Frustrated queues at Royal Mail sorting office

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2011/12/loca ... g-offices/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Lincoln residents have been airing their complaints about long queues waiting for their parcels at the Royal Mail sorting office on Firth Road.

The Christmas period is Royal Mail’s busiest time of year due to an onslaught of people buying gifts online for Christmas and sending festive cards.

Therefore, the delivery company has been increasing its opening hours at sorting offices, as well as extra postmen and women.

Items dated up to December 6 are currently out for redelivery in Lincoln and the sorting office queue gives priority to customers with notice left cards.

Royal Mail’s Managing Director for Fulfilment and Parcels Nick Landon said: “Online shopping continues to grow and people are buying their Christmas presents earlier to take some of the stress out of their Christmas shopping or to spread the cost.

“Christmas is our busiest time of year and we expect to handle a festive mailbag of around two billion items this year.

“Royal Mail has invested an additional £15 million to increase our scale and improve our flexibility during this important time of year for our customers.”

However, many Lincoln residents have taken to Twitter to complain about the extended waiting times of collecting a parcels, with some waiting well over an hour for collection.

One frustrated resident said he queued for an hour and a half on December 14 to pick up a parcel due to not only being stood amongst 60 people waiting, but the office not having any extra staff on to move the queue on.

He said: “They’ve clearly not taken any extra staff on. got to the desk and there were two women working their socks off. Not fair on them.”

“As we do every year we’re asking people to help our postmen and women deliver this year’s bumper post bag by buying their gifts online as soon as they can, and to post their cards before latest recommended posting dates,” said Landon.

The Royal Mail have posted the last dates for sending parcels on their website, as well as extra opening hours for the busiest sorting offices.

December 14 was the final day for standard inland parcels to be posted. The last date a parcel can be sent off to get to its recipient (UK only) is December 23, by Special Delivery with Saturday Guarantee.

International mail is no longer guaranteed to get delivered before Christmas.

[doorstepped]

easiest way to stop the people moaning about the queue is to tell them to be F***ing in when they are expecting a delivery

I bought back 20+ packages today due to people not being in, 3 of them specials!!!

[Terryk]

As a customer I am not sure having extra staff in the callers office is going to help. The four callers offices I have experience of do not have the room on the customer side of the glass to serve more than two or three people at once let alone enough PDAs. They are not designed as shops and for 11 months of the year are adequate to cope with the flow of customers calling for items left or PO BOX mail. My tip for what its worth is go first thing if they open at six or seven or mid morning. If you go around 8.30am you catch the people popping in before work and the lunchtime rush merges with those coming on their way to pick up the children from school. I'm told where there is late opening it can also be quieter in the evening as people don't read the card and assume they shut at normal times.

[TeeferTiger]

As a customer I am not sure having extra staff in the callers office is going to help. The four callers offices I have experience of do not have the room on the customer side of the glass to serve more than two or three people at once let alone enough PDAs. They are not designed as shops and for 11 months of the year are adequate to cope with the flow of customers calling for items left or PO BOX mail. My tip for what its worth is go first thing if they open at six or seven or mid morning. If you go around 8.30am you catch the people popping in before work and the lunchtime rush merges with those coming on their way to pick up the children from school. I'm told where there is late opening it can also be quieter in the evening as people don't read the card and assume they shut at normal times.

People not reading the card?! Since when?! Considering they used to turn up at our DO with DHL/Parcelforce/City link cards trying to collect parcels, it makes me wonder how many of those in these 2 hour queues are even waiting for packets RM have left P739s for!

[templepilot]

we have had a bigger queu than that waitning for the callers office to open. Much,much bigger

[kingofmcr]

easiest way to stop the people moaning about the queue is to tell them to be F***ing in when they are expecting a delivery

I bought back 20+ packages today due to people not being in, 3 of them specials!!!

they were all in .but you did not hit the door hard enough with your sledge hammer

[TeeferTiger]

One guy on there stated that he wasn't in because it was a Sunday when they attempted delivery, and he wasn't expecting a delivery on a Sunday, which is fair enough I think.

[CORTINA]

Whatever way you look at it, people have to go to work and not everyone actually knows when a loved one or friend sends an item and when it will be delivered. Like everything it has its weakest link and for RM it is issuing 739`s and to bring items back......

The sheer growth of parcel deliveries means a percentage will be always be out. and as we cannnot computerise delivering through the letter box, the manual system will have to stay unless people are forced to go to non RM collection points in their area in the future.

[Lounge Lizard]

"The Christmas period is Royal Mail’s busiest time of year " - yes, that's the explanation, even if all those Lincolnites don't realise it.

[CORTINA]

"The Christmas period is Royal Mail’s busiest time of year " - yes, that's the explanation, even if all those Lincolnites don't realise it.

So why are no extra staff put on to help counter staff........in some areas ...

The queue outside is a dead giveaway extra staff is needed.

Answer ... Bigger bonuses if costs are kept low and targets are met..... sod the staff and the public...It has no doubt been said at the top.

[Lounge Lizard]

"The Christmas period is Royal Mail’s busiest time of year " - yes, that's the explanation, even if all those Lincolnites don't realise it.

So why are no extra staff put on to help counter staff........in some areas ...

The queue outside is a dead giveaway extra staff is needed.

Answer ... Bigger bonuses if costs are kept low and targets are met..... sod the staff and the public...It has no doubt been said at the top.

"So why are no extra staff put on to help counter staff" - same old story, all the extra staff in the Mail centres, none in the Delivery Offices. So unfair.

[POSTMAN]

Royal Mail apologises to residents left unable to collect Christmas packages in Lincoln

http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/Roy ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail has apologised after hundreds of people were left unable to collect packages in the run up to Christmas.

Queues at Lincoln's Firth Road sorting office snaked back as customers were forced to stand and wait for more than a hour only to be told they would not be able to collect their parcels.

On one occasion staff emerged to explain that the hold up was because postal workers leaving missed delivery cards had incorrectly written on them that parcels could be collected in 24 hours rather than 48 hours.

And according to one staff member, problems were compounded by "unprecedented demand" which saw the branch dealing with three times the usual amount of parcels.

Standing in one of the queues, Janet Barkerson, 37, from the west end of the city, said: "I had a note for a parcel which should have been delivered on Friday, December 16, which said I could pick it up on the 17th.

"But when I got there they said it wouldn't be ready until Monday, even though it was sitting out the back somewhere.

"I deliberately paid for special delivery because I needed to get the presents before Christmas.

"The point of having the option of a collection office is that you can't always be there to answer the door.

"That was my last chance to pick it up, so now I'll have to either try and buy something new and return that item or turn up to my family's house empty-handed."

Some customers expecting to collect gifts over the weekend before Christmas were advised that the items would not be ready until Tuesday.

Garry Hunter said: "People were getting really upset and in some cases even angry.

"People had been queuing for over an hour and a half and then being told they weren't going to receive their packages. The queues were massive.

"Apparently they had run out of shelving space – it's not acceptable.

"It was over a few days as well because my wife had visited the day before and she said it was exactly the same."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We have been undertaking re-deliveries of packets and items that require a signature on Sunday, as we do all we can to deliver items when people are at home.

"We apologise to customers who have experienced difficulties in collecting their items from Lincoln delivery office.

"The Saturday before Christmas is busy for all our delivery offices, given the high volume of letters and packets we handle at this time of year."

[RedBagMan]

One idea ... set up temporary callers offices around the postcode area - spread the load ??

[CORTINA]

One idea ... set up temporary callers offices around the postcode area - spread the load ??

Many employees have a few ideas...

Shame the same cannot be said for higher paid R M management......or we would not be having these same problems year after year....management fit for purpose.... one has to wonder........or paid for failure... or keeping their budget costs low for bonuses....

[wackyandwild]

Same old in our delivery office Mail and parcels piled up and left,our delivery office failed every day,no extended opening hours for customers..And yes all managers going home early knowing there are thousands off undelivered items untouched in the depo,no attempt to clear or give overtime to clear,,Keep budget down knock off early and get a bonus YET AGAIN MANAGERS REWARDED FOR FAILURE