Residents kept waiting for their 'next-day' deliveries

[smokerjim]

http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/Residents-k ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The number of hours employees can work at the South Park depot has been slashed by at least eight, meaning packages are not being delivered on time.

Royal Mail is also changing delivery methods and investing in new sorting machinery.

Cliff Brooks, Communication Workers Union representative for Sevenoaks, said: "There is a problem at the delivery office on the package delivery side.

"As part of Royal Mail's modernisation programme, they have cut the number of hours staff can work.

"The workload is still the same, but there just isn't enough people to do the work.

"There are 93 employees on the delivery side at the sorting office contracted for certain hours, which they have to follow.

"Customers these days are buying more online so the workers have a lot of packages to deal with.

"The union and Royal Mail are in negotiations as to how we can solve this problem and hopefully we can come up with a solution very soon because customers are being inconvenienced."

One resident, who did not want to be named, was not impressed by the poor service he received.

He said: "There simply isn't enough manpower at the office.

"I had to wait more than a week-and-a-half for my item, which I ordered with next-day delivery.

"I had to go up to the sorting office and ask where the package was. The man there was very helpful and there wasn't much he could have done about the problem.

"It does leave you in a position where, if you order something first class through Royal mail, that 80 per cent of the time you get it next day but on the other times you could be left waiting indefinitely until the backlog is cleared."

However, Royal Mail has denied there is a problem.

A spokesman said: "As far as we are concerned there is no backlog of parcels at the South Park office.

"All deliveries from the delivery office will continue as normal."

Two photos included in link

[Lounge Lizard]

"I had to wait more than a week-and-a-half for my item, which I ordered with next-day delivery." Sometimes in these cases the seller doesn't send the item when they say they will and/or doesn't use First Class or Recorded Delivery or even Royal Mail.

[smokerjim]

"I had to wait more than a week-and-a-half for my item, which I ordered with next-day delivery." Sometimes in these cases the seller doesn't send the item when they say they will and/or doesn't use First Class or Recorded Delivery or even Royal Mail.

I'm well aware of that LL ( I remember one customer coming into the RoD on the advice of his postman, desperate for his router for the BT engineer the next morning & I turned the place upside down looking for it in the RoD, the backlog, even the drop bag frames & bench & found feck all. When I reported back to him, he figured TalkTalk had told him fibs about sending it ).....but the fact of the matter is bulk packets are sorted into 2 or 3 deliveries per SA collection, but SA's have been cut so much there is no time to do a day's worth of packets, so they build up & up & up, even with one or two people going out delivering packets on OT ( which is usually only seen during Christmas pressure, not a light summer ). Some collections have 3 yorks full of packets, and you can have my week's pay if every packet in the office is less than 3 weeks old

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

However, Royal Mail has denied there is a problem.

A spokesman said: "As far as we are concerned there is no backlog of parcels at the South Park office.

"All deliveries from the delivery office will continue as normal."

When did Pinocchio become a Royal Mail spokeman?

Or is it perhaps the "smoking man" from X-Files?

[smokerjim]

However, Royal Mail has denied there is a problem.

A spokesman said: "As far as we are concerned there is no backlog of parcels at the South Park office.

"All deliveries from the delivery office will continue as normal."

When did Pinocchio become a Royal Mail spokeman?

Or is it perhaps the "smoking man" from X-Files?

It's like the cops though, innit? Some incident, like a bank robbery, or an RTA, or whatever and there's always some plod that says "Move along now, there's nothing to see" and you want to reply "Are you blind?!?! You're 'aving a f***ing' larf....something's happened which is as normal for this area as finding a Communist Party membership card in David Cameron's wallet!"

I would love to know who makes that s**t up....is it someone local ( whose bollocks are on the line if they tell the truth ), or someone central ( who could find "Reality" let alone "Sevenoaks" with a map & both hands )?