Kantar - Royal Mail Monitoring and Posting Panel

HomingPigeon

Hi elsien,

Yes, I got a reply regarding the wrong date that went something like this......

///I would say that's when the thing was organised and printed and it doesn't matter that the date is different. If they still challenged it I would keep the bag myself and contact TNS.///

I arrived at the counter and said, 'can I hand this in please' while holding up the bag. Counter clerk replied, 'put it over there near the door'. And that was it - no date check, no checking the SOS at all.

It was a big PO and I got the feeling it was nothing new to the clerk. Don't know if I would have got the same response if I'd took it to my local (tiny) post office.

I got my 200 posting points a few days ago, so it would seem all went well.

HomingPigeon

Sorry, I forgot to add.....I folded the SOS in such a way that the barcode was showing uppermost, then I attached it to the bag by pushing it underneath the cable/zip tie, in the hope that they'd just scan the barcode. But they didn't do that while I was there.

General_Grant

I see the site has a note of the home page dated today,
"When preparing your items for posting, always remember to enclose the R-number as the receiver will need this to confirm the item has been delivered."

The fact that they feel the need to write that, indicates that the odd occasion recorded in this thread is likely to be not so unusual and a sad reflection on the standard of the "training" and people on the panel.

Saetana

Received my first posting pack for what will be my 7th or 8th stint on the main panel - was pleased to only have one letter to post for my first week.  Less pleased with the Paul Macartney presentation pack but I can always just use them as normal stamps

kerri_gt

General_Grant said:

I see the site has a note of the home page dated today,
"When preparing your items for posting, always remember to enclose the R-number as the receiver will need this to confirm the item has been delivered."

The fact that they feel the need to write that, indicates that the odd occasion recorded in this thread is likely to be not so unusual and a sad reflection on the standard of the "training" and people on the panel.

You would think it wouldn't be too hard to do a mail merge and have the R number pre-printed on the sheet to go in the envelope. I know the labelling is part of the paid 'task' the panellists do but the panellist key job is the posting to check the service - not a test of sticking correct labels on paperwork. 
It could also save on label costs if TNS actually used smaller sheets of labels - for what we actually need to use there seems an awful lot of wastage. 

General_Grant

kerri_gt said:

General_Grant said:

I see the site has a note of the home page dated today,
"When preparing your items for posting, always remember to enclose the R-number as the receiver will need this to confirm the item has been delivered."

The fact that they feel the need to write that, indicates that the odd occasion recorded in this thread is likely to be not so unusual and a sad reflection on the standard of the "training" and people on the panel.

You would think it wouldn't be too hard to do a mail merge and have the R number pre-printed on the sheet to go in the envelope. I know the labelling is part of the paid 'task' the panellists do but the panellist key job is the posting to check the service - not a test of sticking correct labels on paperwork. 
It could also save on label costs if TNS actually used smaller sheets of labels - for what we actually need to use there seems an awful lot of wastage. 

Then you would have to ensure you used the correct envelope rather than, for example, using any of the 1st class DL envelopes they supply.  I often receive 2 or 3 of the same envelope description.

I also expect they have stacks of, say, 2nd class C5 envelopes and simply have to pick the correct number to go in the packs they send to us.  Instead using mail merge would involve individual printing and assembling.

The sheets themselves are going to be a standard size whatever the size of the labels.  The labels need to be of a depth to accommodate name and address labels for application to envelopes and the row requires only 2 labels: there is no need for a third label.

kerri_gt

@General_Grant

I didn't mean pre print the envelopes, just the R number on the sheet you place in the envelope.
So there would be no change to the envelopes used.

I also meant that the size of sheets of the labels could be smaller, not the labels themselves. Out of a complete sheet of labels in my last stint I often actually only needed to use one label. The rest were either printed with bumpf not required in the posting or blank.

I don't know what automation they use,  if any for compiling packs but as some of the information is personalised anyway,  having the mail merge sheet wouldn't be that much more work - I used to manange mailings that included both person specific and generic items.

General_Grant

kerri_gt said:

@General_Grant

I didn't mean pre print the envelopes, just the R number on the sheet you place in the envelope.
So there would be no change to the envelopes used.

I also meant that the size of sheets of the labels could be smaller, not the labels themselves. Out of a complete sheet of labels in my last stint I often actually only needed to use one label. The rest were either printed with bumpf not required in the posting or blank.

I don't know what automation they use,  if any for compiling packs but as some of the information is personalised anyway,  having the mail merge sheet wouldn't be that much more work - I used to manange mailings that included both person specific and generic items.

Hi

And I wasn't thinking about pre-printing the addresses on envelopes - but one of the labels on the sheets is used to apply the name and address for those not hand-written.

The size of the sheets is fixed at A4 - and I find uses for the spare labels (even bits of them!) 

Using mail merge (to save the labels) would mean the A4 pieces of paper would have to be folded by the survey sender or they would need to be added to the envelopes at the same time as the individual posting packs are prepared.

When you managed mail merge, were you assembling different types of contents - eg personalised letters, leaflets and product samples which were also personalised?

kerri_gt

General_Grant said:

kerri_gt said:

@General_Grant

I didn't mean pre print the envelopes, just the R number on the sheet you place in the envelope.
So there would be no change to the envelopes used.

I also meant that the size of sheets of the labels could be smaller, not the labels themselves. Out of a complete sheet of labels in my last stint I often actually only needed to use one label. The rest were either printed with bumpf not required in the posting or blank.

I don't know what automation they use,  if any for compiling packs but as some of the information is personalised anyway,  having the mail merge sheet wouldn't be that much more work - I used to manange mailings that included both person specific and generic items.

Hi

And I wasn't thinking about pre-printing the addresses on envelopes - but one of the labels on the sheets is used to apply the name and address for those not hand-written.

The size of the sheets is fixed at A4 - and I find uses for the spare labels (even bits of them!) 

Using mail merge (to save the labels) would mean the A4 pieces of paper would have to be folded by the survey sender or they would need to be added to the envelopes at the same time as the individual posting packs are prepared.

When you managed mail merge, were you assembling different types of contents - eg personalised letters, leaflets and product samples which were also personalised?

TNS send everything out in A4 envelopes - so the sender wouldn't need to fold the R number letter and put it in the envelope - just put it in with the posting pack. Panelists have to marry up the correct R number to envelope type atm so it's not really a change there for them.

I too use labels where I can - although some are printed / wasted with superfluous information. But I bet some don't and they just get binned. 

When I managed prev mailings there was a mix, some personalised information / sheets. Others generic. Sometimes additional items as well. 

gt94sss2

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/signed-for-deliveries-under-threat-in-royal-mail-shake-up/ar-AAMpkmV