ONE IN SIX CARDS DON'T ARRIVE

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headlin ... _page.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One in six Christmas cards sent through Royal Mail fail to arrive, a People investigation reveals.

Others take 10 days to get there - and even a 39p first-class stamp is no guarantee of speedy delivery.

We found that in 35 per cent of cases a card sent 30p second class arrived in the same time or less than one posted first class. We mailed 198 cards to 10 destinations around the UK and monitored their progress over two weeks. Thirty FAILED to arrive - and 46 per cent posted first class failed to get there in the target time of one or two days.

A card sent first class from Leeds to Kent arrived 10 days later - seven days after one posted second class.

One card posted second class in Norwich was delivered to Birmingham in two days while it took seven days for another mailed first class to get there.

But first and second-class cards from Scotland to London and from Norwich to L ondon were delivered at the same time.

Our findings make a mockery of the Royal Mail's pledge to deliver "a great Christmas for our customers".

L ast year Royal Mail admitted losing 280,000 letters a week.

Nigel Woods, of watchdog Consumer Focus, called the People's findings "worrying".

He added: "It is vital that Royal Mail gets it right to maintain customers' trust."

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We are on track to deliver by Christmas all of the hundreds of millions of items posted by recommended last dates."

[westlondonpostie]

We're getting thousands of cards with wrong addresses and postcodes, years ago they would have been traced and forwarded on, not any more as there is no one availabledue to cost cutting measures, they'll just be killed of now and as there is no return address they'll probably be destroyed,
Would just like to say congratulations to the government for putting clueless people who's only interest is they're obscene wages and bonuses in charge of a service that was once the envy of the world and to the press for turning a blind eye and not informing the public about what all this will mean for the postal service they will get now and in the future.
But at least we can say WE TOLD YOU SO!

[Thunderthighs]

So, if they only post 5 cards, does that mean they'll ALL arrive LOL!
I agree with the last post, having done a week on a HUB. Wrong Postcodes, addresses etc. Some are really ridiculous, like Mr Jones, Chester, CM7 5DS, or something like it. How the heck is it supposed to get there?

My great grandmother was Madam Taleda, Professional Psychic and Palmistry reader. Unfortunately, I don't have all her inherited powers...

[Big Daz]

Cards not arriving

Nothing to do with incorrect address or address of course.

[*The Lone Postie*]

2nd Class makes no difference,as far as i can see on delivery most make it next day.They may as well have 1 standard rate class priced in between 1st & 2nd class rates.

[Darren Bent]

Huh also some regulars might be working night duties andfloaters might be covering the walk and wouldn't have the local knowledge either. Facts is nothings if they don't tell us how many cards they send.

[rhino49]

Huh also some regulars might be working night duties andfloaters might be covering the walk and wouldn't have the local knowledge either. Facts is nothings if they don't tell us how many cards they send.

I am rescuing dozens of wrongly addressed items on my walk alone every day over the last two weeks, only because I am a long term walkholder who knows his customers - if I didn't then I wouldn't even attempt to find out the correct address - that is the senders responsibility.

[postiered]

So, if they only post 5 cards, does that mean they'll ALL arrive LOL!
I agree with the last post, having done a week on a HUB. Wrong Postcodes, addresses etc. Some are really ridiculous, like Mr Jones, Chester, CM7 5DS, or something like it. How the heck is it supposed to get there?

My great grandmother was Madam Taleda, Professional Psychic and Palmistry reader. Unfortunately, I don't have all her inherited powers...

well if you are an experianced postie thats easy to find the clue's in the postcode!!

[Wessex]

2nd Class makes no difference,as far as i can see on delivery most make it next day.They may as well have 1 standard rate class priced in between 1st & 2nd class rates.

How long before the public find out that second class gets less priority than DSA :mfo :cfo

[Wessex]

With such rates of loss its a shame Mr. Woods couldn't provide more details of their testing methods, I only say this because all of the letters and cards I have sent in 2009 have arrived safely.Perhaps ConsumerFocus are just particularly unlucky in not sharing my 100% success rate.
Would they of course have publicised the results if they had been 100% successful ?

And do they subject the competition to such scrutiny,in the interests of fairness and us the consumer ? :mfo

[themaze617]

Wessex- as a fellow postie i can't agree with you. I posted cards to family&friends locally and up london and half have arrived despite them all being posted the same place/time with correct post codes etc.
This is the 1st year this has happened, also last tuesday we recieved no direct walksort trays (normally have 1or 2 on a easy tuesday) and they still haven't arrived, very strange?

[Wessex]

Perhaps we should run our own trial ? I' ve still got plenty of 1st class stamps left

[adb2aber]

So, if they only post 5 cards, does that mean they'll ALL arrive LOL!
I agree with the last post, having done a week on a HUB. Wrong Postcodes, addresses etc. Some are really ridiculous, like Mr Jones, Chester, CM7 5DS, or something like it. How the heck is it supposed to get there?

Seems a pretty easy one to me, CH selection on the outward frame. Chester MC inward chuck it into CH7, the posties there will know the selection of houses it could be from the end of the postcode and can match the name to other mail to that address. The amount of times there's a single character wrong in the first part of the postcode often makes it irrelevant. Corners aren't being cut quite so much where you are that this makes it undeliverable? The only extra bit I'd want on it is a house number.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

So, if they only post 5 cards, does that mean they'll ALL arrive LOL!
I agree with the last post, having done a week on a HUB. Wrong Postcodes, addresses etc. Some are really ridiculous, like Mr Jones, Chester, CM7 5DS, or something like it. How the heck is it supposed to get there?

Seems a pretty easy one to me, CH selection on the outward frame. Chester MC inward chuck it into CH7, the posties there will know the selection of houses it could be from the end of the postcode and can match the name to other mail to that address. The amount of times there's a single character wrong in the first part of the postcode often makes it irrelevant. Corners aren't being cut quite so much where you are that this makes it undeliverable? The only extra bit I'd want on it is a house number.

Nice idea trouble is most DOs I know have no casuals helping them this year over Christmas, and what with diverts and frankly appallingly sorted mech bundles (Not MCs fault I know)- ( I had 25 in one bundle ranging from Fife, Cardiff, Newquay and London), Snow drifts and blizzards on deliveries making a 3.5 hr one more like 5, and the managers deciding we don't need nights despite Yorkies of bulbs and 3 packet bags being average - Frankly WE DONT HAVE THE TIME.