Is the Post Office truly crap?

geordie_joe

kreid wrote: »

Does the PO offer a good service....deffo no....19th century opening times, need to join the 20th century, never mind the 21st! Try posting a parcel if you work!

I agree, but to be fair they do open 9 - 5.30 and on saturday morning. Not as good as some shops, but a lot better than my bank.

If we want them to open longer hours we will have to pay for it, extra staff or overtime for the current employees. Extra cost for lighting and heating, plus extra cost for the Royal Mail to collect the post later.

mrmajika

Now if it had been 4 credit card statements that had went astray in the post, I might've had a little sympathy.

gt94sss2

Our local postman is brilliant.. however, if he is ever sick or on holiday.. the service goes rapidly downhill (sometimes with no deliveries for a few days)... though its not as good as a few years ago with a) later deliveries b) no collections on Sundays and c) no second delivery and d) 'pricing in proportion'

I think it would also be a great help if the Royal Mail sorted more of their mail using proper sorting machines and not by hand.. though we don't lose mail AFAIK, its just delayed from time to time.

if you are talking about the Post Office - they could do with some serious investment in modern technology to modenise their service..

Regards
Sunil

bathgatebuyer

I'm convinced Post Offices have no one in them up until 12 o'clock and then the world and his wife go to my local one in Edinburgh. Posting a parcel usually takes about 20 worth of queuing, and even letters have to go through that templatey thing, so no more just sticking it in the mailbox!

As for the post itself, I've only had one problem and that was a former postie leaving records I'd purchased off Ebay somewhere he thought was safe until I got home from work :rolleyes:

lolarentt

gt94sss2 wrote: »

I think it would also be a great help if the Royal Mail sorted more of their mail using proper sorting machines and not by hand..
Regards
Sunil

They are trying to - this is why the 'large letter' and 'packet' system was introduced so that the automatic sorting system could deal with all the 'standard' mail, while the lumpy, bulky, odd-shaped mail that wont go through the automatic machines can be sorted by hand.

uktyler

Since we moved to our current address our mail has been a nightmare. I get about every third credit card/bank statement, I have never received anything from my council about my council tax, ebay items missing, even recorded delivery items not sent.

I've had debt collectors calling me for debts I did not know about, and the final straw?

I'm being taken to court for failing to provide information about the driver of a vehicle. If found guilty I lose my licence, my job, and the way I feed my family.

My complaints to RM got me nowhere. I was told in 2005 that they had done all they could do to correct the problem, and it was not worth contacting them with any more complaints. (this was from the directors office!)

Add to that a local postman dropping mail in the middle of the road and kicking it across the street, a huge pile of parcels stacked up at the sorting office because no one tried to deliver or even card us, and the delivery office manager telling lies to me and his head office.

Even the letter from Postwatch got lost in the post!

Rant over!.

PENNYWISE_3

John_Gatehouse wrote: »

Hi. I'm interested if anybody else is having problems with lost mail. I have just received my second credit card late payment fee of £12 since just before Xmas plus I was missing at least four Xmas cards from friends.

I pay miniumum payment for credit card by dd so can't ever have late payment fees and then try and pay for rest via cheque if have enough money.
Just after christmas I sent cheque off but noticed on statement didn't arrive til mid jan so got charged interest.
Phoned up cc peeps & (very nicely) asked if they would remove interest as i'd sent cheque in plenty of time and couldn't afford to pay interest & it magically disappeared ;-) Result!

Can highly recommend dd to pay min amount each month to avoid nasty charges.

Mikeyorks

gt94sss2 wrote: »

I think it would also be a great help if the Royal Mail sorted more of their mail using proper sorting machines and not by hand

If you've seen the inside of a large sorting office ... you would know they have some quite amazing sortation kit. Unfortunately it works best on computer printed output and similar inbound stuff with bar codes. Precisely the sort of material they're losing to relatively poor quality outfits such as TNT.

It's the hand written, poorly post-coded stuff that slows their systems down .. and no one is queuing to take that off their hands. But they're still pretty good with it, and very little is hand sorted. Where the media get their perpetual pictures, every time there's a problem, of a throng sorting into wooden racks ... is a bit mysterious. It's certainly far from the norm.

The Royal Mail basic problem isn't their equipment ... it's their appalling industrial relations with their own staff. If they could sort that and the awful restrictive practices that go with it - they're actually a pretty good outfit.

custardy

kreid wrote: »

Do the posties do a good job? ours do (mostly). Does the PO offer a good service....deffo no....19th century opening times, need to join the 20th century, never mind the 21st! Try posting a parcel if you work!

wont be an issue when 1 in 5 is closed and others are moved into wh smiths,eh?

DaveHemmerman

Just one little question - If you send something by 2nd class ie 24p stamp I bet some people spend more in petrol actually taking this to the post box on the street so IMO think people need to realise that a letter can go anywhere in the country ie Lands End to John O Groats for 24p. In an average car you cant even drive 2 miles on that! Everyone wants something for nothing! If its urgent use Special Delivery and the other more expensive services even this is good though IMO.

Just thought id add my 2pence worth.