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Had a big clear out of mainly bike bits recently so used a lot of postal services. In the past I’ve mainly used Royal Mail for small stuff as they are reliable and you can pick up from a post office which is handy for most people. Delivery generally was fast too.
However recently I’ve been really disappointed with the service. Half the things I have sent aren’t showing as delivered on the tracking info despite getting feedback from the buyers saying they’ve received it. That’s a problem if a buyer on eBay (I’ve sold equally on a few websites and eBay) says they haven’t received it, I can’t rely on the tracking now.
Also I’ve just sent something by 24hr tracked and it’s taken 48hr so far but their policies are so vague there’s no guarantee it will come at any time - has to be 3 days late to claim any money back.
And on top of it all I got a lecture from my local post office. I used the eBay website to buy and print a load of 2nd class recorded labels as it saved me 15p each time and I thought it would save the PO staff time in dealing with them when I got there. After waiting 30minutes in the rain to get served I was kept waiting even longer as the bloke went on about if I bought the postage online from them they wouldn’t get any (or as much, was hard to communicate behind screens and masks!) money themselves so one day the PO might close. I have sympathy with this as I used to work in retail but after my recent experiences I am not particularly bothered as they don’t seem to be offering a service worth paying any extra for.
Seems like I may go back to using Hermes more for parcels and just use Royal Mail for letters. It’s a real shame.
Two weeks to send a birthday card from Edinburgh to London! I wonder if they have a lot of staff self isolating because that’s a ridiculous amount of time for a letter to arrive!
We're on a reduced service, not that we've been told officially.
Frustrating when you know stuff is due to arrive and it's luck of the draw if the postman is down to deliver to us on that day.
Our postie is top notch though, can't fault the guy.
Edit: as is our Hermes delivery driver 😮
Yep, it is very slow. Keep getting item not delivered complaints from people I sell to only for it to turn up next day or so and last few things I have sold (second class) took 7 working days to arrive.
Parcel coming between 9-12 Saturday. Knowing I’d be on the turbo while everyone else was out, I jumped on the app to specify “please leave over the side gate as we are unable to answer the door”.
I got a message back saying thanks for my note it’d now be delivered the following Tuesday, ffs. Yet it turned up on the Saturday after all, left on the doorstep facing the street and discovered later in the day when I had to open the door for an Amazon delivery.
National pandemic and Christmas parcel spree. Same every year ! Well apart from covid
Given the sheer volume of parcels and letters going through the system right now, plus any issues with covid I'm not really surprised if there are one or two issues, I'm quite happy to pay a little extra to have the convenience of the one & only shop in the village stay open & local posties are great & are paid wages with other employment benefits 👍
Useless. We have been self isolating so left a big parcel size box on our doorstep with a sign explaining to leave any parcels in the box and why. Royal Mail insist on pushing a "sorry we missed you" note through the letterbox so we then have to get someone to go to the sorting office to collect the parcel for us. Hermes and everyone else are fantastic.
Rm24 is up to 10 days now for us. We've turned off royal mail for everything bigger than an envelope pretty much. It's the worst I've ever known it by some way.
They've been really good for me. 2nd class parcels posted all across the UK arriving the next day.
The annual RM bashing thread, grand. They're under even more seasonal pressure than ever this year, a bit of patience goes a long way, you'd hope that patience is something 2020 should have created a little more of....
Not just our postie, all our parcel delivery has got better in the last couple of years. I'd go so far as to say it's brilliant. Fast, reliable and friendly. This year we've used them more than ever with isolating.
At the moment everything is taking a day or so longer. However, it's Christmas in the middle of a global pandemic. I'm impressed they're managing what they are.
they and Parcelforce have been all good here under the circumstances.
Postie tells me that we are down to 3 delivery days a week at the moment due to sickness and sheer volume of work. He reckons every day has been like Christmas since March in terms of deliveries - do they still take students on as Christmas delivery officers?
Royal Mail will not admit it obviously but ask any postie just how bad things are in his delivery office. The system is backed up due to the sheer volumes of packets and parcels being ordered online since earlier in the year. Add into the equation new inefficient ways of working and low staffing levels due to Covid and its likely to be the worst Christmas any postie has ever seen. Going to work knowing that you have absolutely no chance of clearing your work load for that day must be soul destroying adding in that once you get out on delivery everyone is giving you a hard time because their delivery has been delayed.
Its frustrating when your packet is delayed but its rarely the posties fault he is doing his best in difficult circumstances give him a break.
Edit..
Christmas casuals are mainly employed in regional mail centres although some do get sent to delivery offices. Problem stems from Royal Mail focusing on profits rather than quality of service including looking to get rid of c20K postmen.
Can’t say I’ve had an issues. The odd parcel has taken maybe a day or two more than normal but the circumstances really aren’t normal this year. They’re even doing 2 rounds a day at the moment.
Last Private Eye was 2 weeks late. Current one is a week late. Used to arrive Wednesdays, now arrives Thursday if I’m lucky. I mention this as just about everything else I need is either online or via a parcel service.
No paper bills or communications needed.
Our postie was on holiday for 10 days and nobody on his route got any mail as no replacement was used.
It is shit.
My postie is great - no complaints about the service we get from him. He's the same postie at work that does my house (which is odd as it would be one hell of a round to cover from there to here) and he brings my home packages etc. to work for me.
I've had the opposite. Credit where it's due. They've been brilliant.
I've been sending artwork out, unframed in big artwork tubes, and framed prints, all boxed up and marked 'fragile' (because they are. Very). Everything has got there next day and more importantly has arrived in one piece, undamaged. The staff in my local post office are lovely.
I've used other well-known courier services and stuff has turned up looking like somebody has been playing Rugby with it. Literally smashed to pieces. It's at that point they tell you about the small print in the expensive additional insurance you took that it doesn't cover artwork
Nope,for me they have been outstanding,some of the other chancers though,they get my full wrath and contempt.
Given that volumes seem to be exceeding even the normal pre-Christmas levels, ours has been remarkably good. Possibly helps that both our posties live in the village, and one is a neighbour.
Local FB has turned into a Hermes swapshop forum every night as people try to track down missing or random deliveries.
My last Private Eye was a week late - which was quite upsetting.
Apparently the local sorting office was hit pretty hard with Covid cases.
Only a guess, but I suspect that Hermes may have been less affected because their staff are not supported as well and can't afford any time off.
All our delivery drivers and posties have been great. Things are taking longer, but its not exactly been a shock that at christmas, in a global pandemic, things are taking a little longer.
Had many "sorry we missed you" cards delivered when we are in the house, as in, the room by the front door, and no you didn't knock and see if we were in, just stuff in the card and go.
A network of post offices not used as collection points, instead you can go to the "local" depot which is only open during a handful of hours which are all while you are elsewhere at work.
PO staff not particularly helpful in my experience
Victim of their own tight fistedness, as a company, I suspect. Not trying to knock any individuals working for the place. RM inc., asks too much of the staff.
edit: the above was my experience of RM way before covid or christmas was making things worse
I'm a postie. Management didn't prepare for the entirely predictable situation we are now in. Priority is given to large and tracked items because that's what makes money. Small, untracked packets, letters, etc are allowed to back up, for a week or more in cases, before being taken out in great wodges. It's an inefficient way of working but it allows managers to tick their performance boxes, creating an illusion that RM are on top of it. It's worse in some areas than others due to an inflexible, heavily unionised workforce, that is also resulting in a disproportionate share of the workload being placed on more recent employees on less favourable contracts.
I sold a few bike parts in November and had no issues with them getting to Wales or the north.
I did notice something I ordered coming from the south east took a few extra days over what I would have expected.
24hr tracked packages is absolute BS with RM! It's more like 48-72hrs. I may live in the sticks but it's still not registered as a far out postcode on the RM website.
The annual RM bashing thread, grand.
Not really, just informational of problems. Be better if the problems are out in the public then when people hassle me because they haven't have their item in a week they will know why.
I can understand that it's difficult times for RM, but some communication (letter perhaps) would be nice.
From the post office side (not royal mail) it's been manic all year. More parcels and returns than ever before, my postoffice I'd guess has around 30% more parcels going through it than last year.
People still seem to have the thought that royal mail and postoffice are the same thing, we get loads of complaints about late or missing parcels. Also with airmail there have been less flights, brexit is/has complicated customs and US postal service have increased their costs so the cost and time it takes has almost doubled.
And on top of it all I got a lecture from my local post office.
Addressing the OP's point here....
Postoffice that are in shops like ours are paid commission depending on the type and speed of transaction, so a return or prepaid eBay style parcel which takes seconds deal with provides a couple of pence of revenue to the shop.
Crown postoffices of the old days are few and far between, generally the ones that are left are stuck in difficult leases. They are the only post office retail staff on a wage.
Processed parcels are a little better. The best commission is on special delivery, traracked & signed or parcel force. However we are asked by postoffice to try to sell these products where ever the value or time constraints apply.
It sounds like the OP just has a grumpy postoffice, personally I don't care what sort of parcel it is as it shows that we are busy and the more transactions the better.
It's surprising, really, because usually when a service is privatised it improves beyond recognition.
if you buy alot online i recommend writing it all down and crosing it out when it arrives, same with any returns, otherwise you will lose out..
i like my posties and majority of delivery men..
Watching this thread with interest. I've got a little seasonal side-hustle going selling small gifts. To avoid the queues at the Post Office I've been bunging them all in the local Parcel Post-Box which has been a godsend since this Covid19 thing. I've had a couple of 'where is my item' emails recently so dreading a sudden deluge of compensation claims as you don't get proof of postage with the Parcel Boxes...
And on top of it all I got a lecture from my local post office.
I get this occasionally. Or, they do that sharp intake of breath thing whilst saying that "it might not scan and just go missing somewhere in the system" etc... It's the 'shit rolls downhill' thing. They really need to complain to their masters rather than bitching to the customer, but I get it. It's a bit like getting really bad service in a restaurant, it's usually because the waiting staff are being treated badly by management/supervision so they pass this on to the customer...
They really need to complain to their masters
Unfortunately it doesn't work like that in Post office. It's still seems to be run like a public service rather than private company so there are far too many middle and higher management rolls with little or no influence.
Add to that, the fact the postoffices are generally independent of the actual company (in co-ops, WHSmith, independents etc), not actual genuine post office staff....
it might not scan and just go missing somewhere in the system
If it doesn't scan and it's a customer printed label it's 100% the customers risk - it prob won't scan at the royal mail depo or on the postie's pda etc. You can either reprint it with a clearer lable or ask for a seperate proof of postage based on the address details (no tracking number).
To avoid the queues at the Post Office
To avoid queues for regular buisness post users the post office I run does a drop and go service, our regulars will bring in their post and collect the proofs of postage on the next visit. It just means setting up a folder for the customers to put the proofs in. It means we have shorter queues and can process the large volume stuff when we are quiet rather than cause a queue at peek times.
TBF all the couriers have been slammed and this is on top of a race to the bottom that's been going on for about 5 years. They're all shit it's just the level that differs.
From what I gather from old colleagues it’s hellish. Staff shortages due to covid, everyone shopping online and as mentioned above they are saying it’s been like the run up to Christmas every week since March. They are run ragged.
Offer your postie a drink or a biscuit, even offer them to use your loo. They’ll be starting in darkness and will still be out when darkness falls again (probably trying to read address labels by phone light as I had to do at times) they’ll be doing all that they can to get you your parcels, even at quiet times posties do not want to take stuff back to the office as it’s extra work scanning it all back in.
These are unprecedented times, posties have worked all throughout this pandemic and are probably feeling forgotten about, and certainly feeling unappreciated by the public and by management. Give them a break, and say thank you to them!
Aye seems a bit crap, waiting on a delivery, meant to have came yesterday. nothing doing. and nothing updated on the tracking, seems to be stuck in yorkshire.
What race to the bottom are you talking about? Over recent years delivery services have been exemplary by and large. True next day delivery or better than the 3 - 5 day suggestions you normally get with the standard FOC services. Not used RM this year but in the past I've had no issues with RM so they have been reasonably competitive whenever I've posted stuff and used them. Seems to me that over the last 10 years or so delivery services generally has improved significantly due to the introduction of genuine competition, including the RM, and the costs have remained competitive.
Of course thanks to the powers of the internet we get to hear about every single little problem someone experiences which people love to highlight when it suits them, but in reality they are a tiny tiny percentage compared to the several millions of packages that are delivered every single day on time.
Worrying for the RM though. This is a really boom time for any logistics company. All the delivery companies we've experienced this year have really stepped upto the plate and we've not had any issues with any deliveries through the whole course of lock down or the run up to Christmas so far. So if the RM cannot thrive in the current environment my worry is that there is no hope for it.
If it doesn’t scan and it’s a customer printed label it’s 100% the customers risk
Sure, but what sometimes happens is that it scans ok, but they give a stern warning that it might not scan somewhere else down the line... surely they're just trying to scare you off the prepaid postage?
To avoid queues for regular business post users the post office I run does a drop and go service
Ah, Drop n Go. Yes, I forgot about this. I've had that little red card in my wallet for a few years. I don't see how it saves any time in practise so never use it. One seems to always end up in the same huge queue, or risk lots of wailing from said queue as you side-step it only to be told by a grumpy staff-member that I have to join the queue. Plus the paperwork you have to complete always seems to cause confusion at the desk.
DISCLAIMER, As others have pointed out, this isn't a RM/PO bashing thread, just trying to shed some light on the situation. And yes, it is understandable with the pandemic/GreedFest etc blah blah. Our postie is awesome, likewise the guys at my local PO are legendary in their work ethic etc.
it scans ok, but they give a stern warning that it might not scan somewhere else down the line… surely they’re just trying to scare you off the prepaid postage?
Unfortunately that sounds like a crap postoffice, I'd guess that they are trying to boost buisness by scaring customers into processing post with them rather than at home. This is a downside with the direction the PO took with the commission based pay for post offices. For some scale, a post master 15yrs ago would in a standalone office be on a 25k wage, now based on comission a shop (not individual) could get as little as 4.5k a year depending on the volume of post.
Our local post-office/sorting office have been good at getting messages to the local Facebook groups.
Sorting offices have a lot of people in them and for obvious distancing reasons they've had to reduce numbers - which I expect unions have been heavily behind as well.
In many respects it's good to see someone trying to do the right thing and follow guidance - something tells me that social distancing and self-isolating measures in your average Amazon warehouse facility would be a bit lacking.
So yes, delays, but not unacceptable on the most part.
This is a downside with the direction the PO took with the commission based pay for post offices
Aye, I get it. In quieter times I'd happily pay the extra 10p or whatever and let them earn some commission. It's not about the money really for me. It's all a bit like the fall of the soviet union at the moment. And nobody likes that guy at the desk with a sack full of parcels... I can feel the hatred boring into the back of my head. And rightly so.