Kantar - Royal Mail Monitoring and Posting Panel

Chocmonster7

HonestJohn said:

Chocmonster7 said:

I've been on the panel for over 10 years and worked out early on that whilst they can request you post at certain times (for example am/pm) they have no way to force that so just do what fits in with your life. The point I did make on the feedback to them as that the reward for posting parcels now is way too low for the amount of effort you have to put in.

In your experience how does this affect the star rating? Are they marking you only on the day you post or does the time have a bearing too?

I couldn't care less about the star rating, think I've only ever looked at it once, it's a recent invention which only makes them look good when reporting to RM.  

HonestJohn

Chocmonster7 said:

HonestJohn said:

Chocmonster7 said:

I've been on the panel for over 10 years and worked out early on that whilst they can request you post at certain times (for example am/pm) they have no way to force that so just do what fits in with your life. The point I did make on the feedback to them as that the reward for posting parcels now is way too low for the amount of effort you have to put in.

In your experience how does this affect the star rating? Are they marking you only on the day you post or does the time have a bearing too?

I couldn't care less about the star rating, think I've only ever looked at it once, it's a recent invention which only makes them look good when reporting to RM.  

I think RM are only interested in the undelying percentages. The stars are probably intended to make people improve their performance like at school.

molerat

Ominous looking brown envelope from HMRC this morning, mmmmm, felt a bit squidgy as if there was something in there.  Yep, a test item

Primrose

Well i'd like a squidgy envelope to arrive from the passport office with my newly  awaited passport in it, so one containing a RIDF  would be a real disappointment ! 

I received a KANTAR item from a bank the other day with its name printed on the back of the envelope so that wasn't very anonymous.

HonestJohn

NBLondon said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

It probably all comes down to cost. I wonder how easy it will be to apply to the new panel, if at all. I had a quick Google but can’t see anything yet.

https://www.spectos.com/en/postal-logistics/mailagents/   tells us what the Mailagents do and that they get paid in something called Spectos Cents redeemable as vouchers (so presumably the same sort of process as we have now with Perks Rewards)

There's a signup button on that page - but it might only be the newsletter.  I'm going to try it and see if it  has anything on how to sign up for the panel.

I have found links to sign up for the panel in Belgium https://www.mailagenten.be/index.php?id=11&L=6 or Luxembourg https://www.mailagenten.lu/index.php?id=158&L=6 but not a UK one yet!

All contracts eventually come up for renewal.
RM, no doubt, have a specification of their requirements which any tenderers will address in their quote. Would it change much from what Kantar do? RM obviously have a network of RFID readers although these might be owned by Kantar. Also they pay us in stamps which cost very little for RM to supply. Most people here seem to be unhappy with the level of remuneration they receive for posting parcels.

XDA

HonestJohn said:

XDA said:

May I ask a question regarding the stamp swap out scheme…..

When you send in the books of 1st Class Large stamps, do you receive large stamps back?

I’m sending in my stash of Kantar reward stamps which are a mix of ‘normal’ 1st class and Large 1st class - Will I receive both barcoded normal and large 1st class in return?

Yes. That's what happened to me. You don't get books back though. You get sheets.

Thanks for confirming. 👍🏻

Chocmonster7

molerat said:

Is the Kantar survey coming to an end ?

https://www.royalmailwholesale.com/our-qos-measures

The below data shows our Quality of Service performance as measured by our current market research agency, Kantar.  Performance is based on the aggregate number of all Downstream Access D+2 and D+5 product samples delivered in the relevant period by the operators and customers who choose to participate in the Kantar study.  From April 2023, measurement will be carried out by a new supplier, Spectos, who has more than 20 years of experience in measuring Quality of Service for postal operators across Europe. Between July 2022 and April 2023, Spectos will recruit new panels of customers to take part in the measurement.

I've had a message saying I will be finishing at the start of next month so I wonder if this will turn out to be my last stint on the panel.

NBLondon

HonestJohn said:

Would it change much from what Kantar do? RM obviously have a network of RFID readers although these might be owned by Kantar. Also they pay us in stamps which cost very little for RM to supply. Most people here seem to be unhappy with the level of remuneration they receive for posting parcels.

Looking at the Spectos description - the activities of the panellists will be much the same, just a different app/website to log it on.

If RM supply the monthly stamps - they could supply them via Spectos as well.   Spectos pay for activities in Spectos Cents which can be converted into vouchers for High St retailers.   So that's the same as getting Perks points now.

The questions there are:

1. Will we still get the monthly stamps or just Cents for every item sent?
2. What's the rate if it's Cents?
3. Where can we convert/spend the Cents?

A small payment for every letter (not just a parcel) would appeal more to people who don't use the stamps - and there are many of those here.

The problem of the old Love2Shop vouchers was that some people had limited options to use them.  Being able to buy e.g. Amazon vouchers is going to be more attractive.

Dunno about the RFID readers.  They might be a generic device and can read whatever type of tracker Spectos will use.

MDMD

I think the readers are industry standard equipment owned by RM. The old gold/brown RFID inserts used to have “international post corporation” on them, and if you go to their website they have a page about the RFID trackers

https://www.ipc.be/services/rfid/rfid-network

edit: Hopefully the new provider can avoid things like this:

https://www.research-live.com/article/news/royal-mail-could-face-penalties-over-rigged-research/id/4002273

LADY_A

The test items I receive are always identifiable, embarrassing so sometimes , especially the cubes that are as light as a feather.
Obviously the postal workers can also spot them .
Not to mention the postal packs that arrive with the West Brom address printed on them !!!