Posties Who leave a card but don't have the parcel

[katie_bee]

Good morning,
I experienced something 2 days in a row that has really upset me.
I've been home, the doorbell works, but the postie dropped the red and white card through the mail slot and went off his merry way. At first I thought, I may have not heard the doorbell and let it slide knowing that the parcel could be re-delivered.

Then yesterday, I'm 2 inches from the door and the mail comes through so my husband picks it up and lo and behold there's another red and white card. I grabbed my key and opened the door to let the postie know I was here but there was no sign of him.
So I threw my shoes on and ran out the door and caught up with him half way down the block. I had the card in my hand, and I asked him why didn't he ring the bell. He told me that he knocked. OK I try to be as nice as I possible can but I saw red. I said, "You didn't knock, I was 2 inches from the door, and my dog would have barked if you had knocked." He was adamant that he knocked. OK. I then asked him, may I have my parcel then? He said I don't have it, I didn't bring it. Anger really suffused this time and I can't believe how I held myself in check and managed not to yell or use any swear words. I said why lie to me, you never had the parcel, the card was pre-written before you did your rounds, and this is 2 days in a row. He was obviously embarrassed and could offer no reasonable excuse.

He did phone the depot and arrange to have my parcels sent today.

OK my reason to write here is to hope I make some headway with the Royal Mail posties as to why doing the job is vital to people as myself.

I have an online web shop, and yes I do ebay. They are real jobs, I work my self silly to make my customers happy. I spent anywhere from £79.00- £130. 00 a day to post items to my customers all around the world.

Ebay has a Star system where customers can mark our stars down on postage (time it takes to arrive etc) I apy for 1st class signed for/recorded delivery and in my contracts with my customers it says their items will be there 1-2 working days (as per RM) When a postie doesn't deliver the goods properly, or when he knocks and gives a customer who may be slow to the door only 1 second to respond to get their parcel and if they aren't there in that millisecond they leave the card. Our stars go down on ebay due to the shoddy service SOME posties deliver.

OK I understand you want to do your routes and get it over with, or that some parcels may weigh the postbags down, so why not arrange the trucks to deliver the post that needs signing for that is too bulky?

If you tell me your managers want you to deliver small parcels, well then do your job please. You are treating us the people who depend on the posties to help move the mail. My job can be as unpleasant as the next one at times, but I give 110%. I feel like crying so many times when a parcel goes missing, or no signature is asked for upon delivery and unfortunately I have had over 12 cases of non-signing for recorded post in the last 2 weeks. Out of those 2 claimed non-reciept and it causes me to lose not just the item I sent, but my money as well and my stars rating, which is like advertising for many of us.

You all know that your wages, your jobs depend on how many people continue to use the Post Office to a point. Ebay and other online shop owners help to keep Royal Mail busy. That shouldn't be a problem, it should be looked at like, yeah! more work, less unemployment.

To be truthful, I am terrified to use Royal Mail a lot of the times as I ship expensive items and am afraid some disgruntled worker will use parcels as a football etc..I've started to use couriers to move my stuff but wish I could rely on RM to use the same care with my parcels.

By using a courier RM loses about 200.00 a week from me, which may not seem like a lot, but a lot of us online shop owners are beginning to use couriers more often, for small as well as large parcels.

I didn't come on here today to slam any posties, but just to try and get my feelings across that as a paying customer, I am entitled to honest and considerate deliveries and would like to hear from any postie why the ones who do, treat us with such disregard.

I thank you for your time to read this.

[Tman]

I've had just the same thing happen, but that has to be balanced with the many times when the postie has gone out of his way to be helpful, and do more than nessacary.

Now if you have much dealings with the ar*****es like DHL, TNT,Citilink etc and their totally unhelpful and customer UNfriendly attitudes, you'd appreciate RM more.

We're still the best by far, but certain people are doing their utmost to bring us down to the level (!) of the competition..

[katie_bee]

I do appreciate my postie as a rule, however, balancing the good and the bad doesn't help people like me who DEPEND on RM to deliver what we pay for IE Not acquiring sigs on recorded post, not damaging the boxes because they're in a hurry to get the shift done etc..

At the end of the day, we're all paid to do a job. Think we'd be hired if when we attended an interview we told our prospective employers that we wont carry extra parcels, we wont get signatures and well, if we drop and break a parcel that's not our problem?
What RM does or doesn't do in getting post to the correct recipients DOES reflect on MY business.

As for couriers, I find every single parcel ever sent with mine was on time, signature gotten and my customers have asked me to continue using couriers for the good service. Last Christmas, not a single parcel went lost or damaged with a courier, yet RM managed to botch up delivery times, more damages and lost parcels than I care to say. Yet I still want to keep RM as a number 1 delivery due to the fact that they have lives and families, but in all reality, how can a single postie justify shoddy service for the people who actually pay their wages, us the public.

Again thank you for giving us Customer's a referendum where a good Q&A session can be handled by mature adults.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Its a pity that one postie or more has let us down. The strange thing in this case it would generally be people who are not active in the Union. For about a year now the Union has been pushing a "Do your Jobs Properly Campaign

Card CWU 1 001.jpg

as the bosses have been making our rounds longer and harder and some posties feel under pressure to get their rounds completed in time. To do this they have to cut corners and this is what it appears you have fallen foul off. You may not know but a postie in this new computer age is allowed only 8 seconds per house to deliver items including packets and sign fors. This is not an excuse but merely so that you understand why its happening.

If all posties did the job the way Royal Mail want us to the service would collapse, if we do it the proper way, which is the way the Union are promoting, there would be a lot less stressed posties, maybe less pissed off customers, and more job security, but as they see "None are blind as those that cant see".

Now I may upset some on here but if you are having problems with delivery then contact the manager of your particular DO and explain what's happening. I am hoping that the postie you caught red handed is not a regular and is covering a round where someone is off sick or on holiday, but they should still do the job correctly.

I have been in this situation though with a customer, he had 3 bells so I pressed all 3 and knocked at his door. No answer so I wrote out a Red Card, 2 minutes later he comes f'ing and blinding at me calling me a lazy ......... . I still had the parcel on me so I gave it to him, but what gives him the right to treat me that way, as a Postie I have no-one I can complain to, but I guess although not acceptable, its part of the job.

I am blowing my own trumpet here, but I have never red carded a packet I have not got with me or have not knocked for. I have never posted a recorded or special on purpose (2 X in 5 years by accident), I have never claimed D2Ds that I have not delivered and I have never doorstepped a parcel (even light bulbs), and if it takes me longer to do my round because of it, the Royal Mail better pay me my overtime.

[kwf166]

Well there always one, in every company, unfortunately it only take one to give us a bad name I can't believe your postman actually had the nerve to write out a delivery card, even though he didn't have any parcel, well I had lots of parcels today, some of my customers were out, and one was in the toilet, of cause he came out and said sorry, but I said no problem mate, you can take the parcel from under my arms, I was quite please to hand it over mind you I did have one customer, who was a bit stroppy with me, because I knock on the door too loudly I said politely to her, would you prefer to collect your parcel at the office than.

[Izzy]

Do you mean that the card was for an underpaid- or customs charged- item? These postcards are either machine printed or handwritten and given to postie - who at no time has seen or touched the offending item.

I deliver these cards occasionally and you can almost guarantee that within seconds of leaving the doorstep you will hear the door opening and some unintelligible screetch calling after you. The customer swells in anticipation of ripping the s**t out of you for not knocking.

"Did you knock before putting your card through?"

"No"

"Well what've ye got for me?"

"Nothing"

"It says here you couldn't deliver an item..."

Read the card. It explains everything.

[kwf166]

Do you mean that the card was for an underpaid- or customs charged- item? These postcards are either machine printed or handwritten and given to postie - who at no time has seen or touched the offending item.

Customer was talking about a sorry you were out card,the postman put this card though their door, even though he didn't have the parcel in the first place, read the first post

[katie_bee]

Blue Terrier,
Just out of curiosity, who appoints these people to the top jobs? (management etc)
Perhaps the next strike should be to try and have these unrealistic managers ousted.
I've always believed the right person for the know how to direct them job, is someone who walks the walk, knows the rounds, knows good service.
I wont phone and complain because my regular posties are great. You were correct when you said it may not have been a regular.
It would appear then that the mistakes and rush jobs happening is a trickle down effect from poor management.
Now let me tell you, the parcels that came yesterday, the one's red and white carded, were bulky packages of bubble wrap, 5 large rolls per parcel. Who on earth found it to be a good idea to think the postie on his walking rounds should deliver these and not a van driver?? No wonder he wrote the card in advance.
I find if in the past if I have phoned RM and spoken with management, all they do is pass the buck down to the postie and try to make you think the posties are inadequate, apologize for their carelessness, blah blah blah. I usually end up telling manager's that they need to apologize for their lack of insight to how to train and effectively supply proper customer service.
Unfortunately as long as there are a FEW posties who disregard the contents of some parcels, don't get signatures on tracked post after I paid the cost for signed for, I will be forced to use couriers who have proven a 100% customer satisfaction.
With Christmas approaching and my feedback and star ratings being ever so important RM will unfortunately have less to deliver from my business. Which is sad but I need to look after my interests.
Just a quick question..do you have regular union meetings and if so, are they high in attendance? Just wondering how effective it would be to let fellow posties know that you all wont stand for carp service because at the end of the day, it's all jobs that can be cut. Do you know what I mean?
Thanks for the replies.
Oh and I would never swear or scream at a postie, no matter how shabby one's service is, they're human at the end of the day and from what I see of RM management, the last thing a postie needs is a rampaging customer.

[baldrick]

The managers at the very top (Chairman & CEO) are appointed by the Government Minister responsible for the Post Office.
But they have been appointed to make the Post Office more profitable for privatisation, not to improve efficiency or service. They do not regard the public or small posters like you as important, only the big posters - banks, mail companies etc - who are our 'real' customers apparently.

I am not a delivery postie, but work in a mail centre (sorting office).
I can't agree with you about the efficiency of couriers judging by my experience.
When I was sent my new passport by private courier (Security Mail Services), I was not in as they only deliver
mon-Fri 0900-1700, when I (and most people) are at work. I was left a card which said I could ring to reaarange a redelivery,
but when I did so the automated answering service could only give another M-F 9-5 delivery, and could not even specify a time or even am or pm so I would have to take a whole day of work. I did get the Passport Office to send it out by Royal
Mail Special Delivery, so that if I was not in when my postman called (which is normal now as he doesn't usually get to my
address until after 1200) I could collect it from the Delivery Office.
Last time I ordered something online it was delivered by UPS. I was on leave that week and was looking out for the delivery,
but the delivery driver didn't knock or ring the bell (I would definitely have heard), but I found the package under the doormat, in view of any passerby. It was supposed to be signed for.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience but it sounds like your packages should have been delivered by van in the first place.
But I gather that delivery posties and drivers are under pressure from managers to do more and more in less and less time.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Blue Terrier,
Just out of curiosity, who appoints these people to the top jobs? (management etc)

Head of DTI I think but the Prime Minister probably has the final say so because its such a high profile job. Of course there is no connection to the fact that the top 2 bosses are both members of the Labour Party.

Perhaps the next strike should be to try and have these unrealistic managers ousted.

Hopefully there won't be another national strike, but I fear there will be another period of major disruption over pensions and pay sometime within the next yea, unless RM start listening to their workers and start discussing rather than passing diktats.

Actually the CWU has been calling for :cfo :lfo to be dismissed for a least a year now.

I've always believed the right person for the know how to direct them job, is someone who walks the walk, knows the rounds, knows good service.

Apparently both have had one shift in a Mail Centre and on Deliveries, but if the 2 main bosses were working for you for a day would not most managers make sure they worked with the tamest worker, one who was least likely to embarrass them, and on the easiest duty . Also 1 shift does not give a true representation of what the work is really like.

I wont phone and complain because my regular posties are great. You were correct when you said it may not have been a regular.
It would appear then that the mistakes and rush jobs happening is a trickle down effect from poor management.

I said exactly that on another forum earlier this week

Now let me tell you, the parcels that came yesterday, the one's red and white carded, were bulky packages of bubble wrap, 5 large rolls per parcel. Who on earth found it to be a good idea to think the postie on his walking rounds should deliver these and not a van driver?? No wonder he wrote the card in advance.

Even I sympathise with him in this case, and its nice you did as well so Thank You. Sometimes, this may be down to line management or a driver "throwing" it back to the walking postie because he was too busy. In either case from your description there is no way a walking man should have delivered it.

I find if in the past if I have phoned RM and spoken with management, all they do is pass the buck down to the postie and try to make you think the posties are inadequate, apologize for their carelessness, blah blah blah. I usually end up telling manager's that they need to apologize for their lack of insight to how to train and effectively supply proper customer service.

Thats what the Union keeps telling them as well. The more complaints they get, hopefully the quicker they will get the message. However, as RM is now a profit orientated business rather than a Service orientated business I won't hold my breath. RMs main focus is now on the biggest senders rather than SMEs and the recipients, when that changes RM will transform IMHO.

Unfortunately as long as there are a FEW posties who disregard the contents of some parcels, don't get signatures on tracked post after I paid the cost for signed for, I will be forced to use couriers who have proven a 100% customer satisfaction.
With Christmas approaching and my feedback and star ratings being ever so important RM will unfortunately have less to deliver from my business. Which is sad but I need to look after my interests.

Who can blame you, you have to look after your customers, which most if not all posties on here try to as well

Just a quick question..do you have regular union meetings and if so, are they high in attendance? Just wondering how effective it would be to let fellow posties know that you all wont stand for carp service because at the end of the day, it's all jobs that can be cut. Do you know what I mean?

Locally - yes very well attended and during the strike we had no one cross the picket line which is always a good indicator. Nationally and locally the Union are always trying to protect the USO, which I think is currently under threat, and on RMC we are always trying to promote service over profit, despite all this sometimes its like talking to a brick wall. However I for one will continue to provide the best service I can within my working hours and am sure most posties on here do so as well.

Thanks for the replies.

No problems, its always good to get the views of people outside Royal Mail otherwise we would become too insular and entrenched in our views.

Oh and I would never swear or scream at a postie, no matter how shabby one's service is, they're human at the end of the day and from what I see of RM management, the last thing a postie needs is a rampaging customer.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

just having my two penith

And here is mine

your postie is obviously in the wrong.no doubts.BUT if the postie in question is your regular postie then he has clearly on too many occasions been left knocking on your door in all weathers knowing full well your out,and simply made a very understandable short cut.does this sound like it could be correct..do you expect parcels to arrive yet still leave the house.

It was not her regular postie - see her reply to my post.

why is it always someone else's fault?

you were two inches from the door yet your husband was closer cos he picked it up!

Perhaps she was carrying something and could not put it down for some reason, and her husband seeing that came from somewhere else to check the mail - no time period of how long it took to pick up their mail was given.

you grabbed your keys opened the door and he was already half way down your"block"

wow fast mover

Or a short block.

the truth is a three edged sword,your side their side and the truth.

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” - Oscar Wilde

i expect you leave hime banging on your door every day whilst your out
he then knows full well that your never in and doesn't bother bringing the parcels with him knowing full well he has to carry them all back again,and just fills out the cards.
this time you were in and think your getting a terrible service.

As before was not her regular postie from whom she gets a good service.

heres an idea if your really 110 percent looking after your customers .
arrange to pick them up from the sorting office yoursel

- Called a Call and Collect but unless its better for her why should she after all we are paid to deliver.

write a letter detailing a safe place to leave them in the event your out

Good idea if the DO accepts it - ours no longer does - or if you mean note on door that's a good idea as well.

have you done anything to facilitate easier delivery yourself...i doubt it..

Why doubt it - has she presented evidence to refute or back up that doubt.

who said we are a nation of moanerswho said we are a nation of moaners

Sorry don't know just like I don't know who said "Customers are always right" - Strangely I don't agree with either saying.

[katie_bee]

Hello dog bait,
My husband was at his computer which is about 4 large steps from the door. I was putting a basket of laundry at the foot of the stairs which is just outside the front entranceway of the house. We are 2 houses between a side street and a school. which is why it was easy to catch up with the postie.
My regular postie knows if I'm not in to leave most parcels in the garage, and unless they need my signature that is what he does. On the odd occassion I'm out when a delivery comes, I arrange redelivery and make sure I am in for that delivery.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

it was not her regular postie

[k979aaa]

The point is DO NOT CARD IT if you don't have it on you!. ROYALMAIL it's self was sending agencey staff out last year during the strike who could not speek english with red card's and no item's!.

[katie_bee]

on the odd occassion your out you arrange redelivery.
how nice of you to make him carry it twice.
we dont redeliver the same day so
the net result of which is exactly the same as the postie your complaining about.

I made him carry it twice? You need to open your eyes and re-read from the top. He never had it to begin with! I caught him out in his lie when I caught up with him with the red/white card in my hand and asked for my parcel he claims I never answered the door for. He never had the parcel, the card was pre-written. I also stated I understood why when the parcels were delivered the next day and saw how large and bulky they were.

redelivery isnt meant for lazy individuals but for the elderly and disabled who cant come and pick it up.

rant over

You are wrong in this statement. You are paid to do a job, deliver the mail. No way am I lazy, but I don't drive. Someone PAID to have their goods delivered to me, not for me to have to run to the PO to get my post. And if you have issues with the time management allots you to do your rounds, take that up with your union reps and management, don't make the paying customer suffer because you don't like to give the service that you were hired on to do.

Also we pay a 50p re-delivery charge and have gone to pick up parcels when we were not at home when the postie arrived. And to further this, if I know I'm expecting a parcel I stay until he delivers his mail.

You have a very bad attitude, granted it may be because of your poor management supervisor's and their unrealistic expectations, but then again, you have a union and reps with whom the customer service, or lack thereof, issues should be taken up with, NOT taken against a customer who may be on crutches from an op, in the back of the house and needs time to get to their door, etc.

If you can't be more service orientated you're in the wrong job.

How are we, the people who pay for mail delivery supposed to support posties like you who have such a tough as nails attitude towards their customers.

I am very supportive of posties , I wish there were more union support when it's needed, from other unions. It seems when one organization is on strike, or work to rule, that other unions should lend their support.
Your attitude is the type of attitude that turns on the deaf ears the paying public when you need to be heard.

I can understand your anger but I can't understand why you choose to label a customer lazy who asks for redilvery when it's not their fault some posties come at 1 pm one day, 10 am another and aren't standing at their front dorrs waiting. Who knows, they may be waiting for a parcel and the postie like you will still have a pre-written red/white card and the parcel is still at the depot!

I'm glad that my regular, and some not regulars have more consideration than you seem to have for their customers.

Oh and by the way, I don't gain anything when I invite a postie to stand inside when there's a downpour, or offer him/her a bottle of water or soda on a hot day, or give them a box of cookies and a card with a fiver in it at Christmas time, I just appreciate them. It's a little things called respect. Something it seems you lack based on your comments.