Danger Signs ..... ???

[guyscliffe]

Hiya Folks ...
Xmas within the Royal Mail,USED to be lovely ... Such a great atmosphere ...But due to long term health problems ( IHR'd ),this is the first Xmas in 25 yrs that I have been out of Royal Mail.
From my understanding,it appears as if ( up until now,at any rate ),this years Xmas pressure has been quieter/less busy than years gone by.
Hell,I have just got back from getting some parcels weighed at our local Post Office.Normally at this time of the year,their are queues of at least a dozen people or so.
The postmistress ( who's one of our ex neighbours ) has said taken as a whole december has been worryingly very quiet.Lunchtimes appear to be their busiest times of the day.Even the amount of packet bags that are filled,and collected from her sub-post office is well down ...
Hopefully the next 7 or 8 days leading upto the big day,will see things improve and become busier throughout the whole of The Post Office & Royal Mail networks ...

I cast my mind back a few years,and having cleared my mail down from my pigeon holes,by the time I got it back to my frame it was triple teared ........
Remember those days ....???

Just wondering on a serious note .... Does a potentially quieter festive period,spell danger for The Post Office and/or Royal in the new year?

Hopefully not,for once upon a time,was THE finest postal service in the world .... <------- Moya,are you listening ?

Regards ...
G.

[mazza111]

I like u as you know, have also had my IHR. And I'm rather enjoying the run up to xmas this year. Visited the local PO twice in the past week or so, and the queues were out the door. So went to the main PO in town, just as bad, but at least they had more people serving. Woman said it had been like that for about 3 weeks, so might just be quiet in some places.

[mazza111]

Also sad to say that a lot of companies seem to be using some useless couriers this year, had half a dozen packets that would normally have been delivered by RM come to me from outside couriers, especially my favs, HDNL and Hermes, GRRRRR Don't get me started on them!

[TeeferTiger]

It's my first out of RM too, and I've see quite a few of my Xmas deliveries come via alternate couriers too....

[pinstripe]

It's my first out of RM too, and I've see quite a few of my Xmas deliveries come via alternate couriers too....

About the only company that I haven't seen delivering is Yodel......probably because they couldn't find their own a*** with both hands.

My DO may not clear packets this year, we've been having a "controlled carry over" since mid-November.

[Lounge Lizard]

It's my first out of RM too, and I've see quite a few of my Xmas deliveries come via alternate couriers too....

Maternity leave ?

[PhilthyPhil]

My office is actually overstaffed so we have been clearing easily this christmas. I would not say it has been quiet at all though, either on the delivery or collection side. I think the letters are down a bit but packets are absolutely through the roof. I went in to do a collection today and there are already 30 yorks of packets in the office for tomorrow, that is almost one per walk! The post offices seem busier than ever, although this may be partly because there are less of them. So no, I don't see any danger signs.

[Stormproof]

Snowed under with parcels at my place......planners/LM's from other offices/admin/non operational managers/strange people from RM HQ all been in to try and shift them. Not making much of an impact, probably don't help not knowing the area Can't blame the snow this year

[baldrick]

Seems busier at the Mount than last year, but that might be because work has been transferred in from East and South London, and the Inward Foreign is still coming in although it was supposed to go to HWDC in July.
But there is no 'Christmas atmosphere'. No decorations, no music, no goodwill. Just stress, tiredness, and frayed tempers.