Royal Mail delivery times

custardy

So.I was speaking to a long in the tooth postie today.
RM are planning to have staff working boxing day including delivering parcels. To the point they have a nationally agreed extra payment in place.
They are also considering having staff delivering parcels on Christmas day 
Absolutly astounded by the way RM have handled this. It has laways been the case the network aims to be clear for Xmas Eve and I know from speaking to the guys in multiple offices the resource could have been there (Xmas overtime) but the will to pay it hasnt been.
From what I see they haven't bothered with extended customer service point opening either

soolin

custardy said:

So.I was speaking to a long in the tooth postie today.
RM are planning to have staff working boxing day including delivering parcels. To the point they have a nationally agreed extra payment in place.
They are also considering having staff delivering parcels on Christmas day 
Absolutly astounded by the way RM have handled this. It has laways been the case the network aims to be clear for Xmas Eve and I know from speaking to the guys in multiple offices the resource could have been there (Xmas overtime) but the will to pay it hasnt been.
From what I see they haven't bothered with extended customer service point opening either

I don’t recall what the normal opening times are for at the CS point at my local RM office but for the majority of this year they have been severely curtailed and only opening for around 2 hours a day every other day. I can still drop my bags  off as business drop offs into the cages is allowed until 6.45 pm Monday - Friday and there are usually a few angry people milling around wondering how on earth they can collect their item with their red card. 

However last week the opening times increased sharply, I think on Tuesdays it is now 8am-8pm . 

vacheron

After following this thread I've taken the opportunity to check on my own recent sales and delivery company performance.

8th December    - UPS                                       - Delivered 9th   - 1 day
10th December  - Royal Mail Special Delivery   - Delivered 17th  - 5 days
12th December  - Royal Mail Small Parcel         - Delivered 17th  - 5 days
10th December  - UPS                                       - Delivered 11th  - 1 day
12th December  - Royal Mail Large Letter         - Not Delivered   - 5 days+
12th December  - Royal Mail Special Delivery   - Delivered 15th  - 2 days
13th December  - Royal Mail Large Letter          - Not Delivered   - 4 days+
14th December  - Royal Mail Large Letter          - Not Delivered   - 3 days+
15th December  - UPS                                        - Delivered 16th  - 1 day

Most concerning is that the two Special Delivery items (sent at a cost of £11.00 each) were 2 and 5 days respectively while UPS are consistently arriving next day.

Plus, with the current Packlink half price promo it costs pay £6.60 for fully insured next day delivery with UPS, AND they collect it from my door, so that is the no-brainer service I'll be using for everything from now on until the promo ends on the 31st!    

custardy

soolin said:

custardy said:

So.I was speaking to a long in the tooth postie today.
RM are planning to have staff working boxing day including delivering parcels. To the point they have a nationally agreed extra payment in place.
They are also considering having staff delivering parcels on Christmas day 
Absolutly astounded by the way RM have handled this. It has laways been the case the network aims to be clear for Xmas Eve and I know from speaking to the guys in multiple offices the resource could have been there (Xmas overtime) but the will to pay it hasnt been.
From what I see they haven't bothered with extended customer service point opening either

I don’t recall what the normal opening times are for at the CS point at my local RM office but for the majority of this year they have been severely curtailed and only opening for around 2 hours a day every other day. I can still drop my bags  off as business drop offs into the cages is allowed until 6.45 pm Monday - Friday and there are usually a few angry people milling around wondering how on earth they can collect their item with their red card. 

However last week the opening times increased sharply, I think on Tuesdays it is now 8am-8pm . 

My local office would be open to 6am to 5pm all week except 11-3 Sunday.(IIRC later on a Wednesday) during the xmas 'pressure'.
This year it is 8-11 M-W,8-12 T-Sat & 11-3 Sunday.
Ive had a look across some offices I know and can see no extended hours anywhere.
As I have previously posted. RM have saved a fortune with the reduced callers hours and this lack of hours during xmas compounds it. Extended hours are generally covered in overtime.
Those angry people should read the card and check the RM opening hours as it advises

custardy

vacheron said:

After following this thread I've taken the opportunity to check on my own recent sales and delivery company performance.

8th December    - UPS                                       - Delivered 9th   - 1 day
10th December  - Royal Mail Special Delivery   - Delivered 17th  - 5 days
12th December  - Royal Mail Small Parcel         - Delivered 17th  - 5 days
10th December  - UPS                                       - Delivered 11th  - 1 day
12th December  - Royal Mail Large Letter         - Not Delivered   - 5 days+
12th December  - Royal Mail Special Delivery   - Delivered 15th  - 2 days
13th December  - Royal Mail Large Letter          - Not Delivered   - 4 days+
14th December  - Royal Mail Large Letter          - Not Delivered   - 3 days+
15th December  - UPS                                        - Delivered 16th  - 1 day

Most concerning is that the two Special Delivery items (sent at a cost of £11.00 each) were 2 and 5 days respectively while UPS are consistently arriving next day.

Plus, with the current Packlink half price promo it costs pay £6.60 for fully insured next day delivery with UPS, AND they collect it from my door, so that is the no-brainer service I'll be using for everything from now on until the promo ends on the 31st!    

Honestly. I'm still in touch with mail centre guys and loads of delivery office guys.
Messy tales coming from all.
Edinburgh mail centre is too small for its use nowadays and mail is being stored in every nook and cranny. 
Offices,cleaner cupboards anywhere. They have shut down massive ILSM letter sorting machines. If you are interested https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDY3kgOkZIU 
To use the space around the machines for storage/parcel sorting.
The whole mindset has changed in RM this year, A massive culture change with far less concern on clearing mail and accepting mail failures.

charlies_mum

It’s just been on the news about how Royal Mail and all carriers are Struggling with the volume of mail.   They showed footage of mountains of mail sacks awaiting sorting.    Unfortunately a lot of buyers won’t think that affects their deliveries as “everything else they have ordered has arrived”.    Another three item not received cases yesterday.     It’s not worth the stress, I’ve closed till after Christmas.

soolin

charlies_mum said:

It’s just been on the news about how Royal Mail and all carriers are Struggling with the volume of mail.   They showed footage of mountains of mail sacks awaiting sorting.    Unfortunately a lot of buyers won’t think that affects their deliveries as “everything else they have ordered has arrived”.    Another three item not received cases yesterday.     It’s not worth the stress, I’ve closed till after Christmas.

Mines all closed as well , I can't take the stress of seeing another 'you have a message from another user' and wondering if it is yet another 'where is my item' post. I swear if one more tells me that everything else they ordered has arrived - I'll scream. 

I have been on some of the US boards recently and they are having even worse issues than us, it is now a 'thing' to post up photos of vast warehouses and delivery centres full of post- rather like the scene in the Indiana Jones film with a never ending warehouse full to the brim. Apparently shipping covid jabs has been pushed as a priority and the road lorries not available to move post and stuff is literally just being stored in some areas.

fond_of_linux

Makes sense about the shipping of COVID jabs. I hadn't thought of that.

I came here to moan about a PC part I'd ordered that's about the size of a fag packet. Actually, a fag packet if it were half as thick. It was posted in Peterborough on Tuesday afternoon and hasn't made it to Nottingham yet. I think I'll just remain patient and will have to hold-off on building someone their dream PC for Christmas for another few days.

[Deleted User]

I’ve just had a delivery for something that was ordered 5 weeks ago. I’m not surprised though. 

vacheron

Has today been deemed "national online delivery day" or something?

A grand total of one parcel arrived at our house between Monday and Thursday... and then today:

First a white van delivery driver turns up with two eBay parcels, then the postman arrives with three letters and five small eBay packets, then a second white van delivery driver with another parcel closely followed by a UPS driver and then second postman with two more smaller parcels. Then came the Amazon Prime van and six minutes after him another postman in a red van with one more larger parcel. One second Amazon delivery driver about six minutes after that, then the neighbour across the street knocks on the door with a parcel addressed to us that had been delivered to him for some reason, even though I’ve clearly been in the house all day (albeit doing virtually nothing but collecting bl**dy parcels)!

Perhaps he saw the queue outside my house and just decided to leave it with someone else!