Why?

[snailmailsdead]

I'm really confused by all this. I'm a small business owner forced yet again today to put my prices up still further to account Royal Mail's eye watering price hikes.

The general jist I get is that letter and large letter volumes have fallen, and the cost and obligation to deliver to the Outer Hebrides make it necessary.

Reading a few posts on here there seems to be an air of the good ole days, and just plain vitriole directed at first line management and then the wider company and strategy. This is then given respectability by a gloss of we only want the best for those we deliver to.

What I find is that my customers are asking me to avoid Royal Mail. When I do use Royal Mail i see loss or horrendous delay with 2nd/1st class.If I use RM48 the marketing blurb suggests I get delivery confirmation, I don't, huge tracts of 48 just vanish, I'm assuming they get delivered and not blipped.Nonetheless the savvy Ebay lot see there is no confirmation to the tracking number you uploaded and I have to refund at my expense.

When my sacks are delivered by the local office I frequently find opened greeting cards.When I drop parcels at the convenience store the same postie's in there gobbing off about his lot.If I get post at home its days with nothing, then a flurry.I see posties sat in rural laybyes, 2 up in a van.If I go to the local centre, the greeting is gruff.

With the continued decline in Royal Mail service I have focused on building bundled deals enabling me to use deliveries from other providers who quite frankly are superior both in terms of service and customer service in the event of an issue.

AS I say, I'm just confused, personally I couldn't do a job where I went in every day with the intention of just getting through the hours.It does however seem self fulfilling, it gets worse owing to attitude, more customers leave, prices go up, more customers leave, repeat to fade.