Extremely long (and problematic) delivery times for Royal Mail services

[aiden01]

In my view?
In most of the delivery offices the mail and parcels are piling up, walks not going out for 1,2 or more days, work brought back, no overtime paid to clear, lots of other issues, it`s not only my view.

Even if people did go to the media rm will just spout their usual bullshit statement so wont make any difference.

[Janet Brum]

That`s your opinion, not necessarily what`s going to happen :)

[Celgar]

There are a number of inaccurate statements in the OP:
1) The majority of posties are not lazy and do their best to deliver the mail on a daily basis. This is despite mismanagement of the network from the people at the very top which results in very little mail arriving at DOs on one day then the next day receiving an avalanche of mail & parcels.
2) The Special Delivery product will not have any effect on when you receive your mail from RM. In addition due to the Covid situation the 9am SD items do not have to be delivered until 12pm and the 1pm SD items do not have to be delivered until 9pm.
3) Other RM services than SD are also partially or fully tracked through the system. Tracked items are tracked end to end. Signed For & the 2D barcodes are scanned when posted, at the MC, and when delivered.
4) Sometimes the 2D barcodes cannot be scanned when they are creased or wrinkled, placed on the edge of a parcel, the ink is too dark or faded, the barcode sticker has been torn or damaged. I would personally type the long number into the PDA if the barcode will not scan but not every postie will do so.
In a lot of DOs across the UK, certainly in terms of packets & parcels, it has been similar to Xmas levels most days since lockdown began. There has been a high percentage of staff on two weeks or three months off work due to Covid issues. In addition we haven't been doing shared van duties so there has been a shortage of vans. It has and continues to be very difficult & stressful but I think we are still the best delivery service in the UK.

[theoneandonly1995]

Franchise post offices are the WORST for not replacing the ink on their label printers.

But I don't use the Post Offices for purchasing postage; I purchase the labels directly from the RM website and print them off myself. It's cheaper that way: £2.95 small parcel vs £3.10.

And I don't know how the price has managed to get to what it is now... I started sending items in early 2016 and the price was £2.80!

Ultimately, for 1-2kg small parcels, I don't really have a choice, as no one else now has a small parcel rate. The same goes for any parcels to offshore UK; I recently had a buyer in the Channel Islands and the only courier that would take it (and not for a hugely inflated price) was Royal Mail. So I had to use 2nd Class which was not tracked in any way until delivery. Which is even more concerning as it had to have a customs declaration added as well (CN22 form).

The joys of selling on eBay (and you can't really say "sorry, no buyers from offshore UK" can you?)...

[theoneandonly1995]

There are a number of inaccurate statements in the OP:
1) The majority of posties are not lazy and do their best to deliver the mail on a daily basis. This is despite mismanagement of the network from the people at the very top which results in very little mail arriving at DOs on one day then the next day receiving an avalanche of mail & parcels.
2) The Special Delivery product will not have any effect on when you receive your mail from RM. In addition due to the Covid situation the 9am SD items do not have to be delivered until 12pm and the 1pm SD items do not have to be delivered until 9pm.
3) Other RM services than SD are also partially or fully tracked through the system. Tracked items are tracked end to end. Signed For & the 2D barcodes are scanned when posted, at the MC, and when delivered.
4) Sometimes the 2D barcodes cannot be scanned when they are creased or wrinkled, placed on the edge of a parcel, the ink is too dark or faded, the barcode sticker has been torn or damaged. I would personally type the long number into the PDA if the barcode will not scan but not every postie will do so.
In a lot of DOs across the UK, certainly in terms of packets & parcels, it has been similar to Xmas levels most days since lockdown began. There has been a high percentage of staff on two weeks or three months off work due to Covid issues. In addition we haven't been doing shared van duties so there has been a shortage of vans. It has and continues to be very difficult & stressful but I think we are still the best delivery service in the UK.

If the 2D barcodes are scanned when accepted at the PO, at the Mail Centers and at delivery, then why do RM not show tracking updates at those points you mention? It would provide reassurance to the senders! And with Signed For, the only things that pop up on a tracking number are (a) when it was accepted and (b) when it was delivered. Nothing more.

With online deliveries being such a large thing nowadays, many people like to have, and often expect, some sort of tracking. Having nothing until point of delivery is no good, especially given how eBay always refund buyers unless there is proof of delivery (thus leaving sellers out of pocket with no recourse - or in my case above, a book of stamps - yet I don't actually send much mail out via stamps!).

IMO, Tracked 48 needs to become the standard service for UK parcel deliveries. Hermes can do services with full end to end tracking for £2.90 (under 1kg), or £2.45 if it's the equivalent of a "Large Letter". CollectPlus (via Yodel) can do a fully tracked service (and now 2-3 days as standard, not 3-5 days as before) for any size parcel (up to 60x50x50 cm) up to 2kg for £3.79.

In fact, UPS can take a 10kg parcel and deliver it next day for just £6 if you drop it off at one of their drop shops.

Now that's what I call "the best delivery service in the UK".

[Terryk]

Going back to delays my deliveries have settled into a pattern of letters on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with packets on the other three days. The only exception being any tracked or specials which are delivered on "letter" days if appropriate. It is not ideal - but at least you can plan round it.

One thing I have noticed about the tracking is that quite often, despite the postie scanning it on delivery, it doesn't show as delivered until the next morning. Whether that is when the PDA is logged into again the next day I don't know.