How long is you post taking to arrive?

Crowqueen

There's a movement on the community boards to get eBay in particular to remove negs from sellers on application.

Having just left a neutral for someone who didn't communicate after promising me a replacement for an item shipped out before the snow started, largely because by not communicating properly she made me go to a dispute to get my money back as well, the frustrating thing is that people who normally find it too easy to sell on eBay and haven't risen to the challenge of this - which is part of their job, just like delivering post in the snow - are now bugging eBay to get them removed.

It just annoys me that some of the forum regulars who are normally conscientious sellers are joining in and making condescending posts - "go and enjoy the snow, stop worrying about your little plastic toys" - to people whose items are being held up but the sellers are not communicating properly.

It is FAR TOO easy to sell on eBay, most of the time; now people are discovering what customer service means, if they have poor attitudes towards their buyers, it's not my fault if their livelihoods are threatened through their own arrogance. If it means a cull, it's a cull. Hopefully people who do communicate will survive and prosper, but this may be the end of people who think selling on eBay is a piece of cake, an entitlement, or a way of making money hand over fist without the need to communicate or think about the feelings of their customers. It's frustrating to watch people wail at eBay when there's a lot they could do about it themselves.

I'm better off out of it until the weather clears, but I've always made the effort, so should they.

hellokitty08

freddysmith wrote: »

They sell it off at £20 a mail bag, bit of a lucky dip really.

I assumed that all "lost" post was actually stolen. Am i too synical?

Crowqueen

hellokitty08 wrote: »

I assumed that all "lost" post was actually stolen. Am i too synical?

Much can go wrong with the way in which people actually post things - my dad once posted a letter he'd forgotten to address, and someone opened it to find an address and posted it back to him.

Lack of return addresses on recorded items returned to sender, illegible addresses, wrong addresses can all play their part. People - senders, postmen and recipients - are sometimes dishonest, but there are genuine reasons why post goes missing.

Myyrrddyn

I have just upped every ones postage from 2nd class to 1st class and 1st class to 1st class signed for. Lets hope this strategy works, have also emailed my customers who this effects.

custardy

Crowqueen wrote: »

That's ridiculous, how many other countries have snow all winter and yet functioning postal systems?! RM just take the biscuit...sorry, no offence, Custardy, but surely this is OTT?!

Buy some good strong boots with proper grip and then they'd be safer. Our lad here was out in the snow at the weekend in shorts. If he can do it, so can they.

I am an advocate of proper H&S rules, employee protection at work is very important (my dad works in construction and always wears safety gear on-site, and expects his employees to do the same), and it takes a LOT to get me to say "Elf and Safety gorn maaaad!" but this is just stupid - if they lived in Poland or Russia they'd be laughed out of the room. The little-discussed point about H&S is that employees must take responsibility for their own safety - which means wearing proper equipment to do their job safely and practicably - which means that instead of downing tools, the union should be advising their members to get themselves kitted out properly to ensure deliveries.

All good.
how would you feel if your employer tried their hardest to make accidents on duty the employees fault?
so if you take a tumble they will use the excuse that you put yourself in harms way.
as such an employee is subject to RMs attendance procedure and in the end dismissal
in RM accidents on duty are usually not subject to the attendance procedure
RM have a bad weather tool on their intranet.this is supposed to take the guesswork out of whether conditions are suitable for deliveries and at what level.

freddysmith

Just received a Large Letter postmarked 07/12/10.
Things are looking up, only 3 packages to go.

Crowqueen

how would you feel if your employer tried their hardest to make accidents on duty the employees fault?

Been there, done that. That's basically why I left a job when I worked at a local newsagents: the proprietor paid my male colleague a pound an hour more than he did me and although there were no accidents as such, I was the general whipping boy when things went wrong even though he said afterwards he felt I did a good job. RM are not unique when it comes to shabby employment practices.

However, as I said, H&S don't let employees off the hook in terms of responsibility either. It's up to individuals to make sure they have the right gear for the job, though if the question is over uniform then there's a legitimate cause for complaint. A good pair of boots might help improve grip on icy patches.

I'm more sounding off than anything else, and I understand it's difficult if you're not used to going out in the snow like we are, but I feel some at RM aren't doing themselves any favours. If we want a postal service that can cope with potentially colder winters - given that it's been like this three winters in a row - then there's things they can do to sort this out, at least for next year.

@Myy - you do know signed for doesn't expedite the item significantly, unless you are talking Special Delivery.

custardy

Crowqueen wrote: »

how would you feel if your employer tried their hardest to make accidents on duty the employees fault?

Been there, done that. That's basically why I left a job when I worked at a local newsagents: the proprietor paid my male colleague a pound an hour more than he did me and although there were no accidents as such, I was the general whipping boy when things went wrong even though he said afterwards he felt I did a good job. RM are not unique when it comes to shabby employment practices.

However, as I said, H&S don't let employees off the hook in terms of responsibility either. It's up to individuals to make sure they have the right gear for the job, though if the question is over uniform then there's a legitimate cause for complaint. A good pair of boots might help improve grip on icy patches.

I'm more sounding off than anything else, and I understand it's difficult if you're not used to going out in the snow like we are, but I feel some at RM aren't doing themselves any favours. If we want a postal service that can cope with potentially colder winters - given that it's been like this three winters in a row - then there's things they can do to sort this out, at least for next year.

@Myy - you do know signed for doesn't expedite the item significantly, unless you are talking Special Delivery.

you think? we had snow last year but nothing like this year.
infact this year is the 1st i ever heard of deliveries stopping in Edinburgh since i started at RM

chancesare_2

custardy wrote: »

you think? we had snow last year but nothing like this year.
infact this year is the 1st i ever heard of deliveries stopping in Edinburgh since i started at RM

Actually our snow last year was much worse. We had 9 days without collection (business) and deliveries.

This year (and granted it is only Dec) we have had 3 days with no deliveries but 1 day no collection (today).

Myyrrddyn

Crowqueen wrote: »

how would you feel if your employer tried their hardest to make accidents on duty the employees fault?

Been there, done that. That's basically why I left a job when I worked at a local newsagents: the proprietor paid my male colleague a pound an hour more than he did me and although there were no accidents as such, I was the general whipping boy when things went wrong even though he said afterwards he felt I did a good job. RM are not unique when it comes to shabby employment practices.

However, as I said, H&S don't let employees off the hook in terms of responsibility either. It's up to individuals to make sure they have the right gear for the job, though if the question is over uniform then there's a legitimate cause for complaint. A good pair of boots might help improve grip on icy patches.

I'm more sounding off than anything else, and I understand it's difficult if you're not used to going out in the snow like we are, but I feel some at RM aren't doing themselves any favours. If we want a postal service that can cope with potentially colder winters - given that it's been like this three winters in a row - then there's things they can do to sort this out, at least for next year.

@Myy - you do know signed for doesn't expedite the item significantly, unless you are talking Special Delivery.

Yeo but at least it is tracked