc.

Ivan

Saucepot

Used to be one of the our nations greatest achievements the Royal Mail. A national pride of efficiency, service and low cost. I remember laughing at the notion that in foriegn lands you mailed a postcard and you got home before the card.

We have nothing to laugh about any more. I've had mail delivered at 2 in the afternoon round my way. Never the same postie twice. Some days no postie at all.

And the depot, which used to open till 7pm in the evening allowing for parcels to be collected, now closes at 2pm. Which means if you work during the day you cannot collect till the weekend. Then they can't find it because it's been a few days.

And they all look so scruffy, these days. God knows where the mail find these people. Presumably out of those rejected by McDonalds for not washing often enough.

And when you go to the post office it's just queues upon queues of old people. I didn't know there was so many old people in my town. Is that what happens when you retire. You just queue all day in the post office. Or do they wait until lunch time and think "Office workers will be popping in soon, with only an hour for lunch, Lets get queueing, ho ho ho"

nickinoo

I can't see how she can be angry, I don't think he should have even looked for it to be honest.

I am not a huge fan of the Royal Mail as I have had a lot of things never reach me butI have to praise my local delivery guys as I posted a letter at the sorting office last night around 8.30pm (the box said last collection 6.30pm) & yet it reached it destination 30 miles away this morning.

CIS

There service can be sloppy at times , but around here they can be pretty quick - i posted a letter ,had it delivered the next day, reply posted the same and and was delivered to me the next day.

Its a bit annoying that the delivery can be so late, usually anywhere between 10 and 2, where I use to live if it was after 7.30-8.00 in the morning you knew there wasn't any.

WHA

The "jobsworth" mentality that is crippling the country!

Now if she wanted the letter back or wanted to put something else in it, then fair enough, there is a clear "risk" of tampering with the Queen's mail or whatever grand title they'd like to call it. BUT, there is absolutely no risk whatsoever of simply sticking a stamp on an unstamped envelope - the postie could have even taken the stamp from her himself and stuck it on if he didn't want to lose custody of it. It's time that those enforcing the rules (in this case the postie and their immediate managers) started to think about why the rules exist and use their discretion rather than simply blindly following rules.

This is all part of the dumbing down - treat the masses as if they are complete fools, give them inflexible rules to follow and don't even think of giving them any discretion or flexibility as they are clearly too stupid to think for themselves. I really do despair!

WHA

CIS wrote:

There service can be sloppy at times , but around here they can be pretty quick - i posted a letter ,had it delivered the next day, reply posted the same and and was delivered to me the next day.

Its a bit annoying that the delivery can be so late, usually anywhere between 10 and 2, where I use to live if it was after 7.30-8.00 in the morning you knew there wasn't any.

In our village, they have brought forward the only collection of the day from 5.30 back to 4.00pm. Post doesn't usually arrive till lunchtime, so it's basically impossible to deal with any correspondence and reply the same day anymore. Not at all good for small businesses!