Postal disruption and lost cheques 10 December 2022 at 9:50AM edited 16 December 2022 at 10:23AM in Compers chat corner 14 replies 434 views

terry8591

Hi, does anyone know what happens if cheques are lost in the post and not deposited? Thanks to the postal strikes I've had no post delivered for a couple of weeks and before that many things were delayed by the strikes. One ebay order was lost in the post and some letters were about a week late, and things are even worse now. When all the post builds up like that, the chances of things going missing increase, especially if they have to use temp postal workers to help with the huge backlog (which will be exacerbated by the Christmas rush). If a cheque goes missing, is it just tough luck for the winner? For many competitions the first and only notification of a win is getting the cheque.

MikeJXE

Surely when warnings are  all over the news channels about travelling because of strikes it's common-sense to try to avoid anything where there is a strike either coming or in progress including avoiding posting anything with Royal Mail. it's about the only public service where there are other choices. 

tightauldgit

If a cheque goes missing (people still use cheques in 2022?) it should be relatively easy to get a new one issued - it's just a case of cancelling the original cheque and sending you a replacement. 

Of course if you don't know you are due to receive a cheque then yes it's going to just be tough luck I imagine.

terry8591

Well I received a cheque from a mag back in June, so yes they still use them. Maybe they will go paperless soon considering how expensive it is.

mjm3346

terry8591 said:

Well I received a cheque from a mag back in June, so yes they still use them. Maybe they will go paperless soon considering how expensive it is.

Cheques have the potential to save them money every time for whatever reason they are not cashed (forgot, cannot be bothered, lost etc)

mjm3346

terry8591 said:

Hi, does anyone know what happens if cheques are lost in the post and not deposited? Thanks to the postal strikes I've had no post delivered for a couple of weeks and before that many things were delayed by the strikes. One ebay order was lost in the post and some letters were about a week late, and things are even worse now. When all the post builds up like that, the chances of things going missing increase, especially if they have to use temp postal workers to help with the huge backlog (which will be exacerbated by the Christmas rush). If a cheque goes missing, is it just tough luck for the winner? For many competitions the first and only notification of a win is getting the cheque.

Cheques are not high on the list of things that go missing as they are not much use to most other people - giftcards however are almost as good as cash and a fairly common prize - same as a cheque if you do not know about it then there is nothing you can do about it

terry8591

mjm3346 said:

terry8591 said:

Hi, does anyone know what happens if cheques are lost in the post and not deposited? Thanks to the postal strikes I've had no post delivered for a couple of weeks and before that many things were delayed by the strikes. One ebay order was lost in the post and some letters were about a week late, and things are even worse now. When all the post builds up like that, the chances of things going missing increase, especially if they have to use temp postal workers to help with the huge backlog (which will be exacerbated by the Christmas rush). If a cheque goes missing, is it just tough luck for the winner? For many competitions the first and only notification of a win is getting the cheque.

Cheques are not high on the list of things that go missing as they are not much use to most other people - giftcards however are almost as good as cash and a fairly common prize - same as a cheque if you do not know about it then there is nothing you can do about it

It's been known for temps to keep the good stuff and just dump the rest though.

mjm3346

terry8591 said:

mjm3346 said:

terry8591 said:

Hi, does anyone know what happens if cheques are lost in the post and not deposited? Thanks to the postal strikes I've had no post delivered for a couple of weeks and before that many things were delayed by the strikes. One ebay order was lost in the post and some letters were about a week late, and things are even worse now. When all the post builds up like that, the chances of things going missing increase, especially if they have to use temp postal workers to help with the huge backlog (which will be exacerbated by the Christmas rush). If a cheque goes missing, is it just tough luck for the winner? For many competitions the first and only notification of a win is getting the cheque.

Cheques are not high on the list of things that go missing as they are not much use to most other people - giftcards however are almost as good as cash and a fairly common prize - same as a cheque if you do not know about it then there is nothing you can do about it

It's been known for temps to keep the good stuff and just dump the rest though.

Only a small amount of the total number of items posted are dumped but being able to feel a gift card inside an envelope makes an attractive target and just lifting an occasional envelope (and resealing if required) is far lower risk than dumping lots of mail. 

Brie

I thought that most of the sites had an option to look and see if you were a winner - assuming they didn't email you or similar.  That way you could know whether to expect something.  Maybe it's just the sites I've seen.

terry8591

mjm3346 said:

terry8591 said:

mjm3346 said:

terry8591 said:

Hi, does anyone know what happens if cheques are lost in the post and not deposited? Thanks to the postal strikes I've had no post delivered for a couple of weeks and before that many things were delayed by the strikes. One ebay order was lost in the post and some letters were about a week late, and things are even worse now. When all the post builds up like that, the chances of things going missing increase, especially if they have to use temp postal workers to help with the huge backlog (which will be exacerbated by the Christmas rush). If a cheque goes missing, is it just tough luck for the winner? For many competitions the first and only notification of a win is getting the cheque.

Cheques are not high on the list of things that go missing as they are not much use to most other people - giftcards however are almost as good as cash and a fairly common prize - same as a cheque if you do not know about it then there is nothing you can do about it

It's been known for temps to keep the good stuff and just dump the rest though.

Only a small amount of the total number of items posted are dumped but being able to feel a gift card inside an envelope makes an attractive target and just lifting an occasional envelope (and resealing if required) is far lower risk than dumping lots of mail. 

If gain was the only motive then yes, but some are motivated by laziness, especially if they are just temping for a few days and don't really have a job to lose. This may be made more of a temptation because of the backlog from strike days and the Christmas effect. I've seen many cases, over the years, of dumping like this one a couple of months ago:
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/royal-mail-investigate-after-hundreds-7702300

mjm3346

terry8591 said:

mjm3346 said:

terry8591 said:

mjm3346 said:

terry8591 said:

Hi, does anyone know what happens if cheques are lost in the post and not deposited? Thanks to the postal strikes I've had no post delivered for a couple of weeks and before that many things were delayed by the strikes. One ebay order was lost in the post and some letters were about a week late, and things are even worse now. When all the post builds up like that, the chances of things going missing increase, especially if they have to use temp postal workers to help with the huge backlog (which will be exacerbated by the Christmas rush). If a cheque goes missing, is it just tough luck for the winner? For many competitions the first and only notification of a win is getting the cheque.

Cheques are not high on the list of things that go missing as they are not much use to most other people - giftcards however are almost as good as cash and a fairly common prize - same as a cheque if you do not know about it then there is nothing you can do about it

It's been known for temps to keep the good stuff and just dump the rest though.

Only a small amount of the total number of items posted are dumped but being able to feel a gift card inside an envelope makes an attractive target and just lifting an occasional envelope (and resealing if required) is far lower risk than dumping lots of mail. 

If gain was the only motive then yes, but some are motivated by laziness, especially if they are just temping for a few days and don't really have a job to lose. This may be made more of a temptation because of the backlog from strike days and the Christmas effect. I've seen many cases, over the years, of dumping like this one a couple of months ago:
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/royal-mail-investigate-after-hundreds-7702300

There are over 90,000 postmen/women in the UK and there would need to be multiple cases of dumping every day to make it  anything more than a tiny amount of the total mail handled daily - and if it is dumped most could be delivered if recovered and of course mass dumping is easily detected.