300-MILE ROUND-TRIP TO POST MAILING FROM TOPSHAM TO TOPSHAM

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Link to Original Article

Alan Wills could not quite understand what was going on. It had seemed so simple when he had started.

He had nearly 3,000 directories in Tospham which he wanted to have delivered to people in the town.So why was the Royal Mail telling him to take them to Swindon in Wiltshire?

It's a long way - about a 300-mile round trip - and a long story, which still has him scratching his head.

Alan is chairman of the Topsham Business Forum, which has produced a useful, 32-page directory for all the 2,614 residences in the EX3 postcode.

They were to be posted at the beginning of next week and Alan thought it was just the job for Royal Mail, who have been doing that sort of thing for more than 100 years. So he gave them a ring.

They told him they'd be happy to do the job. But there was just one snag.

He would have to take the 19 boxes of directories to the Royal Mail office in downtown Swindon.

A bemused Alan said: "When I spoke to them in greater detail they said I would need to go to Swindon to deliver the directories.

"I asked if I could take them to Marsh Barton in Exeter but they said it had to be Swindon and delivered personally.

"I said to the person on the phone this meant I would have to bring the boxes up for them to bring them all the way back the next day, down the same motorway."

Alan is also planning a leaflet drop in Topsham in June, but again, he will have to drive to Swindon to deliver the box personally.

He has been told he cannot even post the one box by special delivery at Topsham's post office to the branch in Swindon.

He said: "When I asked about posting them, the girl on the phone said no and that I would have to bring them to Swindon myself."

He added: "And when I had my order confirmed, I was asked: 'Have you heard about our carbon-neutral day-to-day delivery system?'

"That is what I have used and it doesn't seem to be carbon neutral."

Alan said the service he received from Royal Mail was always helpful and friendly but he felt the policy was inflexible.

A spokesman from Royal Mail said: "The service Mr Wills used for this unaddressed, advertising mail requires customers to take their mailing to one of six regional centres nationally.

"The Swindon centre serves the South West and this is where the unaddressed mail is coded to reflect the specific areas the customer is targeting. The mail is then transmitted for onward delivery via the relevant local delivery offices."

[saru]

He added: "And when I had my order confirmed, I was asked: 'Have you heard about our carbon-neutral day-to-day delivery system?'

Another spectacular own goal by Royal Mail!!

[PrestwickPostie]

Link to Original Article

Alan Wills could not quite understand what was going on. It had seemed so simple when he had started.

He had nearly 3,000 directories in Tospham which he wanted to have delivered to people in the town.So why was the Royal Mail telling him to take them to Swindon in Wiltshire?

It's a long way - about a 300-mile round trip - and a long story, which still has him scratching his head.

Alan is chairman of the Topsham Business Forum, which has produced a useful, 32-page directory for all the 2,614 residences in the EX3 postcode.

They were to be posted at the beginning of next week and Alan thought it was just the job for Royal Mail, who have been doing that sort of thing for more than 100 years. So he gave them a ring.

They told him they'd be happy to do the job. But there was just one snag.

He would have to take the 19 boxes of directories to the Royal Mail office in downtown Swindon.

A bemused Alan said: "When I spoke to them in greater detail they said I would need to go to Swindon to deliver the directories.

"I asked if I could take them to Marsh Barton in Exeter but they said it had to be Swindon and delivered personally.

"I said to the person on the phone this meant I would have to bring the boxes up for them to bring them all the way back the next day, down the same motorway."

Alan is also planning a leaflet drop in Topsham in June, but again, he will have to drive to Swindon to deliver the box personally.

He has been told he cannot even post the one box by special delivery at Topsham's post office to the branch in Swindon.

He said: "When I asked about posting them, the girl on the phone said no and that I would have to bring them to Swindon myself."

He added: "And when I had my order confirmed, I was asked: 'Have you heard about our carbon-neutral day-to-day delivery system?'

"That is what I have used and it doesn't seem to be carbon neutral."

Alan said the service he received from Royal Mail was always helpful and friendly but he felt the policy was inflexible.

A spokesman from Royal Mail said: "The service Mr Wills used for this unaddressed, advertising mail requires customers to take their mailing to one of six regional centres nationally.

"The Swindon centre serves the South West and this is where the unaddressed mail is coded to reflect the specific areas the customer is targeting. The mail is then transmitted for onward delivery via the relevant local delivery offices."

absolute nuts .... no wonder the business is in shambles

[norbert]

He added: "And when I had my order confirmed, I was asked: 'Have you heard about our carbon-neutral day-to-day delivery system?'

Another spectacular own goal by Royal Mail!!

RM have a massive irony deficit and don't do contradiction , initiative , common sense ? -no! you do what you are told , no matter how imbecilic , petty , bloody minded and childishly vindictive ; overly autocratic and literal. A system by imbeciles for imbeciles -the sort of organization that would make cardboard submarines . :lfo :lfo :lfo

[jemima]

Why should RM worry? They have secured the orders for delivery from the customer, despite the inconvenience of his having to make a 300-mile round trip... that sounds ok?

But 300 miles at, say, 25p per mile, that's at least £75 (a low estimate) that the customer will pay for the journey. RM could have had that £75 simply by accepting those catalogues at a local depot and charging for transport... RM lorries often have some spare capacity. If RM is supposed to be run as a business then it should aim to make money.

[bandit650]

With taking offices out and central offices taking all the work in i can only see the situation becoming worse there is at the moment managers working on projects to put 4 mail centres into 1 its common knowledge at the MLO's in kent,just imagine your wanting to post in the CT but the callers is shut as from 13.30 and the mail centre is gone the only thing left is a DO and a few S/A's to cover the collections of mail and a lorry standing in the DO to chuck it in.
Adam and Alan have done so well they have managed to destroy 350 years+ of english history of one of the best mail services in the world line thier pockets and top up thier pension fund.