Postmen accused of 'deceiving' customers

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Postmen accused of 'deceiving' customers with 'Sorry, you were out' cards

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Postmen have been accused of routinely deceiving customers by failing to drop off parcels and claiming, incorrectly, that householders were not at home.

Instead they have pushed through the letterbox a "Sorry, you were out" card, which forces residents to travel to their local sorting office to pick up the parcel.

Postal campaigners have warned the Royal Mail, in allowing postmen to do this, would be in breach of its postal licence, a move that should see it investigated and possibly fined.

If it can be proved Royal Mail has breached its licence, Postcomm, the regulator, has indicated it will launch a proper investigation.

The flood of rogue "Sorry, you were out cards to light when a reader wrote to The Daily Telegraph, claiming her postman regularly dropped off these cards, despite her working from home and able to hear whether the doorbell had been rung or not.

Anna Wharton, in her letter, claimed her postman not only did not knock but did not even have any parcels in his delivery bag.

Her experience prompted a number of readers to post messages on the Telegraph website, saying they too had not only received "Sorry, you were out cards" when they were at home but had also confronted their postmen only to discover they did not have the parcel on them.

"It's deception. Pure and simple," said Emma May, a part-time teacher.

Victoria King, from south London, said: "I was standing in my hall, ready to go out, when one of these cards dropped on my door-matt. I know he did not knock.

"I ran out the door and chased the postman down the street, but he told me I had to go to the depot because he didn't have the parcel. It seemed bonkers."

Helen Parkins, a freelance consultant from south London, said: "It happened just a week ago. It is so frustrating. The most annoying thing is I have to drive to the local sorting office, where there is no free parking."

It is understood that a number of postmen, in order to finish their rounds quicker, are leaving parcels in the sorting office and instead posting "Sorry, you were out" cards.

The Royal Mail insisted that any postmen that failed to deliver parcels or packets was breaking all its guidelines and would be disciplined. "This is most certainly not a policy of the Royal Mail," a spokesman said.

It is currently in the middle of a major struggle with its workers over its plans to modernise the postal service – plans that involve more mechanised sorting of the mail, some workers being axed and others being forced to work more flexible hours.

The Communication Workers Union later this week will announce the result of a ballot of its 121,000 workers over a proposed national strike. Union workers said incorrectly posted "Sorry, you were out" cards were becoming an increasing problem at the Royal Mail because of the pressure postmen were put under to finish their rounds on time.

The Royal Mail – in return for being granted a near-monopoly – promises to deliver any letter or parcel up to 20kg anywhere within Great Britain. However, the CWU said that Royal Mail managers had failed to allow postmen enough time to deliver all the extra parcels that had been created by the internet shopping boom.

There were 860 million parcels posted during 2007 by internet retailers, a figure expected to double by 2010. However, postmen are allowed just 3 and half minutes extra on their round to deliver any packets or parcels to households, a mere 1.7 per cent extra to the average round.

Robert Hammond, post expert at Consumer Focus, said: “Royal Mail appear to be playing pass the parcel with this issue. Whether this be a few rogue postmen or a far wider problem it is clearly a huge waste of resources not to mention a source of frustration to consumers.

CWU spokesperson said: “We have hundreds of delivery workers telling us that they cannot complete their rounds in the allotted time and who are being threatened with disciplinary action or having their pay docked by their managers.

“Postal workers are being put under more and more pressure to meet arbitrary targets which match up with budget cuts and not the amount of work. The key to this problem is ensuring that there is sufficient time for postal workers to complete their delivery, including attempting to deliver all items requiring knocking on doors."

[shadow]

Rogue posties the cheeky bas*tards I was standing at my frame when the person next to me asked the dom about some parcels that were a bit on the big side for a postperson to take in their bag. The DOM told the person to shut notice them without anybody trying to deliver them.

[baldrick]

Both the people whose locations were given are from South london, where there are big backlogs due to EA and IA.
Managers and Agency staff are being used to deliver mail there.