Post Office Issues?

GadgetGuru

When I have sales on eBay I print off a label (purchased via eBay) as normal. I always select the option to drop off rather than collection, as it's just more convenient for me (I'm only a 2 min walk from the Post Office).

I have never had any issues with Tracked24 - I drop it off and in most cases it's delivered the next day. 

Tracked48 is the issue. 
I know it's not guaranteed service, and 8 times out of 10 my packages are delivered within 2-4 days of posting, which is fine. 

However this is the third time this has happened now. 
I drop the package off to the Post Office and retain the receipt. 
The tracking shows the item has been accepted at the Post Office etc. 
It then stays there. Usually it's scanned into the sorting office the same evening. But on the third occasion now it just seemingly sits at the Post Office - for DAYS!

RM tell me that they have no further info when I ring them, and to go back to the Post Office. 

I go back to the Post Office and moan, and with the first two cases, on the SAME DAY as moaning at them, the packages suddenly update and are scanned at the sorting office!

Ive been told all sorts of things:
- It's RM issues as they do not always scan the package in at the sorting office.
- All packages go from here the same day - we are not a warehouse. 
- You need to ring Royal Mail.
- Theres nothing we can do from here.
- We'll check the CCTV.
- My husband works at the sorting office. He said all the second class stuff is put to one side and only done when they have time. 

It happened again last week. On Wednesday I posted 3 small packages. 
Tracking didn't update again. 
Yesterday {Saturday) I went back and moaned at the Post Office guy who took them in. 
All the same excuses. 
Suddenly on the same day as moaning, all 3 packages suddenly turn up and are scanned at the sorting office, with tracking showing they will be delivered within the 2 days!!

I'm sure the packages are being held up at the Post Office. It's too much of a co-incidence. Third time now. And it was with 3 packages all together.

Post Office have advised me to always post Tracked24 as it's prioritised - but why should I have to spend more and do that when it's down to them not passing the packages across?!

Fortunately Ive always contacted my buyers first to show that I'm being proactive and luckily they have been understanding so far. If it wasn't for me checking tracking for every single package I post I would never know and would be met with INR cases!

Does anyone else have this or is it just me?

Money_Grabber13579

I’d be amazed if the parcels were being held at the post office. Typically, post offices are located in a small corner of a shop and they just don’t have the space to hold onto parcels longer than necessary. It’s much more likely that the parcels are getting deprioritised at the sorting office for a few days and it’s then coincidence that they get processed a few days later when you complain, presumably when they have less new parcels coming in.

KxMx

Have you tried using a different post office, and seeing if that makes any difference? 

GadgetGuru

Hmmmm......just seems an awful co-incidence that they always suddenly move when I go in to chase......although you are correct in stating it is only a small PO with little storage space. Most of the time packages spill out onto the shop floor in cages ready for collection!

Next PO is quite far away from me - considering this one is a 2 min walk it's just too convenient!

Money_Grabber13579

Have you tried using Royal Mail collection? It’s free and will get it directly into the sorting office. Downside I suppose is that you might need to wait in for the postman to come (I’m fortunate to live in a quiet area and can just leave the parcels outside when I go out but unfortunately not everyone can do that).

RFW

The Post Office won't have any control over when the parcels are scanned. It's unlikely they'd get scanned at the Post Office when collected. The chances are that if you keep moaning in the PO they're more likely to start holding them back.
If you're paying Ebay then I'm not even sure the PO gets any money for handling the parcels, if they do it will be pennies.

Jellynailer

Thank you for starting this thread because, as a 1000 plus Ebay buyer over the past 10 years, I have gone from being pleased that the seller is sending by RM to my heart sinking if RM is the courier. Now I understand why more and more of my tracked purchases are 'frozen' in Ebay tracking info at the 'dropped off' stage with no further update and later arriving so late I have reported non-delivery to the seller.

Having said this, my problems with RM are not just with Ebay purchases. A while back, deliveries of mail (including 1st class) and parcels were each limited to 3 days per week and both were being delivered to similar addresses in spite of the different postcodes. This included important hospital letters! So I complained to the local office then, after their very rude response, tried some media publicity. Bingo! RM's CEO's office contacted me and this is what I learnt:

RM postal services are managed by local delivery offices and my delivery office had staffing problems to the extent it was using temporary workers and limiting its delivery days. Due to getting attention from the top, the local service massively improved but within a year has reverted to lost and/or extremely delayed mail (3 mis-deliveries + all 2nd class post problems).

On the ground, the regular posties told me that workers were leaving due to the way they were treated by the local manager and that new recruits were not staying long.

An interesting question is how much this situation is duplicated across the country. It is something that Ebay could monitor via its tracking review question which I answer with one star.

The alternative for sellers is to use one of the discount couriers such as Evri and Yodel but this also has a local quality issue. In my area, the Evri person is absolutely brilliant while the Yodel one dumps on my doorstep and runs round the corner before I open the door (if I am at home!). I have tried messaging sellers to say please don't use Yodel but to no avail.

Can I suggest that you a) complain to the CEO of RM and b) pass on the above information to the sellers via the Ebay forum.

I hope this is helpful.

GadgetGuru

Money_Grabber13579 said:

Have you tried using Royal Mail collection? It’s free and will get it directly into the sorting office. Downside I suppose is that you might need to wait in for the postman to come (I’m fortunate to live in a quiet area and can just leave the parcels outside when I go out but unfortunately not everyone can do that).

Would love to but I'm not in to wait all day for collection, hence why I drop them off during my lunch break at work.
I've been tempted just to post smaller items through the letter box instead of using the PO. I know that means no proof of postage etc, but as long as its had its first scan that proof of postage receipt doesn't mean much anyways considering the label is always organised/printed online and no money is exchanged at the point of drop off.....

GadgetGuru

RFW said:

The Post Office won't have any control over when the parcels are scanned. It's unlikely they'd get scanned at the Post Office when collected. The chances are that if you keep moaning in the PO they're more likely to start holding them back.
If you're paying Ebay then I'm not even sure the PO gets any money for handling the parcels, if they do it will be pennies.

The Post Office scans the parcel as I hand it over. At this point tracking shows that the parcel has been dropped off to 'ParcelShop'.

The package tracking is next updated when it arrives at the sorting office. Usually this is the same evening for all packages. At this point, depending upon the service chosen of course, it moves to its local destination sorting office, where it is scanned and tracking is again updated, before finally going to the local delivery office, where tracking is updated again, and then delivered. 

Things are always relatively smooth once the item leaves the PO and gets to the first local sorting office. It's plain sailing from there - never had any issues with their Tracked48 or 24 services. 

The issue is the odd package that doesn't update once dropping off - so between the first two paragraphs above. 

The PO blame the sorting office for late scanning and just sitting on parcels. This is fair enough when its the odd parcel. However, when it happens to 3 parcels all dropped off at the same time, it made me question what was going on. I then realised every time I pull them up on it, the items get scanned at the sorting office the same evening. This is too much of a coincidence, no?

The PO has 3 counters at the rear of the store. 
During busy periods they also take pre-paid items at the front shop till, which also has a weighing machine etc. 
This is where they took my 3 packages. 
I even asked whether he wanted me to drop then in the postal bag at the rear where the PO counters are, and he said no he'll take them all over later. 
My thoughts are that the packages stayed under this till and weren't taken to the rear where the actual postal bags are. When I went in and enquired, they realised that some packages were still under the till and moved them - hence why the tracking then updated as they got to the sorting office. 

So on Wednesday I dropped the three Tracked48 items off.
On Saturday I went in to enquire on why they hadnt moved.
Suddenly Sat evening they got scanned in to the sorting office. 
Today they are being delivered. 
All just seems very coincidental. 

RFW

GadgetGuru said:

RFW said:

The Post Office won't have any control over when the parcels are scanned. It's unlikely they'd get scanned at the Post Office when collected. The chances are that if you keep moaning in the PO they're more likely to start holding them back.
If you're paying Ebay then I'm not even sure the PO gets any money for handling the parcels, if they do it will be pennies.

The PO blame the sorting office for late scanning and just sitting on parcels. This is fair enough when its the odd parcel. However, when it happens to 3 parcels all dropped off at the same time, it made me question what was going on. I then realised every time I pull them up on it, the items get scanned at the sorting office the same evening. This is too much of a coincidence, no?

I'm not 100% on how it works but knowing a bit about it I'd assume that the PO is timed to hand over parcels so if they delay once they've been scanned they'll get black marks against them from Royal Mail. I occasionally have to complain about why certain items have missed the promised metrics. RM then go away and check where there's been a problem, they never usually admit to anything but I'd guess that if it was showing that the PO was holding on to something they'd do something about that.

With the timescales involved I think it probably is just a coincidence. I'm fortunate to be able to drop off at a sorting office so I don't have a PO involved. That usually means that Tracked48s get delivered within 2 days.

ballisticbrian

 at the sorting office. He said all the second class stuff is put to one side and only done when they have time. 

^^^ THIS

This affects my whole business, and come xmas time, newer mail moves quickly through while the older stuck mail stays where it is ***at some depots***