[Closed] Royal Mail holding a country to ransom?!

Our postman often just puts the card though the door rather than knock or ring the bell. Infuriating when you've waited in and I just don't get why someone would do that - surely pressing the doorbell is less effort than writing the card out?

ernie_lynch - Member
So you agree with the OP then ?

Our postman often just puts the card though the door rather than knock or ring the bell. Infuriating when you've waited in and I just don't get why someone would do that - surely pressing the doorbell is less effort than writing the card out?

So they can leave the parcel at the depot/in their panniers.

PS Our postman is great!

I'm glad the OP is able to speak in such a well informed way about the service we all receive from RM. 🙄

Sure, the depot hours could be better but my last two homes have been very well served by Posties able to think laterally to get my post delivered. 🙂

losing price finder and other functionality from their website was retarded.

I agree - they did at least have the sense to put up a downloadable price guide instead (which I've found I actually prefer - I don't need to have it calculate how much postage is when I can just look it up in a table, and then easily compare how much it will cost me to use a bit more packaging).

Most posties are great guys and gals (get talking to your locals

I make a point of waving and saying hello to our local chaps (and chapess) when I see them out and about - I guess they probably recognise me as the bloke with the bike trailer. I try not to let my kids call them Postman Pat too much.

how can any logical person compare them to other courier services, they have a massive network and a monopoly on the service.

Indeed - they do remarkably well considering the size and complexity of their operation, and their requirement to carry the stuff couriers don't want to touch. It's amazing how bad some much smaller couriers who have far simpler logistics are in comparison.

dekadanse - Member
Think carlosg's got it right.
Most posties are great guys and gals (get talking to your locals - always helps when there's bike bits to deliver) doing an increasingly impossible job with asset-stripping robots for management. I notice that nasty little sh** Adam Crozier, who did so much to dismember the postal service, has now moved on to b*****ing up ITV.

The trouble is RM management are doing their best to up prices and reduce services and make RM more like the rubbish competition. Forget public service - what we're getting is the marketised postal service. Not pretty.

the RM issues are to do with the staff, the management and inappropriate regulation, they all need their heads banging together.

our normal postie was brilliant, unfortunately the recent shift change means that someone else gets him.

every Christmas we get idiots who think dropping cards through the door at 06:30 (when we are up and see the van racing away) is a delivery service

kaesae - Member

The service is horrendous, how can any logical person compare them to other courier services, they have a massive network and a monopoly on the service.

You know, you're right enough- they have a monopoly, therefore it's impossible to compare them to other couriers because obviously none exist.

Right?

That's a bit unfair Northwind, kaesae did say "how can any logical person compare them".

I'm sorry but walking to my local post office to collect a parcel, versus a 1hr round trip driving to some god forsaken industrial estate in some out of city shit arse end of town, is far better IMO.

I despair when I see a card from a courier, I'm mildly inconvenienced when I see a card from Royal Mail.

Northwind - Member

kaesae - Member

The service is horrendous, how can any logical person compare them to other courier services, they have a massive network and a monopoly on the service.

You know, you're right enough- they have a monopoly, therefore it's impossible to compare them to other couriers because obviously none exist.

Right?

As above, how many companies ignore the phone for days on end?
How many refuse to provide a service that they have been paid for?
How many companies lie and steal and cheat people on a day to day basis, on the scale the royalmail do?

They get millions of complaints a year and the internet is saturated with accounts from normal everyday people and companies, who they are ripping off, by costing them extra time money and hassle!

Before I forget, another name for wind, is flatulence right?

It is outrageous that there is no option but to use a belligerently incompetent company

they have a massive network and a monopoly on the service.

This is complete pish. Parcelforce has zillions of competitors in package delivery: http://www.parcel2go.com/parcel-suppliers.aspx Royal Mail hasn't had a monopoly on postal services in years: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9836b1a2-69c0-11d9-81e7-00000e2511c8.html#axzz1h3slCfWm .

The OP's rant should be at the private sector competitors who have thus far totally failed to produce a service which competes properly with the Royal Mail post service - and, if you know, if it's so crap to begin with, competing should be a doddle, right?

part of the problem is the disparity between areas. i currently think royal mail are shit, really, really shit. but where i've lived previously they have been great. currently my postman refuses to put the delivery labels through the door if we are out. he will leave them with next door if they are but doesn't let us know that they have them, or if the neighbours are out he just takes them back, no note, nothing. now, i'm not a tory but i think if you pay for a service, which you do, you should at least recieve the service that you pay for.

I actually think royal mail aren't that bad. As far as I can remember I've only ever had one parcel go missing. Our guy is pretty good, he does actually carry the parcels and occasionally will drop them off next door. If I was a postie I'd be a little peeved about having to carry parcels around at 10am knowing full well that the majority of people would be at work and not able to sign for them.

As above, when I get a card from Royal mail/Parcel force I just pop to the Depot, It's never been massively inconvenient. They have always been open early morning before work or late evening after work, even saturday morning. Failing that I can get it delivered to a post office near work and pick it up at lunch.

Compare that to a courier who have on several occasions failed to find my address (city link) despite the house having been there for 116years. When you get a card it normally involves a 45 minute drive to an industrial estate assuming you can get there between the 10-4 opening hours. They won't deliver next door, they won't deliver on a saturday without charging £20 but they will leave the parcel ("in my secure place") on the doorstep in plain site about 6ft away from the pavement.

What I'd like is a PO box where I could go and pick stuff up at convenience, rather than going through the card faff and waiting 48hours (they could text or email to let me know its there, on-one manage this with there delivery service letting you know the parcel is dispatched). Or they could do 7pm deliveries for home addresses and early morning for businesses.

Its only a matter of time before Tesco buy the customer facing side of Royal mail and post offfices are open 24hrs in your local supermarket.

Royal mail has potential but only if it adapts to suit customers.

Maybe I've been exceedingly lucky but I've never really had a problem with Royal Mail. Maybe in the places I've lived they've just been very good. I've bought and sold quite a lot of stuff, nothing has ever gone missing. I make most of my purchases online, with stuff arriving quickly and without hassle. If I'm not at home (most of the time) I get a card and just nip a mile down the road to the collections depot... as oppose to about 15 miles to most of the big couriers. I've never been carded if I'm in... I've had bike bits ordered on a friday and delivered on a saturday. I can post a letter to the other end of the country [i]for a few pence[/i]... and it arrives next day.

Despite their apparent failings, the Royal Mail are excellent value for money.

If somebody gave me 46p and expected me to take a letter from the Isle of Wight to the Orkney's by the next day I'd tell them to get lost 🙂

Can't say I've ever had a problem with them either for sending or receiving goods and for the price it's a bargain. I am shocked to hear know that they can't make every parcel fit through a letter box I mean Santa can do it so why not Pat?

They deliver millions a day there's going to be some problems and it's funny this time of they year I can't think why'd they be too busy to redeliver. Still Kaesae does like to complain about them and we can't take that away from him.

Still Kaesae does like to complain about them and we can't take that away from him.

I admire your Christmas spirit, Drac.

my gran fought and died for karsae's right to do so.

The new shoes I ordered on Sunday arrived this morning at 8.45, via Royal Mail. 😀

I admire your Christmas spirit, Drac.

It seems to be one of his life's pleasures.

Adam Crozier the chap who was the surprise appointment to the role of chief executive of The Football Association, despite having had no experience of business/football, changed the Post Office for the better;

large scale post office closures in the thousands,
laid off staff
ended the second daily delivery
later deliveries for mail

all customer focussed improvements

Whilst snout-ing one of the largest salaries in the country of a publicly owned body (mates rates)

So if you want to accuse anyone of holding the country to ransom look at the top of the Post Office not the hard working postie’s who like many other public servants are s#!t on from a great height at every opportunity

The PO has been kicked around by Gov't, management and unions for so long that I am surprised that it still exists. The whole 'them vs us' between management and unions has gone on for most of my life - at times the unions have been unreasonable, at times the management and at times both!

The Gov't wanted to sell it off, but the pension issue means that the only thing that they could do was to open up the market. However they left the PO with the universal postal bit and regulated the prices based on political needs and not actual costs.

This was not helped by the Gov't requiring the PO so do deliveries for "the last mile" for their competitors and setting the price for this at less than the actual cost.

Add in the huge reduction in post as we move to an internet based society and the fact that most stuff done in a Post Office has been made electronic and it is not surprising that we have problems. The PO has not helped itself with failed re-organisations, but the staff often appear unhelpful and totally resistant to change.

Lots of problems, and probably not enough solutions.

one day, the 'royal mail' will join the 20th century (we'll let them catch up one century at a time shall we?).

instead of sending mr/mrs postie out with a van full of 'sorry you were out' cards, they'll send out a text message; 'come and get your stuff - it's at the depot'

the end result will be the same, but it'll cost less, it'll be great.

they could even automate the depot so it's open 24hrs - instead of a grumpy man whose idea of hell is finding the parcel you've come in for, you'll have a little robot/conveyor system, that knows exactly where your parcel is.

Adam Crozier ... despite having had no experience of business/football

Still Kaesae does like to complain about them and we can't take that away from him.

Does he ever write to them to complain?

Have you tried to complain to any other company? IME companies of all walks are great when things go well but come the time you need to contact them for service/complaints it appears almost all keep you waiting for ages, fail to deliver on promises etc.

Pay people less than they think they deserve, constantly change their working terms and conditions and then wonder why service is terrible? All the HR billox of company vision etc is farsicle.

We have created a society where the lowest price is King and then wonder why the service provided are crap.

BTW OP, it was a single individual who failed to deliver your package, not the whole service.

You have a point but there are many contributory factors as to the state of the Post Office service at present and a BIG proporton of that is down to money. Is it really a "Service"? Is any business that has to deliver profits a "Service"?

i have. bunch of f******ds, you have to complain three times before you can get any feedback about what the problem is. it has to be three complaints about the same thing, "delivery problems" does not count as one thing, it is per individual delivery. oh and complaining at the counter doesn't count, has to be over the phone.
they aren't a charity, they don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts, and i pay them to do a job, but they seem totally out of their depth in this century.
however i am sure that there are plenty of good posties and poeple, but as a business; they suck.

konabunny - Member

It is outrageous that there is no option but to use a belligerently incompetent company

they have a massive network and a monopoly on the service.

This is complete pish. Parcelforce has zillions of competitors in package delivery: http://www.parcel2go.com/parcel-suppliers.aspx Royal Mail hasn't had a monopoly on postal services in years: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9836b1a2-69c0-11d9-81e7-00000e2511c8.html#axzz1h3slCfWm .

The OP's rant should be at the private sector competitors who have thus far totally failed to produce a service which competes properly with the Royal Mail post service - and, if you know, if it's so crap to begin with, competing should be a doddle, right?

Ever heard of post offices ❓ they only offer royalmail or parcelforce, how can that not be a monopoly ❓

I have no problem with the posties, I have a problem with who ever is in charge!

speaker2animals - Member

Have you tried to complain to any other company? IME companies of all walks are great when things go well but come the time you need to contact them for service/complaints it appears almost all keep you waiting for ages, fail to deliver on promises etc.

Pay people less than they think they deserve, constantly change their working terms and conditions and then wonder why service is terrible? All the HR billox of company vision etc is farsicle.

We have created a society where the lowest price is King and then wonder why the service provided are crap.

[b]BTW OP, it was a single individual who failed to deliver your package, not the whole service.[/b]

You have a point but there are many contributory factors as to the state of the Post Office service at present and a BIG proporton of that is down to money. Is it really a "Service"? Is any business that has to deliver profits a "Service"?

Wrong! it was not a single individual, if this practice is occuring in other area's to other people as my previous threads have proven that it is, then what we are dealing with is a system wide policy, that determines specific operating practices and subsequent actions.

The royalmail is a threat to a lot of companies, they are a liability, as capitalists it is traditional to say we don't give a shit what is happening to you, as long as it doesn't cause us any trouble.

However the situation with the royal mail is getting worse, more and more policies are being implemented that are reducing the quality of the service to the point where it is not worth using.

However we have no choice but to use the service and that is the real problem.

If we need to collect our mail, have the royalmail then not failed to adhere to thier own terms and conditions and what does that mean from a legal stand point.

As for complaining to them, I have complained, however complaining to an organization or body that doesn't give a shit, is pointless and as such illogical.

The royal mail we don't give a shit and you can't make us!

What kind of.reply do you think you would get if you went into the city link office and demanded to send via Royal Mail? (although they send a lot of small stuff via us anyway after charging the customer double what it would've cost to use RM in the first place).

Of course you can only use Parcelforce or Royal Mail when posting from a post office.

Ever heard of post offices they only offer royalmail or parcelforce, how can that not be a monopoly

LOL.

ever heard of sainsburys? they don't sell asda or tesco stuff. how can that not be a monopoly.

D'oh! reasoning, TV's making people idiots, at least we know they're doing their jobs, which is more than can be said for the royalmail.

RM have a massive advantage and an entire well established network, however they still cannot do thier jobs with anything that resembles competence.

You lot deserve the royalmail, however I and all of the other rational forward rather than backwards thinking individuals, require a service that can deliver what it's terms and conditions state it will.

however I and all of the other rational forward rather than backwards thinking individuals, require a service that can deliver what it's terms and conditions state it will.

So - are you going to do anything positive about this terrible state of affairs, or are you going to continue to shout at us via the internet?

I like Royal Mail at the moment. Sensible approach to Christmas: extra delivery on Sunday, and if you miss that, the depot is open 6.30 am until sometime in the late evening, so the queue isn't too bad even at lunchtime.

Yodel/Home delivery Network on the other hand... Oh, no-one's in? I'll chuck 3 parcels over the 2-metre high back gate so they're in full view of the street, and put a delivery note through the door for one of the three. Oh dear - you were away that night, and it snowed. That's a shame. 3 soaked parcels of Christmas presents, so half the contents had to be replaced due to damage. 2 replacements came by Royal Mail - handed over to us on Monday morning. One came by Yodel again. Both of us in the house; note put through the door mid-afternoon to say we hadn't answered the door (because he hadn't knocked!) and the parcel was in the recycling bin. Which was damp. Luckily I found the note about 5 minutes after he'd left it. Not impressed, and will try to avoid them in future.

(And breathe)

My with Kael on this one - My postman is (was) a lying,thieving, swindling alcoholic immigrant that apparently couldnt even speak or understand English
How's that work when you need to read addresses, or is that why he just kept the mail and stole people's chequebooks?
Do RM not check who they employ these days, surely a minimum is to be able to read an address?
http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Jailed-postie-stole-cheque-books-sell-pound-100/story-14180562-detail/story.html

Ever heard of post offices they only offer royalmail or parcelforce, how can that not be a monopoly

Similarly, Starbucks only sells Starbucks coffee. That doesn't mean that Starbucks has a monopoly on coffee in the UK.

kaesae - Member

Ever heard of post offices they only offer royalmail or parcelforce, how can that not be a monopoly

What a brilliant bit of illogic. I went to the Nike shop and they [i]only sell Nikes[/i]. That's disgusting that they have a monopoly like that.

<edit- Oh bugger, someone else has already said basically the same thing. Sod it, I don't care. Worth saying twice>

Usual bollocks from the bollock chops, the royalmail have a monopoly on the smaller packets and standard mail in this country due to the post offices.

It is a monopoly as no other company can compete for it, if nike or any other company offered as poor a service as the royalmail no one would buy from them, you would have a choice to go elsewhere, with the royalmail you have no other choice, so it is therefore a monopoly.

As for your arguments they are shite! not surprising considering what currently fills your heads 😀

To everyone with a brain that is not full of S H 1 T E, when I went to collect the packet from the rip off royalmail there was a piece of paper that said todays numbers, this consisted of a list of collected items.

There were between 75 to 100 items on the list that had been collected, most were first class recorded as well as special delivery standard parcels etc, this appears to be a system royalmail are using, next time you are forced to collect something from these scum bags have a look at the list for yourselves.

The royalmail are lying, stealing, cheating scum and should not be tolerated, they simply must go they have left us no other option!

Ultimately we get what we pay for in this world.

What they provide and what we are prepared pay for are out of alignment.

We are paying for a mondeo and expecting a porche.

We either pay more or cull all the bits that we aren't prepared to pay for like subsidised mail to remote areas, daily deliveries to the whole country, local post offices etc.

(sorry if that has already been covered but can't be arsed to read through 3 pages of the same arguments)

Our regular postie is good and their colleagues we have had when she's not around are better. Even our local Parcel Force chap is very good, always leaves stuff with a neighbour where he can or the local PO. The miserable sods at the desk at the sorting office however, they do need a rocket. I'm not after enthused etc, just a smile with attentive service.

Usual bollocks from the bollock chops

...and a Merry Christmas to you, Sir!

the royalmail have a monopoly on the smaller packets and standard mail in this country due to the post offices.

It is a monopoly as no other company can compete for it

a) confusing the old 25% of market rule which was formerly used to flag a market participant of possible interest to the MMC and EU Competition Commission with the definition of a monopoly, or

b) being wilfully blind to the very obvious fact that Royal Mail hasn't had a monopoly on letter and packet delivery for donkey's years (see sources above or your everyday life), or

c) doesn't actually know what a monopoly is.

The PO do NOT have a monopoly on parcels in the UK. From my home office today I have seen DHL, CityLink and UPS all delivering, as well as the PO. The problem is that they are more expensive than the PO. The PO are the cheapest and deliver for a flat fee anywhere in the UK - as such most parcels are sent via the PO. If you don't like it - pick another deliver service. You don't have to use the PO.

Party of the problem is that there is so little profit to be made. The delivery companies have to deliver a profit, the PO is a publicly owned body that is not required to make a profit.

Like many on this thread I have had to drive miles collect parcels from other delivery companies compared to my local PO office. The PO may not be perfect but the others are not significantly better either.

the royalmail have a monopoly on the smaller packets and standard mail in this country

no

due to the post offices.

no idea what this means.

http://www.parcel2go.com/

enter an a4 size packet in here (a letter if you will) £8.50 for 24hr £5.50 for 48hr.

I'd say that royal mail are doing pretty well to deliver for 75p & 58p (first/ second; large letter)

clearly not a monopoly

OK so the royalmail rock! because you lot say so.

Just so we can be sure you know what you're talking about, how many small packets or letters do each of you that are advocating the royalmails awsumeness post each year and how many do you recieve ❓