ROYAL MAIL CASHES IN

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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ROYAL Mail bagged a cash windfall of £1.2million last year flogging off valuable items that got “lost” in the post, writes Jon Coates.

A mountain of letters and parcels which cannot be delivered, costing millions in postage, is amassed at the company’s National Returns Centre at a rate of almost 60,000 items a day.

These are opened by staff and items of value are held for four months before being sold at Surrey-based Wellers Auction House, with all the profits going to the Royal Mail. In the past financial year it shredded more than 21 million letters and auctioned off birthday and Christmas presents, laptop computers, mobile phones, artwork and even bagpipes.

The profit was a 25 per cent increase on the previous year, when £900,000 was raised from the auctions.

It has also emerged that hundred of thousands of first-class letters are being delivered late every day, despite a huge increase in the price of stamps.

Royal Mail pushed through the controversial rises of 46p to 60p for a first-class stamp and 36p to 50p for second-class at the end of April, to the dismay of pensioners’ groups.

The latest quality of service figures show that despite charging more money Royal Mail missed its target to deliver first-class letters and parcels on time.

Between April and June, 92.9 per cent of mail arrived the next working day after posting, just below the 93 per cent target set by Royal Mail bosses. But as it handles about 4.5 million first-class items every day, this means more than 300,000 letters and parcels were late.

Shadow Postal Affairs Minister Ian Murray said the public would be disappointed with the drop in standards, given the stamp price rises and a major bonus awarded to Royal Mail’s chief executive Moya Greene just weeks after the increase. Ms Greene received a £371,000 cash bonus to take her annual salary to £1.1million, despite a year of criticism over customer service.

Royal Mail’s annual review showed it received nearly 440,000 complaints about its service in the last financial year, up from 423,000 the previous year.

There were more than 3,000 addresses in the UK during this period where mail was not delivered on a regular basis due to factors like “hazardous terrain” or “dangerous dogs in customers’ gardens”.

The Sunday Express can reveal that the controversial practice of auctioning “lost” valuables has netted £5.1million for the firm’s coffers since 2005. In response to a Freedom of Information request, Royal Mail said it does not keep a record of the items being auctioned, so could not provide details of even the most valuable items sold.

A spokesman for Wellers Auction House said it could not disclose details of the items sold due to confidentiality agreements with Royal Mail, but most of the items were valued at under £20.

Gallery owner Rebecca Hossack called in police four years ago after being approached by a man offering to sell her a painting she had been waiting for from Australia.

It emerged that the untitled painting, by Mathias Kauage and worth £10,000, had been sold at auction for £20 after getting “lost” in the British postal system. The buyer agreed to return the work to its owner, who runs a gallery in central London.

A year earlier retired teacher John Beattie found a pair of bagpipes he had sold to a collector in Belgium for £1,500 for sale on eBay for just £60, despite having sent them using Royal Mail’s Airsure service.

Royal Mail employs 140 staff at its returns centre in Belfast and says profits from auctioning off undelivered items are used to pay for the specialist centre.

[Straight4ward]

Of course, you could always try including a return address or would that be too difficult?

[pants123]

isn't that a form of stealing ??

the money should have gone to charity not into royal mails pocket..

they are stealing from people..

[clashcityrocker]

How could an auction house have a £10 000 painting in its hands ......and let it go for £20?

[fishtank]

How could an auction house have a £10 000 painting in its hands ......and let it go for £20?

Believe it or not the auction house(Wellers) has a mission statement.
It is...."Recognising value, maximising return"

[somerset]

Of course, you could always try including a return address or would that be too difficult?

That is the best statement i have read for awhile . Why the heck don,t RM do an advertising campaign?

[P13]

isn't that a form of stealing ??

the money should have gone to charity not into royal mails pocket..

they are stealing from people..

The money raised from the auctions covers the cost of running the returns centre it can hardly be classed as stealing besides as someone has already posted how difficult can it be to put a return address on your mail especially on valuable items

[Lounge Lizard]

isn't that a form of stealing ??

the money should have gone to charity not into royal mails pocket..

they are stealing from people..

Of course it's not stealing. A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and 'thief' and 'steal shall be construed accordingly. Royal Mail having tried to deliver it has no intention whatsoever of permanently depriving the other of it but has no choice. The£1.2 million will go towards the cost of running the Returned Mail Centre, none of which would be necessary if everything was correctly and clearly addressed, correctly packaged and included a return address. Charity begins at home, not at Royal Mail.

[RedBagMan]

It'd be nice if us employees got first shout though ...

[blue1873]

Of course, you could always try including a return address or would that be too difficult?

That is the best statement i have read for awhile . Why the heck don,t RM do an advertising campaign?

Possibily because an awful lot of mail would be held up due to lack of proper
facing up of mail,i assume due to lack of staff to cull the mail properly.I know
in our office "White Label Trays"which used to be sent for maual sortation is now
fired through the ILSMs,the "I" may stand for intelligent but believe me these
machines cant tell the difference between the destination address or the senders
it simply reads what it sees and if the mail is'nt presented properly then there's
the possibility of delay

[pants123]

ok guys thank you for correcting me, learn something every day. cheers.