As above really, don’t delay! Mail centres are getting pretty backed up and with more upcoming strike days I can’t see us clearing it all before xmas. Best bet for parcels is Tracked 24/48 or SD if you’re rich. The managers don’t give a shit about anything else except clearing the tracked stuff.

death knell

From what I’ve experienced this week, they’re not doing a particularly good job with Special Delivery stuff either!

death knell

Yep – new contracts will be being signed with other couriers at a rapid rate.

They’ll all have to pay better though as there are many tales that all is not well in courier land either.

Jesus, I am sooo glad I sacked off being a postie last year. Absolute shambles of a company.

Has this been done?
You’ll need to return any non-barcoded stamps before they’re obsolete:

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2022-11/Stamp-Swap-Out-Form-under-200-pounds-v1_4.pdf

My missus picked some new stamps up from the post office, where an old lady had handed over a large amount of Christmas cards with new stamps on, but she’d cut off all the QR codes. I don’t know why either.

When I see comments ( not necessarily on here I hasten to add ) like serve them right , writing their own death warrant , plenty of couriers out there lining up to take their place I wonder if those making the comments fancy doing those jobs ?
The speed couriers round here have to go , parking where they can even if it isn’t safe to do so , really old rust bucket vans that look like they are on their last legs , leaving parcels on doorsteps , even with a photo is that really a safe place ? Has the recipient given permission?
But the biggest concern for me would be long term health of the drivers . One parcel I was expecting the e mail said it could be up to 930pm delivery. If that was a reality how long can anyone expect to keep that up before being burnt out ? The safety implication of having someone still on the road after 10 hours in a shonky van having grabbed food on the hoof worries me . Another parcel i was able to track was delivered after 330 pm the poor guy had over 70 more parcels left to deliver in the dark all in rural locations as an ex postie of nearly 27 years let me tell you how difficult finding ” Rose Cottage ” Honeysuckle Lane is in the dark, then compound that with the ticking clock stress levels through the roof.
As I’ve stated I speak from experience, I know RM have to modernise but talking regularly to mates still in the job I sympathize with them . My office was never particularly militant until now , the straw has finally broken the camels back . When I first started young , just married baby on the way I needed the money so worked 60 plus hours a week regularly. I take no pride in saying starting at 430AM working until dinnertime then going back at 4 pm working until 9 pm from 630 pm I drove a big wagon 25 miles to a major sorting office there were times I couldn’t remember that journey because of tiredness. I got to the stage where it was affecting my health so much I had to go to the GP . He told me I had to cut back those hours. I remember saying to him ” What about the money?” to which he replied ” Keep going the way you are money will be the last of your problems”
Apologies if I’ve gone on too long .

I’m going to stop taking Xmas orders for my online business on Monday 12th – a week earlier than usual as there’s no local courier who collects.

Working as a part-time postie expecting a huge load today so will probably be out gone 9pm as post doesn’t arrive to midday…at least it’s not raining

@oldfart I agree with the general sentiment of your post that some couriers may be overworked in a race to the bottom, but

leaving parcels on doorsteps , even with a photo is that really a safe place ?

I’m more than happy for this to happen. We live in a busy town centre, probably have an average of 10-15 parcels delivered a week. Most of them are left on the doorstep as we are either out, or busy WFH on calls. I’ve never known a package to go missing. I guess the risk varies by locality, but I wouldn’t want them to change.

One parcel I was expecting the e mail said it could be up to 930pm delivery

Not every individual courier starts at 0430. Some start their shift much later in the day. We occasionally get things delivered late in to the night. After 2200 they tend to just leave it on the doorstep rather than ringing the bell. It is much more efficient with traffic and parking to do night drops.

Another parcel i was able to track was delivered after 330 pm the poor guy had over 70 more parcels left to deliver

As above, he may be at the beginning of his delivery round.

Best bet for parcels is Tracked 24/48 or SD

Or virtually anyone else who can shift a parcel, for less.

It’s a scandal that RM has been run into the ground, but that’s the reality

They’ll all have to pay better though as there are many tales that all is not well in courier land either.

DPD slashed pay and conditions a couple of months back. Loads left.

Davy the DPD Driver told me yesterday that the 2 NE depots have 10s of thousands parcels backed up.

Thanks for the heads up. Evri’s been a bit hit and miss, but ony a day late, but nothing un-usual. Part of my son’s pessent will be track day vouchers, but looks like I’ll opt for a digital one that will be emailed rather than the ‘physical ones’ due to the postal delays. I’ll maybe wait until Xmas Eve to order them, as the email may be sent immediately (doesn’t say on their website).

What actually happens to letter services if this really is the death knoll of RM? No commercial business will take on the burden if having to deliver letters to the outer hebridies etc for the price of a 2nd class stamp.
Privatised company fails, the public purse steps in again…

What actually happens to letter services if this really is the death knoll of RM?

why do we even need a letter service at all? Email’s been a thing for almost 50 years now. Would be cheaper to give everyone who needs one a free iPad than prop up the dying postal service for no reason.

It’s obviously not the staffs fault and I do feel for them (had a mate who used to be a cycle postie, he was gutted when they took his bike away as it made him ridiculously fit) but a series of incredibly poor decisions by those in charge not least of all privatisation has run the RM into the ground, and I don’t see any way back now.

why do we even need a letter service at all? Email’s been a thing for almost 50 years now. Would be cheaper to give everyone who needs one a free iPad than prop up the dying postal service for no reason.

Same as post offices and bank branches not necessary for my 46 year old self. It would properly isolate some older folk.

Privatised company fails, the public purse steps in again…

That would be the best outcome for us posties.

Probably the most detailed interview on the situation to date:

It would properly isolate some older folk.

the irony being of course that technology is actually the key to them not being isolated. But, 🤷‍♂️. It’s not a question of if, it’s when.

It is what it is, a business sector that is dying, poor management, employees who dont want to change and shackled by Victorian legislation all contributing to when it fails, not if.

Sad but the world moves on as plenty of Other businesses have found out if their sectormdies of they don’t keep up with the competition.

Proper scrutiny and regulation of employment practices and safety in the private sector needs to be maintained but like most government regulation and oversight it’s lacking and not fit for purpose.

and of course the elephant in the back of the van and about to be left in the porch is that we all buy far far far to much stuff.

Its simply not sustainable.

The ONLY answer here is to consume less.

For anyone who thinks the private courier business model is the answer give Sorry We Missed You a watch. While it’s not a documentary it is based on the real life story of someone who worked for DPD.

Parcel and letter delivery seems to me to be one of those services that just costs a whole lot less than it should.

I know that competition drives down prices, but when you consider what goes into collecting a parcel, processing it, driving it to the other end of the country (and sometimes across international borders) before delivering it to somebody’s door (we’ll, OK sometimes almost that far!), the price is remarkable.

The price of a 1st class stamp is expensive I appreciate but when you consider that a parcel costs not much more, it strikes me that the 1st class stamp is about right but the cost of a parcel is probably too low to sustain the level of service that we would probably all prefer. That would pay a decent wage, reduce the pressure on drivers and enable an altogether better service.

I guess the thing is, none of us really want to pay more for anything right now……

Having said all of that, I do think that against that competitive backdrop, the RM strikers are just handing business to their competitors. Not a statement as to whether I agree or disagree with their cause, and not a judgement, but an unfortunate characteristic of a competitive sector in a race to the bottom where RM are saddled with their commitment to deliver letters as well as parcels.

But fast forward 20 years, is there really a place for letters? RM need to get ready for that future now if they are to survive.

On a very different scale, is this not similar to the death of other outdated services like coal delivery, gas lamp lighters and to a lesser extent the milk round (thanks to a change in shopping habits) and the paper round (thanks to the long slow death of printed media)? They have to modernise. I am just not sure that either the workers or management at RM know quite how to do that.

We don’t need a 6 day a week letter service any more. When was the last time anyone received a letter that couldn’t have waited another day.

Our local Gin Distillery has just emailed customers that DPD have said they won’t be collecting any more parcels from them until January. Any orders going Royal Mail 24 – if they get there.