xmas mail

MrB_2

Points Custardy forgot to mention. Wrapping & packaging. Please make sure that these two things are sufficient, because if your sending things out in a bin liner (You know who you are), thin and nasty gift wrap which tears as soon as you look at it or fragile items in a jiffy bag, dont expect them to get there in one piece. We put up with it all year long and do our best but as stated, there are a hell of a lot more parcels around and many posties are a lot less 'gentle' around now. Wrap them in strong brown paper, preferably inside a box, Print the address, this is a lot easier to read than what can look like a spider in an inkpot (Cards also please) and DONT be tempted to use gold or silver pens. These cr*ppy things are the bane of a postie. Also to reiterate, dont just send out an item with half an address thinking the postie will know who the item is for ( A favorite with the older generation) Joe Bloggs may live in Elm Avenue, but without a number, the covering postie or the one on overtime isn't going to know where and the item will be returned.

custardy

oh yeah and if you are collecting an item from the delivery office then take the card.
honestly so many people think by telling me their name i will just pull a packet out of the hat
just because it doesnt say much to you it tells the guy on the door loads.
the date,whether its a postie or driver,the duty,if its an RD/sd etc
even the writing can tell you who it is as with so many overtime duties it can be delivered by various posties in one area.

be nice to the people on the door,they dont decide customs charges,they dont decide if a letter incurs an insufficient postage cost,they didnt lose your package,its not their fault its not back.
like the woman who came in today and gave me her card.then immediatly told me it had better be here or else. i had never spoken to this woman before and she only got the card yesterday we had a nice chat about attitude before she got her packets

also read the card.if it says 48 hours on the back then its unlikely to be back 45 minutes after you got the card :rolleyes:

also forget phoning your delivery office on a satuday,its just not going to be answered.

u2o

very interesting points custardy, thanks. Im in edinburgh and got one of those magic cards. only problem was, the number of hours on the back was incredibly messy and non-readable. only till u mentioned '48 hours' did it click to my mind that the number actually said 48... im not used to this high number!! luckily when i went to collect this morning (russel road sorting office), it was there.

custardy

lol,russel road eh? i hear they have the sexiest posties in edinburgh

u2o

dunno about sexiest... im a man and there were no female posties there when i went :P nevertheless they were very friendly though! only problem i have is that they're only open in the mornings... and i dont have time to go there before work coz im getting lazier and lazier getting up so i have to wait till the weekend and hope i get up in time on saturday before they close at 1130!!

custardy

i probably served you

u2o

Lol cool! Small world eh!

Contains_Mild_Peril

Interesting story about the missing post in Aberdeen... maybe the parcels I sent last year which never arrived (nowhere near Aberdeen though) will turn up somewhere this year!
I'm going to have words with Royal Mail, since the current postie has taken to leaving parcels in the close outside my door without even bothering to knock. It's a miracle I got them all. The housing scheme where I live is not one where you can leave tempting parcels lying around and expect them to stay safe. Rather worryingly, one of the parcels left outside contained a knife, which I'd bought as a decorative collector's item for a Christmas present, but still potentially an offensive weapon in the wrong hands.
Custardy, you mentioned undeliverable Xmas cards being destroyed - what happens to any money or vouchers in them? Do they go to charity or what? Just curious.
I hand-delivered a Christmas card to an address several streets away once after it arrived through my door. Normally I would just write "delivered to wrong address" on the envelope and stick it back in the post box, but since it was about 22 December I figured the addressee might not get it by Christmas if I did that.

Sagz_2

Slightyly off topic - sorry - but I've noticed that a couple of you are Posties so I'll pounce whilst you are here!

I've not had any post for 3 days, which considering the freebies and junk I sign up for is totally unheard of, I've only ever gone for one (working) day without post in the 3 years at this address.
Any idea what could be wrong or where I can enquire about my post?
Thanks for any help you can give
NorbsMa

custardy

contact your delivery office.
could be staffing issues,especially if the bulk of your mail is junk.
if they are struggling for staff then as a last measure they will 'stream' the walk.
so someone only takes out stamped & dated items leaving items like mailsort