Gransnet forums

Chat

The postal service

(58 Posts)
Daisymae Mon 20-Mar-23 22:40:04

Or rather lack of it. We've had no post for a week. Why? Because our postman is on holiday and they refuse to either pay overtime or get cover. This after a big drive by Royal mail to get customers to sign up to Pharmacy 2U, online prescription service. I'm now waiting for 3 urgent items, one of which is a prescription. Wasn't that long ago there were 2 deliveries a day.......

Milest0ne Thu 23-Mar-23 12:44:30

Since Brexit, mail to EU is greatly delayed as mail needs customs declarations. My Ds birthday present went down a black hole which I am told is in Poland. even though I paid to have it tracked. That only means that it is tracked till it leaves UK customs, not to it's destination.
I now have an agreement with a friend who often visits Holland and will post birthday cards for me over there.

cc Thu 23-Mar-23 12:45:30

Bluedaisy

My DS works for Royal Mail and says the problem lies with the top man who is actually being looked into by Parliament for his lies and running of the Company. He messed up BA before taking on Royal Mail and is in the process of doing the self same thing with this company allegedly. The workers are furious with him because he is prioritising the parcels over the letters and changing rounds so the posties work longer days with different conditions which they say won’t work. The company Hubs are not working as they should and he’s seems to be trying to turn Royal Mail into DHS or similar! Apparently he’s hopeless at justifying any of his ridiculous changes and actions in Parliament and if you watch him on YouTube you will see he’s more worried about giving his share owner’s money than running the company how it’s always been run! It’s the same old saying ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’.
There’s too many of these people nowadays trying to ‘fix’ companies that are working and efficient in my humble opinion.

They've also closed many sorting offices so if you have to pick something up you have to travel miles to the nearest office. I don't even know where ours would be now.
In some areas the postmen simply push a card through the door saying you need to collect your parcel, without bothering to ring the bell. If you catch them pushing the card through they are forced to admit that they don't actually bring the parcels with them.

nipsmum Thu 23-Mar-23 13:39:40

I certainly cannot complain in our area of Aberdeen. Pick up every morning from our local post box and certainly one delivery on weekdays. Thank you to all the postal staff at Berryden P O .

Bluedaisy Thu 23-Mar-23 13:44:40

Callistemon21 the head of Royal Mail Simon Thomson is earning £540k a year with £47k a year rise.
Yes my DS delivers to some of the hubs but one in particular that is usually busy hasn’t been used in months which is strange, he’s been told it’s because there’s a problem with the computers! Simon Thomsons allegedly wanting to privatise Royal Mail and sell off bits of it. Personally I don’t know how he managed to get the job as he’d already mucked up BA?

tinaf1 Thu 23-Mar-23 14:03:04

Bluedaisy

My DS works for Royal Mail and says the problem lies with the top man who is actually being looked into by Parliament for his lies and running of the Company. He messed up BA before taking on Royal Mail and is in the process of doing the self same thing with this company allegedly. The workers are furious with him because he is prioritising the parcels over the letters and changing rounds so the posties work longer days with different conditions which they say won’t work. The company Hubs are not working as they should and he’s seems to be trying to turn Royal Mail into DHS or similar! Apparently he’s hopeless at justifying any of his ridiculous changes and actions in Parliament and if you watch him on YouTube you will see he’s more worried about giving his share owner’s money than running the company how it’s always been run! It’s the same old saying ‘if it’s not broken, don’t fix it’.
There’s too many of these people nowadays trying to ‘fix’ companies that are working and efficient in my humble opinion.

This my son also is a postie they want him to work past his time with no extra pay .

Janeea Thu 23-Mar-23 14:07:46

We have post almost every day and the days we don’t we still see the postman

Stillstanding Thu 23-Mar-23 14:36:54

I thought where I live, (SW London), was exceptionally bad for post deliveries and now I see it is the new "normal". I have a Radio Times subscription and my mag used to arrive on Tuesdays to start on Saturday. I often do not get the mag until the Friday which is the day before it is due to start. If I do not get it by the Saturday I fill in the Radio Times form and get my subscription extended by one issue. This means the Radio Times subscription people will know where and how often the mag fails to arrive on time presuming everyone reports the failure to deliver.

How long before the Radio Times is delivered by an alternative?

Pharmacy2U? Ditto.

Ilovecheese Thu 23-Mar-23 14:41:19

Isn't privatisation wonderful.

glammagran Thu 23-Mar-23 14:47:55

I’m amazed that the post office isn’t run ragged delivering Saga brochures. We get approximately 2 every week even though we requested they stop sending them. We are more than capable of finding a Saga cruise via email/websites. Nearly all mail items we receive could be classed as junk with 9/10 items going straight into recycling without even being opened.

polly123 Thu 23-Mar-23 14:50:06

I run a small online business and post internationally. I always pay for tracked and signed delivery but have had no proof of arrival for well over a year. What are we paying for?!

bear1 Thu 23-Mar-23 14:51:39

i cant fault our Postie we live in the country side but whatever the weather he delivers and when he is away we still have our post delivered by another postie who also comes what ever the weather

Bijou Thu 23-Mar-23 15:17:05

In the 1930s if you posted a letter to a local address in the morning it would arrive in the afternoon! 1d , one penny.

Scrappydo Thu 23-Mar-23 16:21:22

I am still waiting for my Mother’s Day card which was posted 1st class two Mondays ago. My son is very upset that I haven’t got it yet. Parcels are arriving in a timely manner but I have had no letters for over a week. What is happening 😤

lixy Thu 23-Mar-23 16:21:57

My Mum's Postie was poorly in January - no post for two weeks so I went to the sorting office to collect it.
I was very sad to discover that the post for his round hadn't even been sorted, so when he came back to work he had a huge backlog to sort and deliver.

We have an Easter egg ready for him to show our appreciation.

Rene72 Thu 23-Mar-23 17:11:59

Last year I got my daughter’s Christmas cards in February and I posted my granddaughter’s birthday card in the middle of September for her birthday on the 4 October and she’s still waiting for it! I won’t ever post cards again. I will take birthday cards when I visit or give them to them when they come to me. That way my grandchildren won’t get disappointed.

Oldnproud Thu 23-Mar-23 17:20:26

OH sent a smallish parcel by first class recorded delivery ten days ago, and it took a week for it to be delivered to the recipient. The same item was then posted back to him later that same day (as agreed, following a test on the item), also by Royal Mail, and was delivered back here the very next day.

The service is just so random, so totally unpredictable now.

SueDonim Thu 23-Mar-23 19:16:01

We only seem to get post two or three times a week nowadays. My Dh had to go to the sorting office and he met our usual very nice postie working there, at the time of day he would usually be delivering our mail. Maybe they’re short-staffed?

I’m fairly sure we didn’t get all our Christmas mail. There are too many missing names for it to all be a coincidence.

LucyW Thu 23-Mar-23 19:28:48

I live in a rural area and my postie is wonderful, as was his predecessor. Unfailingly cheery, he has to navigate his way round our potholed riddled road which frequently floods. He will even collect anything I need posted. I feel the postie has a hard job and remember spending a very fraught few days delivering copies of the telephone directory with my two sons - the money I was paid went to them. It was hard work - bad roads, blisteringly hot weather, people demanding additional copies, etc. By day three we had had enough and decided to jack it in. Afterwards I learned that no one wanted the rural routes as they involved so much driving. The one urban street we had was one where every house had a long driveway or loads of steps. Never again.

Happysexagenarian Thu 23-Mar-23 20:43:11

We still have daily deliveries, sometimes twice a day (morning and late afternoon), also once on Saturday and Sunday. Our regular postie is a really nice guy, always cheerful. When I once mentioned that I had missed the post at our village P.O. he said 'No problem I'll take it for you'. And now he often asks if I have any mail to go. I shop online a LOT and most things arrive on time or earlier. But I do wish our local P.O. would open at their stated times, they often close early or don't bother to open at all!

Callistemon21 Thu 23-Mar-23 20:46:24

Bluedaisy

Callistemon21 the head of Royal Mail Simon Thomson is earning £540k a year with £47k a year rise.
Yes my DS delivers to some of the hubs but one in particular that is usually busy hasn’t been used in months which is strange, he’s been told it’s because there’s a problem with the computers! Simon Thomsons allegedly wanting to privatise Royal Mail and sell off bits of it. Personally I don’t know how he managed to get the job as he’d already mucked up BA?

Oh, I wonder if he will get a bonus when he achieves his aims? Who is pulling his strings?

All this modernisation isn't improving the efficiency or speed of the service.

IrishDancing Thu 23-Mar-23 21:54:57

Just wanted to say that although the postal
service is very poor the posties themselves are unfailingly cheerful, friendly and helpful. I don’t blame them at all, quite the reverse, they’re working under very difficult conditions.

Gilly8591 Fri 24-Mar-23 08:55:02

Just had Royal Mail return a letter from me dated from October which I sent to my solicitor !

magshard20 Fri 24-Mar-23 10:24:10

Our post is "hit and miss" too, I've started sending cards out 2 weeks before the actual date they are for, I'd prefer for them to get there really early rather than late. And don't forget that stamp prices (and all postage) go up in price on April 1st, I'm stocking up on stamps now at the current price !! As long as they have 1st and 2nd on them they can be used no matter when they are brought.

midgey Fri 24-Mar-23 10:27:20

My Mother’s Day card arrived safely….yesterday!

Whitewavemark2 Fri 24-Mar-23 10:27:51

I think that Royal Mail is one of the worst run businesses in the U.K.