It’s looking like an order, 2 pairs of shoes, may have got lost in the post. And it got me wondering, as I am hanging on the phone waiting for the retailer to answer, how that happens?

I mean at what point in the Royal Mail process, does a fairly chunky package, just remove itself from existence? Does it fall off the conveyor belt, and unbeknownst to RM there is a parcel eating monster living under there? Does it fall out of a van? Could the postie, who sometimes leaves packages in the open, and forgets to card, have been clocked by a ne’er do well who went and grabbed it?

It really makes you think….or not 8)

*goes back to listening to crappy on hold music*

Edit: I should add, this isn’t a RM bashing post, as this is only the second, if it has gone missing, order in ages.

I’ve often thought this too, and the fact when I post something I need to buy insurance. Like actually paying for something to be posted isn’t a guarantee that it will get there.

I am awaiting something that has been posted from Singapore, everything was going swimmingly until it reached the UK and now its gone missing.

Shirely the oldest postal service in the world would have this down by now?

Could the postie, who sometimes leaves packages in the open, and forgets to card, have been clocked by a ne’er do well who went and grabbed it?

I have been wondering this too.

Our day to day postman is a very nice chap.

However when he is on holiday we get the cretins who just think it is okay to leave the post in our unlocked porch. I wouldn’t mind but the porch is only 2ft deep and they can’t be bothered to put a letter through the letter box!

Rant over.

I was out jogging yesterday and ran past a courier lorry with its load doors fully open and the driver just disappearing from view. It would have been easy to take something.

It can just get nicked obviously, either by staff or because of the in-attention of staff. It might not have been packaged or labelled correctly by the sender, or gotten minced/mushed/mashed in such a way that it either can’t be identified where its going, or so that you would’t want it if it did.

It might not have physically disappeared, but if its been misdirected at some point so that the tracking data can’t find it then theres not an economically viable way for someone to then go physically looking for it – the missing package could be a few feet from where its supposed to be or in another county. So its more a case of cutting losses and declaring it as lost than it actually being no longer in their possession . Once they’ve compensated the sender then the item is theirs anyway so they can recoup some those compensation costs by selling lost goods on

Sorry you were out. Parcel left…. in wheelie bin.
(only a 20% chance of it being bin collection day)

Even when you pay for insurance and tracking it’s no guarantee.
Stuff goes missing, fact of life.

Stuff can fall off conveyor belts, out of parcel trollies, packaging get snagged on machinery and contents fall out…..need i say more.

I never use RM unless I can’t avoid it.
With services like collectplus which is cheaper, better tracking, and better/quicker claim procedures when stuff does go wrong, i’m surprise RM still has a parcel business.

International postage is a complete other ball game.

Scar
P.s. I’ve had stuff not delivered as they said I was out, then it got sent to the RM lost/found depot in Ireland (all because the sender never put a return address!). Thats where they take lost/found and open it all and flog it to recoup insurance claim losses.
P.p.s Even RM tracked signed for can be signed for by anyone, including the postman himself!

I order loads online and yet to have a single item go missing…..

That’s because…..

…and don’t act like you don’t know this.

For the record, this is the 2nd, if it is missing, in about 10yrs or more.

I spent an enlightening Christmas working at a large RM sorting office.

The previous year a driver had un hitched his articulated trailer and left it in part of the depot where empty trailers were parked up. Others got parked around it.

3 months later they got round to using that trailer and found that it was FULL of Christmas cards and parcels.

Which concerns me as Parcelforce tracking says my new bike was loaded into a lorry at the same depot at 8.06 yesterday morning and it has still not travelled tbe 15 miles to my house.

Last parcel that was declared as a genuine “we can’t find it”, was RM+DHL/Deutschepost. Postie left the card, went to collect it from post office and it was lost. Turned up back at sender, since they obviously put it straight back on the send it back pallet, rather than keep it for 6 working days, then send back.

The one before that was a secure letter sent, and dropped at local parcel store (actually in my nearest LBS). They lost it. Did all the paperwork to initiate formal search. Then the owner came running up the street as I was walking back to the tram stop, saying they found it down behind the back of the bench/shelves they now use for parcels instead of bike bits.

Jamie, a RM staff member is now parading around the sorting office wearing your new shoes.

And nothing else

And nothing else

We didn’t need to know that!

i ordered something before – it never arrived; chased the retailer and they sent another – got the red card from RM, when i collected it they gave me two parcels. guess what was in the first.

Also i have seen at a local courier company laptop boxes and other shiny boxes flung over the fence (backs onto a river). Maybe they just flung the boxes out – or maybe it’s for collection later.

Jamie, a RM staff member is now parading around the sorting office wearing your new shoes.

And nothing else

Not sure I want them now 😥

Don’t they get deemed dangerous and safely disposed of sold at auction/on ebay?

Jamies said ‘two pairs’ so where are the other ones er hanging around 🙂

Don’t they get deemed dangerous and safely disposed of sold at auction/on ebay?

Only if they are Nike Airs.

I once ordered a part which was sent by interlink. I recieved an empty packet with nowt in it. I queried this with the shop and they accused me of lying. The shop said I had signed for it. I asked for a copy of the signature and lo and behold there is was – someone had scrawled my name. Now I told the shop that it wasn’t my signature and I told them that there parcel company had stolen the goods and forged my signature but how could I prove it? I also complained to the parcel company that their delivery driver had forged my signature but they could’nt have cared less.
In the end the shop DID send me another part, but I got the impression they fully thought I had kept the original.

I expect it’s fairly easy to succumb to human error. A package gets placed on shelf 32 rather than 22, then someone else goes to get it from shelf 22 and goes “oh, it’s not here.”

Harder to see how things would go missing permanently though, beyond mislabelling / damage / theft. I’d expect – nay, hope – that even very late deliveries like the lorry above ^^ would get processed once they were discovered.

Not sure I want them now

Hopefully he’s wearing them on his feet.

My duplicate driving license went missing a few weeks ago, meaning I missed the deadline to submit it for a fixed penalty speeding fine. The police didn’t want to hear any excuses, so I’m in bloody court on Tuesday instead. 😈

Bloody postie had delivered to a house a few doors down, who were on holiday. I might send them whatever whopping fine I get!

I once had a parcel from CRC go missing. They sent out a replacement. The original package arrived 12 months later, almost to the day 😯 They’ve clearly got time portals in the sorting offices

I once lost a massive hardwood front door for a fortnight with much frustrating calls to courier and shop. Only found it because same courier did a ninja card drop for another delivery even though i was in. Chased him up the street and then got to back of the open van and said ‘where’s my parc… Hang on that’s my door!’

Looking at state of it It had just sat in bottom of the van all that time as no driver could be bothered to lift it out.

Now I told the shop that it wasn’t my signature and I told them that there parcel company had stolen the goods and forged my signature but how could I prove it? I also complained to the parcel company that their delivery driver had forged my signature but they could’nt have cared less.

Could also have been a misdelivery of course; postie goes to the wrong door number or Foo Street instead of Foo Road, neighbour thinks “oh, free stuff” and scribbles the name they’ve just read off the label.

I once had the opposite problem at my local branch post office. Had a knock-a-door-run ‘while you were out’ card so went to collect the parcel. The package had been sent to my OH by a friend of hers, but said friend had asked her wife to post it. The wife didn’t know my OH personally and wrote her name down incorrectly. Took me three trips to the branch before they reluctantly released it to me.

binners beat me to the Postman Plod reference…

but sometimes stuff get delivered to the wrong address and the recepients just keep it. i had an issue with a TV, ordered it, didnt come, phoned them, they sent a new one which i recieved – then about a week later a neighbour knocked on and said he’d got this big parcel at his waiting for me to collect. if he’d have said nowt id have been none the wiser, or worse off.

another time i was checking my outgoings like you do and realised i was still paying a monthly subscription to a wine club and that about 6 half dozen cases had been delivered to my old address. they questioned the new people who admitted that they’d been supping for free for a year.

I once lost a massive hardwood front door for a fortnight

Sounds like the sort of behaviour I’ve come to know and love from Yodel.

I ordered a new rim for a my back wheel a couple of years ago, it never arrived

I contacted the shop and they gave me the royal mail tracking info

They sent out another, through royal mail, again didn’t arrive, got refunded as those were the last 2 they had

I ordered another rim from a different shop after being refunded, surprise surprise, it never arrived

Obviously half inched somewhere within the postal system

Parcelforce are apparently in the habit of leaving signed-for packages from our street at the offices of the Estate Agent on the corner.

It is difficult to see why a package addressed to “BigDummy, 5 Shady Avenue” should be regarded as properly delivered if it is signed for by Sharon from Edwards Estate Agents on North Street, but there we are.

🙂

mis-delivery to wrong town happens too. makes me wonder what they even do with the postcode.

Kent has 2 places called Minster.
Both of them have an Augustine Road.
My grandmother was always getting mail for the other house with the same address, and vice versa.

And when I lived in Stoke Gifford (part of Bristol, that got lopped off to form South Gloucestershire), the RM even told us at the time that addressing as Stoke Gifford, Bristol rather than Stoke Gifford, S.Glos, may improve delivery times. The postcode changed from BS12 to BS34.

I don’t normally contribute, but being reminded of Yodel compelled me to write something. Yodel’s orange “you were out” cards say that their sorting warehouse is open on Saturdays. Train tickets for two to Leeds, then a taxi journey to the out of town industrial estate to be told that parcel collection isn’t available on Saturdays is not a fun day out.

I know a bloke who received his own and another person’s order from an online retailer, all in the one box. The other person’s delivery note and address label were also in there, so clearly a mix-up in the packing dept. The guy decided to inform neither the retailer nor the other customer, figuring the order was probably untraceable. He did very, very well out of that mix up, and I doubt the loss of my friendship due to his dishonesty has caused him any distress.

Experiences I’ve had sending things:

– Parcels get nicked – out of the back of the delivery van, or once when the depot got crowded and they put a bunch of stuff outside to make space.

– Parcels get misdelivered – either to a neighbour who steals it, or if a card isn’t left then the recipient doesn’t know who has it, or on a couple of occasions it’s been “left in a safe place” which turns out to be a neighbour’s greenhouse or the wheelie bin on collection day.

– Parcels get forgotten, they fall down the back of racking in the warehouse or go under the driver’s seat or something.

our post office is open saturdays.
they say 6 working days before stuff gets sent back.
parcels can only be collected after 13:00 the following day.
our postoffice shuts at 12:00 (or might be 13:00) on saturdays.
they count that day as one of the 6 working days, when a parcel delivery is attempted on a friday, so when you’re going on vacation for a week and arrive at 11:45 on a saturday, in germany, hoping that they might bend their “after 13:00” rule, you’re going to be disappointed.

they don’t deliver saturdays, but only classify it as a working day for the purposes of collection.

I know for a fact that the parcel would be sitting on the shelf. any other day of the week, they’re not going to magically stock the awaiting collection shelves at 12:59:59.

so bike24 got the whole lot back

Now I told the shop that it wasn’t my signature and I told them that there parcel company had stolen the goods and forged my signature but how could I prove it? I also complained to the parcel company that their delivery driver had forged my signature but they could’nt have cared less.

Could also have been a misdelivery of course; postie goes to the wrong door number or Foo Street instead of Foo Road, neighbour thinks “oh, free stuff” and scribbles the name they’ve just read off the label.

Would be possible where it not for the empty packet that was delivered to me.

I had Yodel “deliver” a parcel to me and leave it is a “safe place”. Said safe place was the 3/4 full wheely bin at the top of my drive. It was bin day. I’m sure you can guess the rest.

A replacement package was sent and and was put in exactly the same place (admittedly, the bin was by the side of the house this time), thankfully not a bin day this time. Absolute idiots.

The one time I’ve had a parcel go missing (other than the useless company who took a month to admit they hadn’t posted it before refunding it) was in the run up to christmas. It had been left in the garden with no note as to where it was. At that time of year I am never in the house during daylight hours during the week, and I suspect I’d been away at the weekend so wasn’t around during daylight then either. So I simply didn’t see the parcel for a couple of weeks until after a replacement had been delivered 😳

As part of my job I tracked delivery rates for our accounts with most of the major couriers over several years and many thousands of deliveries. The only courier who have managed to have a better successful delivery rate than Royal Mail are DPD. Royal Mail do a pretty amazing job really.

Yodel, obviously, are the worst I’ve tracked.

Imagine the excuses you’ll get once Googles flying drones start delivering…

My answer to the question posed by the OP is in two parts:

1.) Read Shaun Ryders biogrtaphy “Twisting my Melon” – he was a postie in Manchester and spills the beans fairly comprehensively on that game.

2.) Further to point 1, see also the unions who clearly have the upper hand still at RM. CWU & Unite/CMA are doing a jolly good job (for their members).