Royal Mail does not deliver for weeks on end then....

Ergates

Bronvahl said:

ripplyuk said:

I thought this was common. My postman only comes once a week, on average, since covid. Occasionally there will be a flurry of activity with him coming every day and other times it might be once in a fortnight. I assumed it was to do with staff shortages. I’m in a rural area and I’m quite fond of the postman (we’ve had the same one for years) so I’ve never complained but it can be frustrating when I miss important appointments. 

Thanks for your reply, people always ask me if I am rural as if it is some excuse, I think you should get daily deliveries if there is post for you.  I do wonder what Royal Mail do if something is 2nd class, do they not send it out of source sorting office or leave it in box or pile after sorting a sack of incoming mail.  We too used to have a postie we knew well enough to say hello to and leave a bottle for at Christmas.  Now we seem to get different ones, not sure if they are rotating. 

I have tried to find reasons for this, like the prepaid licence or some other reason, but the only thing I can think of is that they have piles of mail thrown into a corner of the sorting office and they just get to it when they get to it but somehow funnel that into a leaflet delivery.

That doesn't answer the question:  Do you live in a remote rurual area?

donnac2558

I live in Belfast, 3 miles from the city centre.  See the postie usually on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  That is, if I happen to look out and see one wandering up the street.  I was total by my regular postie who now seems to deliver parcels only, that RM are much more focused on parcel delivery as it is what makes them money.

I got leaflets only last Monday, the week before I did get a letter. But I was not and still am not waiting on anything important.  Today a parcel is coming which was posted yesterday in London, I followed the tracking.  I buy from eBay and I noticed items which arrive at Cardiff central sorting office are always 2 to 3 days late just sitting in the sorting office.

Jenni_D

Ergates said:

Bronvahl said:

ripplyuk said:

I thought this was common. My postman only comes once a week, on average, since covid. Occasionally there will be a flurry of activity with him coming every day and other times it might be once in a fortnight. I assumed it was to do with staff shortages. I’m in a rural area and I’m quite fond of the postman (we’ve had the same one for years) so I’ve never complained but it can be frustrating when I miss important appointments. 

Thanks for your reply, people always ask me if I am rural as if it is some excuse, I think you should get daily deliveries if there is post for you.  I do wonder what Royal Mail do if something is 2nd class, do they not send it out of source sorting office or leave it in box or pile after sorting a sack of incoming mail.  We too used to have a postie we knew well enough to say hello to and leave a bottle for at Christmas.  Now we seem to get different ones, not sure if they are rotating. 

I have tried to find reasons for this, like the prepaid licence or some other reason, but the only thing I can think of is that they have piles of mail thrown into a corner of the sorting office and they just get to it when they get to it but somehow funnel that into a leaflet delivery.

That doesn't answer the question:  Do you live in a remote rurual area?

Earlier the OP said they live in what they classed as a Market Town, but then said the local population is about 100k. If that was a typo and they meant 10k then I'd class that as a Market Town - I'd class my town as such, and our population is creeping up towards 10k; but if the 100k is correct then that's a major conurbation, not a market town. 🤷‍♀️

We see our postie pretty much every day here ... I wouldn't expect a 100k town to have such a bad postal service.

sheramber

Bronvahl said:

Jenni_D said:

Even though you responded to @Ergates, you've not addressed the key question asked ... what do your neighbours say about their mail?

Sorry, I missed your message when thread expanded to two pages.

I don't know a lot of my neighbours, maybe about 8 or 9

I have not gone around asking them because they seem to go out early and when they come back I think it would be disturbing them in their family time.

On my video I have caught a postie delivering mail without leaflets to one neighbour, the closest, but nothing to me and the mail came with leaflets on the next due day, I say due day because it only seems to be Thursdays.

Of course I am only counting the days they actually come, I have not overlaid those on a calendar to determine all the days they don't come.

I noticed the Water bill being very late because the date it said I had to pay by had past already.

Then the next bundle had mail that predated the previous bundle, which made me think they were just piling up sacks of mail and not dealing with them chronologically.  

What about at the weekend?  It would hardly takes. A long time to ask your question and get an answer. 

If they have the same problem  they will probably be happy to  cooperate and if they don’t have a problem saying’ I’ only takes seconds.

Or, put. a  note through their door  asking them to let you know if they have a similar problem . Of course, that method isn’t foolproof as if they don’t contact you won’t know if they do or do not but just haven’t replied to you.

Bronvahl

Ergates said:

Bronvahl said:

ripplyuk said:

I thought this was common. My postman only comes once a week, on average, since covid. Occasionally there will be a flurry of activity with him coming every day and other times it might be once in a fortnight. I assumed it was to do with staff shortages. I’m in a rural area and I’m quite fond of the postman (we’ve had the same one for years) so I’ve never complained but it can be frustrating when I miss important appointments. 

Thanks for your reply, people always ask me if I am rural as if it is some excuse, I think you should get daily deliveries if there is post for you.  I do wonder what Royal Mail do if something is 2nd class, do they not send it out of source sorting office or leave it in box or pile after sorting a sack of incoming mail.  We too used to have a postie we knew well enough to say hello to and leave a bottle for at Christmas.  Now we seem to get different ones, not sure if they are rotating. 

I have tried to find reasons for this, like the prepaid licence or some other reason, but the only thing I can think of is that they have piles of mail thrown into a corner of the sorting office and they just get to it when they get to it but somehow funnel that into a leaflet delivery.

That doesn't answer the question:  Do you live in a remote rurual area?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81355795/#Comment_81355795

Bronvahl

Jenni_D said:

Ergates said:

Bronvahl said:

ripplyuk said:

I thought this was common. My postman only comes once a week, on average, since covid. Occasionally there will be a flurry of activity with him coming every day and other times it might be once in a fortnight. I assumed it was to do with staff shortages. I’m in a rural area and I’m quite fond of the postman (we’ve had the same one for years) so I’ve never complained but it can be frustrating when I miss important appointments. 

Thanks for your reply, people always ask me if I am rural as if it is some excuse, I think you should get daily deliveries if there is post for you.  I do wonder what Royal Mail do if something is 2nd class, do they not send it out of source sorting office or leave it in box or pile after sorting a sack of incoming mail.  We too used to have a postie we knew well enough to say hello to and leave a bottle for at Christmas.  Now we seem to get different ones, not sure if they are rotating. 

I have tried to find reasons for this, like the prepaid licence or some other reason, but the only thing I can think of is that they have piles of mail thrown into a corner of the sorting office and they just get to it when they get to it but somehow funnel that into a leaflet delivery.

That doesn't answer the question:  Do you live in a remote rurual area?

Earlier the OP said they live in what they classed as a Market Town, but then said the local population is about 100k. If that was a typo and they meant 10k then I'd class that as a Market Town - I'd class my town as such, and our population is creeping up towards 10k; but if the 100k is correct then that's a major conurbation, not a market town. 🤷‍♀️

We see our postie pretty much every day here ... I wouldn't expect a 100k town to have such a bad postal service.

It seems the population is around 90k, it calls itself a market town, I have never heard of conurbation, but perhaps we could get back on topic with my original post.

savergrant

Bronvahl said:

Jenni_D said:

Ergates said:

Bronvahl said:

ripplyuk said:

I thought this was common. My postman only comes once a week, on average, since covid. Occasionally there will be a flurry of activity with him coming every day and other times it might be once in a fortnight. I assumed it was to do with staff shortages. I’m in a rural area and I’m quite fond of the postman (we’ve had the same one for years) so I’ve never complained but it can be frustrating when I miss important appointments. 

Thanks for your reply, people always ask me if I am rural as if it is some excuse, I think you should get daily deliveries if there is post for you.  I do wonder what Royal Mail do if something is 2nd class, do they not send it out of source sorting office or leave it in box or pile after sorting a sack of incoming mail.  We too used to have a postie we knew well enough to say hello to and leave a bottle for at Christmas.  Now we seem to get different ones, not sure if they are rotating. 

I have tried to find reasons for this, like the prepaid licence or some other reason, but the only thing I can think of is that they have piles of mail thrown into a corner of the sorting office and they just get to it when they get to it but somehow funnel that into a leaflet delivery.

That doesn't answer the question:  Do you live in a remote rurual area?

Earlier the OP said they live in what they classed as a Market Town, but then said the local population is about 100k. If that was a typo and they meant 10k then I'd class that as a Market Town - I'd class my town as such, and our population is creeping up towards 10k; but if the 100k is correct then that's a major conurbation, not a market town. 🤷‍♀️

We see our postie pretty much every day here ... I wouldn't expect a 100k town to have such a bad postal service.

It seems the population is around 90k, it calls itself a market town, I have never heard of conurbation, but perhaps we could get back on topic with my original post.

I'd say a conurbation was significantly larger than that, something like West Midlands or South Yorkshire where you have a number of towns in close proximity with little rural land between them. I could see Cheltenham or Harrogate falling into the market town around 100k description.
A population of 90k and not a city probably means no sorting office locally, mail sorted in a larger city and then transported. So the question remains is everyone experiencing these problems? I should have imagined 90k people not receiving post for weeks on end would get some attention, that's the size of a parliamentary constituency so imagine an MP finding all their constituents having a problem with post!
So it is likely that the problem is more localised. While you say you live in a town of 90k there is going to be a difference between living in the centre and on the outskirts, some developments may be quite remote but still carry the address 'Anytown'. And unfortunately sometimes there can be issues with postcodes not being recognised.
Certainly asking neighbours about their experiences is a start point, and maybe your local councillors.

Using the services near you checking will tell you where your postie travels from, that might be a start point;
https://www.royalmail.com/services-near-you#/

This apparently is how it's supposed to work;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BVHPmGIxBQ

horsewithnoname

I live in the suburbs of a major city and I’m convinced the post is saved up and delivered maybe once a week. It’s never caused any issues, but I’ve definitely noticed it. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

Royal Mail doesn't want to deliver letters and you probably aren't alone in letters being saved up and delivered in batches but 4 weeks is a long time.

I think the leaflets are a red herring, they are just delivering them with your mail rather than bringing mail because there is a leaflet. 

Pragmatically you are best doing things such as moving your water bill online and seeing if the NHS has any web /app based system for appointments, whilst you shouldn't have to fighting Royal Mail on this is going to be a struggle  

MattMattMattUK

Royal Mail do the same for me, I generally only get post once every week or two, which will then include letters for the last couple of weeks. They will deliver all mail if a Tracked 24/48 or Special Delivery is sent to my address, but otherwise post will normally take a couple of weeks. I know other residents in the block where I live have complained and Royal Mail always deny there is a problem, claim that they deliver every day etc. even when proven to be wrong they keep up the same line.

As Lunatic has said Royal Mail just do not care about delivering letters any more and the only real solution is to move as much as possible to digital.