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1pm special delivery question

Postal workers discussion forum. Discuss the day to day life in a Blue Shirt.
TopperGas
Posts: 3282
Joined: 13 Feb 2021, 22:46
Gender: Male

Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by TopperGas »

Sarah99 wrote:
01 Jan 2026, 12:55
Hi everybody. I am new to the forums. I been lurking for a while.

I am from Liverpool office. But wont say which office.

I had a baby recently. So forgive any silly questions.

So me and work colleague where having a discussion the other day about 1pm special delivery’s.

My work colleague said he’s been delivering 1pm special delivery’s after 1pm. And he has never been pulled up for it. And the bit which shocked me has he also didn’t do the “Inaccessible scan” or “No answer scan” which usually breaks the 1pm system.

So my question is

If you deliver the 1pm special delivery’s after 1pm (without any scans mentioned above)

Does the complaint trigger/flag up automatically or does the customer have to complain ???
I'm pretty sure the customer has to complain, otherwise the worst you get is a note on your PDA pointing out that Specials have to be delivered by 1pm.

Why the non 1pm Specials haven't become the norm is all one RM's mysteries. I doubt many customers are sat waiting for specials to arrive 1pm.
matthew68
Posts: 516
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Gender: Male

Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by matthew68 »

Walter sobchak wrote:
01 Jan 2026, 13:21
Royal Mail seriously needs to alter the time from 1pm to 2pm.

That extra hour would massively help out especially on rural duties.
I’d say 3 o’clock as we often finish around that time as do a lot of people, they expect us to start and finish later but still expect special before 1, and wander why we can’t complete
Mr Rush
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Joined: 05 Aug 2011, 14:27
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Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by Mr Rush »

ted_e_bear wrote:
01 Jan 2026, 13:08
[...] it should also show in the my progress section on the PDA [...]

The exception to this is on Saturdays a regular SD (as opposed to a Saturday guaranteed which has a higher price) can be delivered after 1pm as they're only guaranteed before 1pm the following Monday.
But does the PDA know that? MyProgress told me I delivered a 9AM special late even though: (1) we're an exempt postcode and (2) the FT start on a Tuesday is 0903. I recall there being debate on here when the original scanners were being deployed about whether the concept of SGs versus standard SDs on a Saturday was properly programmed into the system.

As an aside; as 1PM SDs are a holdover from when deliveries were completed fully within the early shift and 9AM SDs are a holdover from the completion of the first delivery in the two-deliveries era, are SGs a holdover from the same era when Saturday was a single delivery? The only utility SGs could have is if Saturday delivery is reduced or scrapped entirely and it's retained as a premium service.
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SpacePhoenix
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
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Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by SpacePhoenix »

Mr Rush wrote:
02 Jan 2026, 18:53
But does the PDA know that? MyProgress told me I delivered a 9AM special late even though: (1) we're an exempt postcode and (2) the FT start on a Tuesday is 0903. I recall there being debate on here when the original scanners were being deployed about whether the concept of SGs versus standard SDs on a Saturday was properly programmed into the system.

As an aside; as 1PM SDs are a holdover from when deliveries were completed fully within the early shift and 9AM SDs are a holdover from the completion of the first delivery in the two-deliveries era, are SGs a holdover from the same era when Saturday was a single delivery? The only utility SGs could have is if Saturday delivery is reduced or scrapped entirely and it's retained as a premium service.
AFAIK the system doesn't know if an item is a Saturday Guaranteed or not, it simply flags any 9am delivered after 09:00 as failed and any 1pm delivered after 13:00 as failed, no matter what day of the week.
TopperGas
Posts: 3282
Joined: 13 Feb 2021, 22:46
Gender: Male

Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by TopperGas »

SpacePhoenix wrote:
02 Jan 2026, 19:41
Mr Rush wrote:
02 Jan 2026, 18:53
But does the PDA know that? MyProgress told me I delivered a 9AM special late even though: (1) we're an exempt postcode and (2) the FT start on a Tuesday is 0903. I recall there being debate on here when the original scanners were being deployed about whether the concept of SGs versus standard SDs on a Saturday was properly programmed into the system.

As an aside; as 1PM SDs are a holdover from when deliveries were completed fully within the early shift and 9AM SDs are a holdover from the completion of the first delivery in the two-deliveries era, are SGs a holdover from the same era when Saturday was a single delivery? The only utility SGs could have is if Saturday delivery is reduced or scrapped entirely and it's retained as a premium service.
AFAIK the system doesn't know if an item is a Saturday Guaranteed or not, it simply flags any 9am delivered after 09:00 as failed and any 1pm delivered after 13:00 as failed, no matter what day of the week.
Given you don't work in deliveries why are you so confident you know how the system works, I can't recall ever failing a Saturday 1pm Special whatever time I've delivered it.
goneaway
Posts: 292
Joined: 20 Oct 2016, 19:50
Gender: Male

Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by goneaway »

Mr Rush wrote:
02 Jan 2026, 18:53

...As an aside; as 1PM SDs are a holdover from when deliveries were completed fully within the early shift and 9AM SDs are a holdover from the completion of the first delivery in the two-deliveries era, are SGs a holdover from the same era when Saturday was a single delivery?...
As I recall, from the days before I was a postman, Special Delivery used to be guaranteed by 12 noon, but this was then put back to 1pm. Maybe the change coincided with the second delivery being removed?
SpacePhoenix
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
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Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by SpacePhoenix »

TopperGas wrote:
02 Jan 2026, 21:44
SpacePhoenix wrote:
02 Jan 2026, 19:41
Mr Rush wrote:
02 Jan 2026, 18:53
But does the PDA know that? MyProgress told me I delivered a 9AM special late even though: (1) we're an exempt postcode and (2) the FT start on a Tuesday is 0903. I recall there being debate on here when the original scanners were being deployed about whether the concept of SGs versus standard SDs on a Saturday was properly programmed into the system.

As an aside; as 1PM SDs are a holdover from when deliveries were completed fully within the early shift and 9AM SDs are a holdover from the completion of the first delivery in the two-deliveries era, are SGs a holdover from the same era when Saturday was a single delivery? The only utility SGs could have is if Saturday delivery is reduced or scrapped entirely and it's retained as a premium service.
AFAIK the system doesn't know if an item is a Saturday Guaranteed or not, it simply flags any 9am delivered after 09:00 as failed and any 1pm delivered after 13:00 as failed, no matter what day of the week.
Given you don't work in deliveries why are you so confident you know how the system works, I can't recall ever failing a Saturday 1pm Special whatever time I've delivered it.
It's the same system in MCs, it doesn't record if it's a Saturday Guaranteed, it flags 9ams based on the barcode but apart from that it sees all SDs as being 1pm due for delivery that day.
ted_e_bear
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Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by ted_e_bear »

SpacePhoenix wrote:
03 Jan 2026, 22:45

AFAIK the system doesn't know if an item is a Saturday Guaranteed or not, it simply flags any 9am delivered after 09:00 as failed and any 1pm delivered after 13:00 as failed, no matter what day of the week.
Given you don't work in deliveries why are you so confident you know how the system works, I can't recall ever failing a Saturday 1pm Special whatever time I've delivered it.
[/quote]

It's the same system in MCs, it doesn't record if it's a Saturday Guaranteed, it flags 9ams based on the barcode but apart from that it sees all SDs as being 1pm due for delivery that day.
[/quote]

Well I delivered a regular non SG SD yesterday after 1pm, I won't get questioned as it's a regular occurrence in our office and no one gets pulled so presumably it's accounted for somewhere and only flags up to the managers if it was an official sat guarantee, I'll have a look on the PDA though tomorrow and see if it shows up that I did it late (even though obviously it wasn't) as I've never checked that previously, I'll update tomorrow when I've looked.
Barnacle
Posts: 2772
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Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by Barnacle »

ted_e_bear wrote:
04 Jan 2026, 09:35
SpacePhoenix wrote:
03 Jan 2026, 22:45

AFAIK the system doesn't know if an item is a Saturday Guaranteed or not, it simply flags any 9am delivered after 09:00 as failed and any 1pm delivered after 13:00 as failed, no matter what day of the week.
Given you don't work in deliveries why are you so confident you know how the system works, I can't recall ever failing a Saturday 1pm Special whatever time I've delivered it.
It's the same system in MCs, it doesn't record if it's a Saturday Guaranteed, it flags 9ams based on the barcode but apart from that it sees all SDs as being 1pm due for delivery that day.
[/quote]

Well I delivered a regular non SG SD yesterday after 1pm, I won't get questioned as it's a regular occurrence in our office and no one gets pulled so presumably it's accounted for somewhere and only flags up to the managers if it was an official sat guarantee, I'll have a look on the PDA though tomorrow and see if it shows up that I did it late (even though obviously it wasn't) as I've never checked that previously, I'll update tomorrow when I've looked.
[/quote]

Am I missing something here? I don’t know what the argument is about 🥹

A SG won’t flag up as long as it had a delivery attempt at some point yesterday.

If it had been a 1pm SD and it was delivered at 2pm, it will have flagged up on the Managers screen as late. I’ve been pulled up for that.

I have no idea whether any of this is flagged up on your My Performance progress thing because I never look at it. If a manager has an issue with something they can approach me, I’m not looking at some progress chart.
Last edited by Barnacle on 04 Jan 2026, 10:44, edited 1 time in total.
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yellowbelly
Posts: 3626
Joined: 23 Jun 2015, 15:51
Gender: Male

Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by yellowbelly »

ted_e_bear wrote:
04 Jan 2026, 09:35

Well I delivered a regular non SG SD yesterday after 1pm, I won't get questioned as it's a regular occurrence in our office and no one gets pulled so presumably it's accounted for somewhere and only flags up to the managers if it was an official sat guarantee, I'll have a look on the PDA though tomorrow and see if it shows up that I did it late (even though obviously it wasn't) as I've never checked that previously, I'll update tomorrow when I've looked.
I'll check too, same situation. Won't get brought up by manager but I'm pretty sure it flags up on the PDA as late. Will update tomorrow. This is exciting, it's like waiting for Santa to drop off presents.... :chuckle
ted_e_bear
Posts: 3933
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Gender: Male

Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by ted_e_bear »

yellowbelly wrote:
04 Jan 2026, 10:40
ted_e_bear wrote:
04 Jan 2026, 09:35

Well I delivered a regular non SG SD yesterday after 1pm, I won't get questioned as it's a regular occurrence in our office and no one gets pulled so presumably it's accounted for somewhere and only flags up to the managers if it was an official sat guarantee, I'll have a look on the PDA though tomorrow and see if it shows up that I did it late (even though obviously it wasn't) as I've never checked that previously, I'll update tomorrow when I've looked.
I'll check too, same situation. Won't get brought up by manager but I'm pretty sure it flags up on the PDA as late. Will update tomorrow. This is exciting, it's like waiting for Santa to drop off presents.... :chuckle
Haha how sad are we :chuckle
yellowbelly
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Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by yellowbelly »

yellowbelly wrote:
04 Jan 2026, 10:40
ted_e_bear wrote:
04 Jan 2026, 09:35

Well I delivered a regular non SG SD yesterday after 1pm, I won't get questioned as it's a regular occurrence in our office and no one gets pulled so presumably it's accounted for somewhere and only flags up to the managers if it was an official sat guarantee, I'll have a look on the PDA though tomorrow and see if it shows up that I did it late (even though obviously it wasn't) as I've never checked that previously, I'll update tomorrow when I've looked.
I'll check too, same situation. Won't get brought up by manager but I'm pretty sure it flags up on the PDA as late. Will update tomorrow. This is exciting, it's like waiting for Santa to drop off presents.... :chuckle
Yep, the non-SG SD delivered after 1pm on Sat was flagged up on PDA as late. Nothing said though.
ted_e_bear
Posts: 3933
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Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by ted_e_bear »

yellowbelly wrote:
05 Jan 2026, 17:20
yellowbelly wrote:
04 Jan 2026, 10:40
ted_e_bear wrote:
04 Jan 2026, 09:35

Well I delivered a regular non SG SD yesterday after 1pm, I won't get questioned as it's a regular occurrence in our office and no one gets pulled so presumably it's accounted for somewhere and only flags up to the managers if it was an official sat guarantee, I'll have a look on the PDA though tomorrow and see if it shows up that I did it late (even though obviously it wasn't) as I've never checked that previously, I'll update tomorrow when I've looked.
I'll check too, same situation. Won't get brought up by manager but I'm pretty sure it flags up on the PDA as late. Will update tomorrow. This is exciting, it's like waiting for Santa to drop off presents.... :chuckle
Yep, the non-SG SD delivered after 1pm on Sat was flagged up on PDA as late. Nothing said though.
Same, I expected a conversation about it but nothing, I might ask tomorrow if it shows up on their system as I know I'm in the clear it definitely wasn't a SG I could tell by the price as well as the lack of SG stickers
Mr Rush
Posts: 3064
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Re: 1pm special delivery question

Post by Mr Rush »

ted_e_bear wrote:
05 Jan 2026, 18:24
it definitely wasn't a SG I could tell by the price as well as the lack of SG stickers
It makes me laugh when I see an SG item plastered in those little yellow stickers. If only the jiffy bag was pink it would look like Mr Blobby. Now there's an idea for a company mascot.
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