Special Delivery - Is it really as good as it's said to be?

[shipmaster122]

With the xmas rush (people still ordering now wanting xmas delivery!!), we have been sending out around 40-60 SD's each day as we don't want to risk 1st Rec'd and have stuff get caught in the xmas backlog.

RM seem to big it up to be a flagship product, but apart from it being tracked (some of the time..) and delivered as a priority, is it really handled differently? It still seems to flow through the normal mail centres, but are Specials handled in a dedicated area in the mail centre? or is the only difference that they are scanned during transit? For them to offer high insurance, they must be doing something differently.

Sorry for all the questions guys, I know how hard you must be working right now. Just interested really.

Oh and if anyone's interested, our mailings go via Doncaster Mail Centre.

[TeeferTiger]

They travel in separate bags to the rest of the mail and are handled in different areas in a secure room. There is an audit trail for them at all times (obviously it does go wrong sometimes due to human error) and major b*ll*ckings are to be had if any failures occur at the delivery office.

[TeeferTiger]

Oh and don't worry about bothering me with questions, I don't work there anymore But I did used to work in the room of doom dealing with all the specials, tracked, callers office etc

When you used to get a couple of hundred of the buggers in on a morning, the phone ringing and you had 1 less going out on delivery than you had coming in so you knew you'd miscounted 1 somewhere, it was "find a spare bit of wall to bang your head against" time.

[shipmaster122]

Oh and don't worry about bothering me with questions, I don't work there anymore But I did used to work in the room of doom dealing with all the specials, tracked, callers office etc

When you used to get a couple of hundred of the buggers in on a morning, the phone ringing and you had 1 less going out on delivery than you had coming in so you knew you'd miscounted 1 somewhere, it was "find a spare bit of wall to bang your head against" time.

TBH, we only really use the service for it's next day delivery guarantee as the items we send out are only worth around £40-50 each, but I imagine it would be useful for sending high-value stuff.

Room of doom, eh? Why so bad I ask? Surely it would just be like all other mail for the sorter (not sure what your job was actually, correct me if i'm wrong.. ), but just taking extra care. I imagine also you'd have to be extra careful as regards mis-sorts as that could cause a day delay which would mean a possible claim, and as you say a b*ll*cking..

And another thing. Would you agree that the public are generally misled by "Recorded/Signed For" mail? I have had so many of our customers contacting me asking why when they have paid extra for signed for it hasn't got any tracking. I think there's a lot of confusion about what it's there for.

[TeeferTiger]

Recorded isn't "tracked" it's just proof of delivery and the signature can be requested from customer services. However, I don't really feel it's worth the paper it's written on. The addressee can request redelivery to another address if they're not in (it's only SD items that RM won't redeliver to another address) and so what's the point?! Also, the addressee can sign it whatever name they like, we don't ask for proof of ID when they sign for the item, the same goes for specials doesn't it? There's nothing to stop someone signing a completely different name and then lying through their teeth- although they'd have a very irate postie at their door if it was a special!

Anyway, RD can sometimes only be scanned for the first time when the delivery card is sent off to the Mail Centre at the end of the day by the Delivery Office, or not at all if the DO keeps them there at the office. That's why sometimes there may not be a signature available to view online. Or, of course, there's human error and it was delivered without a signature.

[TeeferTiger]

Oh and room of doom purely because of the amount of abuse you get from the staff, managers and public. You can have a queue going out the door, the phone ringing constantly and staff moaning at you through the other window whilst still being expected to do all the other work inbetween.

[fishtank]

And another thing. Would you agree that the public are generally misled by "Recorded/Signed For" mail? I have had so many of our customers contacting me asking why when they have paid extra for signed for it hasn't got any tracking. I think there's a lot of confusion about what it's there for.

I don't think they are misled by Royal Mail.
I think they mislead themselves and to a certain extent are misled by Ebayers and certain companies.
It states quite clearly what you get for your money on the website...
http://www.royalmail.com/delivery/busin ... ded-signed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Proof of posting
Signature on delivery
Online confirmation of delivery
...and it's cheap.

Am i a fan of the product?...no.
Would i use it...no.
Does it do what it's supposed to...yes.

[shipmaster122]

Exactly. It's of no real benefit to the customer and if anything it's a nuisance as they have to sign for it creating more hassle for themselves.. Which is why I can't understand why our eBay customers choose to pay that 99p more.. It's a mystery.

We just use it for peace of mind incase a customer turns around to us and claims that they haven't received an item. I mean, ok we can claim from RM no problem, but it takes up more time in the day. And in the corrupt place we are living in, PayPal will force a refund to the buyer if no "Tracking Number" is issued.. Aghh!

[TeeferTiger]

Exactly. It's of no real benefit to the customer and if anything it's a nuisance as they have to sign for it creating more hassle for themselves.. Which is why I can't understand why our eBay customers choose to pay that 99p more.. It's a mystery.

We just use it for peace of mind incase a customer turns around to us and claims that they haven't received an item. I mean, ok we can claim from RM no problem, but it takes up more time in the day. And in the corrupt place we are living in, PayPal will force a refund to the buyer if no "Tracking Number" is issued.. Aghh!

I'm now going to have this song in my head all night now... http://youtu.be/__DrJI7mTHQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't think you can use it (I think it's large companies like BT etc), but they introduced a product called RM Tracked where you could have a signature or not. And these were treated pretty much like specials in our office, even the ones that didn't require signatures. All delivered by van drivers, so all delivered with PDAs, so there was a real time update on the audit trail.

[not me]

With the xmas rush (people still ordering now wanting xmas delivery!!), we have been sending out around 40-60 SD's each day as we don't want to risk 1st Rec'd and have stuff get caught in the xmas backlog.

RM seem to big it up to be a flagship product, but apart from it being tracked (some of the time..) and delivered as a priority, is it really handled differently? It still seems to flow through the normal mail centres, but are Specials handled in a dedicated area in the mail centre? or is the only difference that they are scanned during transit? For them to offer high insurance, they must be doing something differently.

Sorry for all the questions guys, I know how hard you must be working right now. Just interested really.

Oh and if anyone's interested, our mailings go via Doncaster Mail Centre.

I dont know your volumes but have you looked at RM tracked?
when i was a full time ebayer,tracked would have been perfect for me
I didnt need next day delivery but needed the tracking of SD


s for SD.
why wouldnt it flow through the same MCs?
it would be madness to have a totally separate network
however they are separate in their handling
when you see terms like the locker/PSL(priority services locker) used here
thats the room the Sds are handled in

[shipmaster122]

Thanks for your help guys! I'm actually not too pleased with SD with yesterdays posting as most of them didn't track until they reached the final DO..

Yeah, we've heard of RM Tracked before but never really considered it as I believe you have to buy a specific label printer which is about £100! Would depend on the savings gained, but I will definately keep a watch on our volumes (you need 2,000 pieces/yr to use the service), and if we are hitting the targets after xmas i'll give sales a ring again.

[adb2aber]

Thanks for your help guys! I'm actually not too pleased with SD with yesterdays posting as most of them didn't track until they reached the final DO..

Yesterday was silly season - Locker couldn't handle the volume of SDs even with not scanning them so they were dropped into the normal mail system en masse. No scanning at outward MC so likely no scanning at inward MC means the only remaining scan will be when it goes out on delivery.

It's not what is supposed to happen and we get quite annoyed about it but we're told to do it so can't not do it - if it was held waiting for the locker then it'd not have a hope in hell of getting out the building on the same night, at least like this there is a chance of it arriving.

I expect tonight and tomorrow to be much the same as people send last minute. I wonder how many claims will be going in for failed 9am/1pm delivery over the next few days!

[shipmaster122]

Ahh I see, that explains the lack of scans! We had a few "RECEIVEDUNKNOWN BAG - MISSING DUN" too. And many only just got delivered before 1pm..

Also, I see some have two "Delivered" scans.. One at say 9:30am (after the out for delivery scan) and the other at for example 11am.. Is the DO trying to cover their a** should it not be delivered by 1pm?

[bag69]

I am a postie at Doncaster however i do have experience of the other departments. SDs are handled in a seperate office, in fact as soon as your collection driver gets in it is the first thing they do. Missing Dun is because a collection sheet is missing not the SD itself. As for not being scanned the rest of the time, well this new wonderfull delivery system takes longer to deliver than the charge holds on the scanners! Is it worth it? Yes as it is the only one that is insured properly.

[shipmaster122]

Just an update, at least 5 of the specials posted yesterday have been delivered after 1pm, with more still out for delivery.
RM's really screwed up this xmas..