Saturday morning post deliverys to STOP

Just out of interest , what letters do people urgently need on Saturdays? After all we don’t get postal deliveries on Sundays .

Parcel deliveries aren’t going to be affected .

We very rarely get Royal Mail deliveries on Saturdays even before the current situation, only courier deliveries. I have to say the courier services have been great, even delivering on Sundays.

Our area is advertising for postmen/women. @11 an hour,
I used to have a regular one,but they vary now

I suspect it’s something that won’t happen again. I remember when we used to get 2 deliveries a day, every day, and no junk mail.

I can understand the need to cut back just now, as there will be a lot more absence than usual.

I don't think it's fair to say that people don't need mail on Saturdays in normal circumstances, though. It's one thing if you are retired, but when people are working, it is often the only day that they can get deliveries without a lot of hassle. Not everyone has neighbours who are in and able to take in parcels, and not everyone lives close to a sorting office.

My postie, too, is a lovely man, always ready with a joke and a smile, and if he hasn't seen me for a few days asks a neighbour if I'm alright. However, most of what he brings is junk or charity appeals, most of which goes straight in the bin. Nowadays almost everything for which I would have used the post goes on line. The only time I write a cheque is for my gardener, and I keep telling him its about time he moved out of the 19th century. Everything else is dealt with on line, especially if it is something I want to be sure has arrived and I very rarely write letters. Sorry, Post Office, but things do go astray!I think the PO will have to be very careful not to price themselves out of the market. The cost of sending parcels has become prohibitive, which is a pity because it used to be so exciting on birthday or at Christmas seeing the postman walking up the path with presents in his hand. A gift voucher is not quite the same!
I still send a lot, too many, Christmas cards but grandchildren's generation rarely do so perhaps that tradition too will gradually die out.

That seems fair enough to me Mick

This what I have just taken of there webpage
To manage these severe absence levels, we are implementing a range of mitigations. These include changing the time guarantee on Special Delivery, deploying non-operational managers in delivery and temporarily no longer delivering letters on a Saturday.

jane1956 Wed 29-Apr-20 11:29:13
sorry MawB no, they need to reduce the postage cost then if they are not giving us a full service. The same applies to the BBC who think it is ok to stuff loads of repeats but not offer a discount

In your dreams Jane 1956 - “don’t you know there’s a war on?” .

Our post has been a bit sporadic anyway, maybe because there’s been a big drop in junk mail, hurrah! Sending mail has been random, too. My son sent cards his children had done to two family members on the same day but one arrived about a week after the other.

Our postie is lovely. When my girls were of the age to do school exams, he used to knock on the door and wait to hand over their results in person. ❤️

Think this is only a temporary measure ,the postmen are still working & delivering parcels & packets.My son in law is a postman & he says that they have been so busy ,much busier than Christmas.People are buying so much more online & it all has to be delivered.They are doing a great job & are all working extremely hard .

Is this just a temporary measure or will it be used to cut services further in the future?

BIL in Surrey hasn’t had post on Saturdays for years. I signed up for the mail preference service so get little unsolicited post but emails are another matter.

I’ve opened a separate account and use it as contact if I buy anything that requires an email address. It has hundreds of emails that I clear out every so often.

Grannybags. Hopefully your family will post their cards a day early to avoid disappointment.

Don’t we all still send birthday cards and presents? They wil have to be posted a week early to arrive in time.
The postal service is already very poor. Collections in my area are once daily, very early. Our Post Office has been closed for a month and opened only erratically for months before that.
In the 19th century you could receive a letter, send a reply and get a further reply all within one day.

We lived in Ireland for 9 years and never had lost in a Saturday - kind of got used to it

We love to see the postman coming up the road, really cheers me and my gs up. I just hope this isn’t a way to reduce their wages. They’re worth every penny. ?

Speaking as an "insider" I can confirm MawB has got it spot on.
Jane1956 It sometimes helps to think before you post.

If they do it to cut staff and wages because they’re losing money ok but then don’t let me read the bosses are walking off with ginormous bonuses and pension pots !!!! Sick of those at the top abusing their position !

I was really impressed by the deliveries at Easter. I posted my cards rather late so expected them not to get there on time, but my daughter received hers on Good Friday - next day - and my son and daughter in law got theirs on the Saturday. I was very surprised there was a delivery on a bank holiday but that was in Glasgow so maybe Scotland has different system than England. I know the posties are working incredibly hard at present so lets hope it isn't a sign of job losses to come in the future. I get very little mail these days so don't expect it to make much difference to me unless my birthday falls on a Saturday. |It just means my kids will need to be more organised!

This is surely no great problem for most of us? I would imagine that the bottleneck, so to speak, is at the local sorting office where safe distancing must be slowing things down. Speaking personally, we get post most, if not all days, and very much appreciate our hard working and cheerful posties.

I have no expectations {hmm]where I live when it comes to postal deliveries.Gave that up years ago.

The Saturday delivers will continue for parcels, packets and any recorded post. Saturday post will be delivered the following week. There are a lot of people of sick which puts pressure on the others to deliver the post and they have been told they won't get overtime pay if they work over their time to deliver everything on their round.

Have to think of the postal workers. So not a problem for me.

Craftycat
That was a lovely thing to say and I’m not surprised they appreciated it.

Maw
Thank you for your voice of reason.