http://www.royalmail.com/delivery-to-neighbour

FCOL can somebody please explain why I should have to inform Royal Mail that I wish to opt out of this?

Why should the onus be on me, the customer? Surely the service provider is providing a SERVICE rather than dictating to its customers what it’s going to do?

Ann Summers packages are quite discrete, no need to worry. 😯

Sorry… I feel the need to apologise straight away…. 🙂

Yes I know, it’s the drugs I’m worried about. 😉

Agreed. Apparently there was a survey.

I’d far rather have stuff left at the sorting office and if postie starts waking me up after nights with stuff for the neighbours there’ll be bother!

I don’t know what I think about this. I’ve ranted before about the whole RM ‘Let’s try to deliver packages to people while they are out at work’ thing and got nowhere. I think the answer is for them to be able to deliver to people when they are in, but that means someone at RM actually caring about the service they provide. Maybe some kind of designated neighbourhood drop off will work…

Nobody asked me.

Urban people… you live in the past! My postie (James, used to go out with my mates sister), will shove stuff in the garage, or get a neighbour if it needs a sig. Most courier companies already leave stuff with neighbours round here. probably fed up with angry calls from people who’ve been told to drive into Leeds to collect. Opt out is fine, choose through your own free will to be denied your brand new shiney things!

So.
They had an idea which they thought was a good one.
They tested it out and it seemed to work.

Where’s the problem?
Seems like a brilliant idea to me!

Do you not like your neighbours or don’t they like you? 😉

Out regular postie puts stuff in a hidey hole and leaves us a card. Bigger stuff often ends up next door anyway. What’s not to like?

I think the answer is for them to be able to deliver to people when they are in,

Lets have alook at this from a practical point of view shall we?

I assume by “when they are in” you mean evenings. So that gives us what? 4 hours? 6-10pm? So they have to do the same amount of work in half the time, as a full shift will be 8 hours I imagine. So they need to double the amount of staff, who all need a vehicle of some sort, and because it’s evening work, they need paying time and a half minimum.

So when your postage price doubles overnight, you’ll be quite happy, will you?

Or would it be easier to push next doors bell?

Not thought that through have you? 🙂

I’m thoroughly confused because this is exactly what happened in reality in at least 4 different houses over a period of 25+ year or so. Its only now that I read this that I understand why in the last 5 yrs or so that I have to go and pick stuff up so often, presumably someone changed/clarified the rules about 5 yrs ago so posties were no longer allowed to use their initiative. Almost all other couriers leave stuff in a safe place or with a neighbour. Not sure what the fuss is about.

Not sure what the fuss is about.

Me neither.

They have decided to chance their policy to help the customer receive there parcel faster, and without having to go to the depot or arrange a re delivery.

Some people don’t like that idea, so they can opt out of the new system if they want to.

You really have to be looking for something to moan about to find fault with that.

Poly, yes indeed.

Some people, if you gave them £20, would complain that it wasn’t two tenners.

So when your postage price doubles overnight, you’ll be quite happy, will you?

The alternative for me at the moment is to stay in for a day, ie spend a day off work waiting for a package that might come or might not, or accept that I’ll be out and so the postie chap will have a wasted journey, and that I’ll have to go and stand in a queue at the post office for between 5 minutes and an hour.

So, essentially I’d like to get the service I’m paying for, which at present is to have a package or parcel delivered to my house, when I’m in to recieve it.

The service at present is shit. If I have to pay more for postage I will, provided I get a decent service that meets my needs rather than that of the Post.

After they couldn’t deliver a parcel, Hermes (the courier) left a card asking us what we’d like to do. We phoned the number on the card and confirmed that we wanted the parcel left at their depot, and we’d collect the next day.

Mr Toast went there, and the parcel wasn’t there. The woman phoned the driver, and he admitted he’d forgotten that he was supposed to be taking it to the depot and instead delivered it to a neighbour… but he couldn’t remember which one. He hadn’t left a card or anything, and he said he thought “It was one of the houses opposite”.

The pillock then tried to claim that he’d phoned our house, and that ‘a woman’ had said that it was OK to leave it with a neighbour, which was a big fib.

Fortunately most of our neighbours are really nice, and Mr Toast got his parcel, but no thanks to the couriers.

If the Royal Mail are going ahead with this, they really need to confirm that a) people are fine with stuff being left with their neighbours, and b) that people are fine with their neighbour’s post being left with them, rather than just assuming that it’s OK by default.

basically if I’m asked to leave packets with a neighbour then I will. If not then item will be returned to office.
Never knocked other peoples doors on the off chance they would take an item and not starting now.
Same as notes on doors ” please leave packets number whatever three streets back”. Not happening.
If I can not get answer at address item goes back to sorting office. It might sound like being a pain to go and collect, but it’s safe and everyone knows where it is. Which I think is most important.

I live in fairly central London. This has happened for us for a while anyway, so I think it sounds like an excellent idea.

Theres also the question of naughty neighbours denying ever recieving stuff, then who pays for a replacement, as its been delivered and possibly signed for by a mr M mouse etc.

and what training will the posties have to decide that a neighbour is trustworthy or even on speaking terms with the the residents of the address the parcel is for.

I think this is an excellent idea. Hate getting a little red slip and then finding i have to stand in a massive line at the sorting office which is ten miles away.

Well done Royal Mail for taking some initiative (for once)

What i want to know is, do posties actually have the package on them when they visit or do they just leave the package at the depot and take a stack of those little red cards with them?
I always have to go to the depot to pick up anything larger than an envelope..

Muddydwarf. I’ve always had item on me, same as every postie in our office.
If it’s too big for me to carry it’s put on a van duty.

muddydwarf – Member
What i want to know is, do posties actually have the package on them when they visit or do they just leave the package at the depot and take a stack of those little red cards with them?
I always have to go to the depot to pick up anything larger than an envelope..

Mine doesn’t, caught him a couple of times posting the docket without ringing the bell.

Muddy, you missed;

Leave a trail of red rubber bands for miles around, and deliberately refuse to close any gate behind them

😉

The alternative for me at the moment is to stay in for a day, ie spend a day off work waiting for a package that might come or might not, or accept that I’ll be out and so the postie chap will have a wasted journey, and that I’ll have to go and stand in a queue at the post office for between 5 minutes and an hour.

Welcome to my world. You think it’s only you that has to do that? 5 mins in a queue? My heart bleeds for you. Phhhhhh

Or, as has been quite successful, apparently, let them leave it next door …… 🙂

* W H O O S H *

You’re all missing the point!

A service provider should ask customers to opt in, if they so wish, rather than tell customers that they have to tell the service provider (Royal Mail) if they want to opt out.

Customer Service FAIL!

MrsToast gets it, cos she’s a woman. 🙂 😉

MrsToast gets it, cos she’s a woman.

SEXIST!

😉

Our postie mostly just leaves stuff in the porch. We are also friendly with our neighbours and will happily take in parcels for each other.

I think it’s fair to say that the STW forum isn’t where I’d come to find the most representative sample of friendly, good-natured, sociable individuals so it’s perhaps no surprise that some on here are having issues with the whole concept.

I just have stuff delivered to work. /problem.

My sorting office is 3 minutes walk from my door, and I hardly ever have to queue, but I’d still rather pop next door and collect my parcel.

Opting in wouldn’t work as people ‘wouldn’t get round to it’ and how would the postie know who had and hadn’t. Opting out means those that really have an opinion can opt out and get their sticker, the post office saves costs and the majority of people would benefit.

If you work nights etc they will send you a sticker stating you don’t want to receive other peoples parcels…simple.

What royal mail really need to do is to allow items to be held at the sorting office rather than attempting delivery at all. i.e. by allowing you to get items sent to JOE BLOGS C/O DORCHESTER SORTING OFFICE, the postie would then just slip a red card through the door stating x items are waiting for you to collect. Result is they don’t end up carting parcels about the town and save money, and don’t make me feel guilty for blocking up my neighbours hallway with a huge ‘one size fits all’ CRC box containing a handlebar.

you can get your parcels delivered to the local post office counter, usually closed saturday afternoon, evenings and for an hour at diner time along with wednesday afternoon.

the sooner the supermarkets get the contract for parcels from royal fail mail the better.

A service provider should ask customers to opt in, if they so wish, rather than tell customers that they have to tell the service provider (Royal Mail) if they want to opt out.

Large company in Informing Customers of a change in Policy shocker 🙄

Whatever Next.

CG- You’re all missing the point!

No its how I always understood it worked (the only “new” stuff here would be the stickers saying don’t). Never had a problem getting stuff from neighbours or taking it for them. In fact I consider it a basic bit of friendly community spirit.

I’d sooner have stuff left with the neighbour than the normal approach our posties use, which I think could be called “deranged concealment”. Highlights including the time they decided to hide a package in the wheelie bin, on bin day. Well played. And the time they hid a package behind the little tree in the front garden, but didn’t tell us, which led to a £150 graphics card sitting in the rain for 2 weeks. And most recently, one stuffed into a hole in the hedge, which took 10 minutes to find because our hedge is horrible, and made mostly of holes.

We’ve had a notice for about 10 years now in our front door’s glass panel asking for deliveries to be sent 2 doors up if we’re not in – works fine

nealglover – Member

“A service provider should ask customers to opt in, if they so wish, rather than tell customers that they have to tell the service provider (Royal Mail) if they want to opt out.”

Large company in Informing Customers of a change in Policy shocker 🙄

Whatever Next.

Why are you pretending that ‘informing customers of a change in policy’ is the issue which C_G has ?

C_G could not have made it clearer that it’s the fact that customers will have to opt out which bothers her.

STW user deliberately and pointlessly misrepresents another forum user shocker 🙄

I think they’re really only making explicit a policy which has been informally in place for years – certainly has for us.

Some couriers are a bit dim, though – several times when shipping stuff out a customer has complained that they haven’t received an order – when I track it it shows as delivered, chase it and the driver says he left it in a safe place. He did – the wheelie bin.

No-one’s lost their order to the binmen yet, but there have been some close shaves 🙂

Seems like what happens in real life.

The arduous process of opting out (fill in form stick on letter box) is there to get round the fact that the majority of the population is so apathetic asking for people to join a scheme is pointless. Only 65% of the population voted at the last election as a comparison. Perhaps the RM have a plan that could be rolled out further. All ballot papers are assigned to BNP unless you go and change it.

Bit of a shame there is no web form or that the stickers don’t seem available from the post office (you could get on while picking up another parcel if you can ever get there on time).

It does seem like an much better plan than paying for delivery then having to go collect it. It might even mean that they take the post out for delivery rather than just the sorry you were out cards.

CG – you simply need to think more flexibly. Given the default in many places is already to have parcels left with neighbours if you’re not in (it might work like that here, but it’s so safe they tend to just leave parcels in full view on the doorstep), then clearly it’s only right to continue that as the default option, or in other words opting out of having your parcels taken to the depot. If you want to have your parcels taken back to the depot instead then you have to opt in to that.

Basically the current Royal Mail & Parcel Force model is not making money – so this is a way for them to continue their service and cut costs rather than crazy hikes in price.

Basically the current Royal Mail & Parcel Force model is not making money

Royal Mail is making nearly a £1 million profit everyday.

Royal Mail makes £1 million a day ahead of possible big increase in price of stamps

And Parcelforce seem to be doing OK.

Parcelforce Worldwide Trading Statement

” Parcelforce Worldwide’s overall growth has outpaced its key rivals. Profits have trebled over the past four years”