advice on best way to complain about local postie ....

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I was wondering about complaining too, and I just need to check that I have cause to... I don't have any problem with 'doorstepping' - I work full time so I don't have time to pick up mail, and I routinely check in the nooks and crannies by the front door when I get home - nothing's been stolen yet. What I do have a problem with is absentee postmen!

Several pieces of mail were supposed to arrive on the 24th of December but we had no deliveries at all (all the mail suddenly appeared on the first post day AFTER Christmas, so it was probably sitting in a depot for days). Then, I had lots of items due to arrive today. Again, absolutely no mail at all. I don't think it's related to Christmas, because I've noticed that we quite often get no post at all on Fridays. If a postie takes time off or works part time, their round is covered, isn't it?

I wondered if it was possible that the postman is unofficially taking Fridays off and delivering the post whenever he feels like it! I'm particularly concerned now because I had some live plants supposedly arriving today, and they may die if left until Tuesday!!!

If Friday is the only day he is missing then I am guessing that's his day off - at RM we work many shift and attendance patterns but the most likely is working 5 days out of 6. If there are no deliveries on his day off then I am afraid its a management problem.

BTW doorstepping is a sackable offence in RM so please don't mention that if you do complain your may put your postie out of a job.

[Supermonkey]

I just got the number of the local delivery office, and called to politely inquire if any parcels were waiting for me. I didn't get that far though, because nobody picked up. Great - now I'm going to worry about my poor little plants for the next 3 days! :(

[arnold cheshire]

fridays are busy days maybe he didnt want to work overtime as management have made the rounds very large and he cut off taking mail back to the delivery office

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I just got the number of the local delivery office, and called to politely inquire if any parcels were waiting for me. I didn't get that far though, because nobody picked up. Great - now I'm going to worry about my poor little plants for the next 3 days! :(

Depending on who sent them most "plants" have soil and food in the packets with them so they should be OK.

[Supermonkey]

They're aquatic plants - they need a lot of light and can only tolerate the wrong temperature for short periods. Oh well. Eventually got through - they said everything *should* have been delivered this morning. I'll just have to wait and see if it shows up on Tuesday.

[ZOMBULA]

Im in the same position myself ; i know for a fact i should have received at least 5 items today but zilch.
Had similar trouble last week. I live in a block of 9 flats & the postie buzzed ' around 12.30pm to be let in.But no mail.
Next day same thing happened - i managed to catch the guy & he said no-one would let him in. Blatant lie as my wife saw him sitting on the flat stairwell.
Ive had items go missing & stuff from letters which have been sellotaped to extreme returned in ' sorry ' royal mail envelopes ; due to ' breaking in the mail ' -- sorry ; but thats crap - letter would have had been to have been ripped open. Trust me. It doesnt help Royal mails reputation espescially when they employ temp staff to help with mail sorting ; when they have one intention in mind - theft.
Dont say it doesnt happen - it does - i worked part-time for royal mail years back at Xmas & saw people ' helping themselves ' with no word from any supervisor.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Im in the same position myself ; i know for a fact i should have received at least 5 items today but zilch.
Had similar trouble last week. I live in a block of 9 flats & the postie buzzed ' around 12.30pm to be let in.But no mail.
Next day same thing happened - i managed to catch the guy & he said no-one would let him in. Blatant lie as my wife saw him sitting on the flat stairwell.
Ive had items go missing & stuff from letters which have been sellotaped to extreme returned in ' sorry ' royal mail envelopes ; due to ' breaking in the mail ' -- sorry ; but thats crap - letter would have had been to have been ripped open. Trust me. It doesnt help Royal mails reputation espescially when they employ temp staff to help with mail sorting ; when they have one intention in mind - theft.
Dont say it doesnt happen - it does - i worked part-time for royal mail years back at Xmas & saw people ' helping themselves ' with no word from any supervisor.

Of course it happens no one is denying it - after all do you know any town in the UK that has 160,000 residents and no one theives - well thats the same size as RM. If you saw someone thieving why didn't you report it to the manager, and if they were not intrested the IB or Police. Take responsibility if you think someone is stealing report it whether you are a customer, employee or manager. Anyone who steals should be shopped end of - this no grassing rule that some have is stupid in my opinion, there is no sane reason not to grass when people are nicking stuff and innocent people are suffering including other honest workers.

[ZOMBULA]

Fair play for being honest.
I did report it - went to the main supervisor who'd signed me in that day ( via agency form ) & he got the guys sorted after theyd left the building.He told me they couldnt touch them til theyd left the premises.

Just gets my back up when i spend the time writing letters , and buying stamps to have parts of them returned costing me more cash to buy more stamps for a job that shouldve been done right in the 1st place.
When i receive more mail that i either know or dont know the ' perp ' behind it -- whats the best way to report it with a pretty much guaranteed way it will be dealt with ?
I know the posties that are legit are having hell due to working conditions ; but its those ' bad pennies ' that are giving royal mail a bad name.
Mud sticks , & maybe too much mud has stuck.

[points]

I would be wary about complaining abvout your local postie, I'm too scared to after last time I did. My mum's postie was giving all her mail to her neighbour who was then putting it in her mail box. Sometimes it was taking a few days to get from the neighbours to her box so I called customer services and said I didn't want to make a complaint but just confirm that although it was one farm she was living on, there were seperate post boxes. (My mum works full time and I was 9 months pregnant at the time which is why I was calling on her behalf) Next time I visited my mum I was accosted by my neighbour who was told by the postman that I had complained and tried to get him fired. Being screamed at when you are on own your own really does wonders for your blood pressure. My mum has now moved house and intended to make a complaint but has the same postman so isn't going to.

I've recently moved myself and my new postman is doorstepping all of my parcels including my "signed for" items. I really don't know why as I am always in and my doorstep is not covered so everything is getting soaked in the rain.

I miss the postmen at my old house, one of them was the nicest guy ever and when it snowed really bad last year they walked miles along our country lane to deliver!