Postal Problems Around This Time of Year

[junger]

Hi All

I have no intention of upsetting what are very commited foot soldiers of the Royal Mail, however, It just isnt good enough for Royal Mail to keep bleeting annually about "Oh it's Christmas and you know how busy we get", It's Christmas every year at this time of year, and Royal Mail get caught out every year, Has it learned nothing over the historical problem time of year ?. That is why starting from the 1st December I start using Carriers (timed delivery) until mid January. Unfortunatley, I have no control over the method by which others send items to me, and each year it is the same, somedays no post at all, then the next day double post etc:. It dosen't need privatising, it needs breaking up properly into regions as different companies, The business model is clumsy and continues to be so.

[thefemalepostie]

It dosen't need privatising, it needs breaking up properly into regions as different companies, The business model is clumsy and continues to be so.

And how much would it cost a letter/parcel cost when it was posted in Scotland for delivery in Cornwall? The Scottish mail would take their cut for collecting and passing to the Cornwall post who will then take a cut for delivering it to the receiver. It would not work at all.

As for Christmas happening every year, yes it does but with Royal Mail cutting staff year after year and posties rounds getting longer and longer and only working x amount of hours a day. It doesn't work. Royal Mail won't admit it doesn't work but it doesn't.

[avenger]

you posted about this sort of thing last year
whats your point?

[junger]

you posted about this sort of thing last year
whats your point?

Hey, well done, you make my point better than I could ever, as for Scotland/Cornwall not working, are you seriously saying that the postal service works now ?

[thefemalepostie]

you posted about this sort of thing last year
whats your point?

Hey, well done, you make my point better than I could ever, as for Scotland/Cornwall not working, are you seriously saying that the postal service works now ?

No it has lots of faults due to Royal Mail cutting staff and their plans for 'modernising' which have failed in a hell of a lot of areas. But just remember the service you have this year when it is privatised in the next couple of years, you will be regretting what you have said. When you only get mail a couple times a week,as and when the casual delivery person on a zero hour contract can be bothered to go out and deliver.

Don't believe me? Read the following article on privatisation in other eu countries.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/apr/2 ... s-delivery" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[avenger]

you posted about this sort of thing last year
whats your point?

Hey, well done, you make my point better than I could ever, as for Scotland/Cornwall not working, are you seriously saying that the postal service works now ?

you still dont seem to have a point
are you telling me that breaking up the UK into regions will work?
Have you looked at the rail network as a handy comparison?

[junger]

OK, my point is this, how is it that with some carriers you can get text messages with a 2 hour window, with Royal Mail you dont know if its even going to turn up. I really dont understand why you defend such a poor service company, surly, if you work for them, then would it not suit your purpose to want to lose the negative tag

[TrueBlueTerrier]

OK, my point is this, how is it that with some carriers you can get text messages with a 2 hour window

Let me think about this - Oh yes Carriers, who only deliver parcels or items that are trackable and whose volume over Christmas is 4,500,000 total, and the individual workers only deliver to approximately 150 addreessses . As oposed to Royal Mail whose mail profile is tracked and untracked parcels, tracked and untracked letters and a DAILY volume of 200,000,000 and with 75,000 delivery people going to 29,000,000 addresses.

There is a huge difference in scale. Mind you even the couriers don't get it right at Christmas. Only last year City Link, Yodel and Interlink Express (IIRC) were turning work away in the last week before Christmas - Royal Mail do not have that option as long as the package/letter complies with all the rules we have to accept everything.

As to a text message - I belive Royal Mail offer a similar service on certain tracked items but there minimum limits which are probably in the 1000,s per day.

I really dont understand why you defend such a poor service company, surly, if you work for them, then would it not suit your purpose to want to lose the negative tag

You don't understand why we defend a company, but you think we should want them to lose the "negative tag" - Sorry you confused me there- if we want to lose a negative tage surely we would defend them.

Surly - me - quite cheerful and happy mostly.

[avenger]

OK, my point is this, how is it that with some carriers you can get text messages with a 2 hour window, with Royal Mail you dont know if its even going to turn up. I really dont understand why you defend such a poor service company, surly, if you work for them, then would it not suit your purpose to want to lose the negative tag

heres one to ponder

Yodel has reduced and capped the amount of parcels it will handle during the Christmas peak, according to motortransport.co.uk. The parcel carrier made its decision following the high volumes it experienced last year.

Christmas crunch
Yodel confirmed it will deliver a maximum of 4.25 million parcels during its busiest week of the Christmas peak. This is to ensure it provides a successful service for customers, and that parcels are not left undelivered.

A spokesman said that it had set up four temporary depots at Billingham, East Kilbride, Newbridge and Basildon. The company has also created an additional 15 contingency warehouses with increased storage capacity in what it expects to be the busiest locations.

We are opening eight dedicated parcel sort centres for the Christmas period to help us successfully deliver during the festive season.

Yodel has also extended training periods for its temporary peak workforce. It is currently investing in couriers and owner drivers to assist with increased deliveries in the run-up to Christmas.

Earlier this year Yodel revealed that it would be operating seven days a week throughout the peak period to cope with demand from its e-commerce customers.

so shall RM simply cap its volumes?

[k979aaa]

OK, my point is this, how is it that with some carriers you can get text messages with a 2 hour window, with Royal Mail you dont know if its even going to turn up. I really dont understand why you defend such a poor service company, surly, if you work for them, then would it not suit your purpose to want to lose the negative tag

I don't even know if I am able to get out of our office within a two hour window? If you need next day delivery use special delivery or if you need a two hour window special delivery 9:00AM!.

[fb1969]

Not forgetting that RM staff should be taking things back to the Delivery Office if they can't get an answer/signature from a place. Couriers will happily dump things on the front door step regardless of how obvious it is, what the weather is like etc etc. It may only be a small percentage of items, but having to wait for an answer rather than just leaving things will undoubtedly cause delays.

[TeeferTiger]

RM staff can't control how disorganised RM management are. Every year Xmas seems to come as a complete surprise to the higher ups with the foot soldiers left to pick up the sh*te as per usual. For some offices, all the overtime possible is thrown into getting the job done. In other offices, people aren't being paid for the extra work they're doing. Until RM management sort themselves out and realise there has to be some uniformity and allowances made to get the job done in a reasonable timescale, it's unfair to vent as the guys on here who can't do anything about it-even though they see the same issue as you.

When it comes to RM higher ups, the phrase "p*ss up and brewery" springs to mind.

[k979aaa]

Royal mails Christmas management plans is the same as 4 years ago with 10% less staff if not less staff and we have year on year 5-10% packet growth it is dumfounding how a so called BUISNESS can fu(k it's customers over year by year!. Don't blame the postie but those who seek too gain the most in share options like Moya Greene and her cohorts this includes our politicians who seek to make millions out of what was once a service!.