Broken and half open letters etc.

[nothappycustomer]

We have been very unhappy customers about the service in our area. The postmen force in bigger letters and has already broken our outdoors letterbox. Yesterday we received important certificat and they bend again the letter, so their where ruined.
Chrismass cards from relatives have been bended aswell.
All regular magasines have been delayed and they arrive later than in stores. Last week again some of the letters whereagain half open. I work from home so they could just ring the bell and hand over bigger post.
They dont use walkways instead they cross lawns, if you tell them please dont do that they are rude.
Do we have any way to have our post delivered safely and greeting cards etc.?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

If you have a small letter box, which if they are bending birthday cards it would seem so, then the best option is to get a large wall mounted box which a4 items can be posted without bending.

Another option is to arrange a call and collect from your Local Delivery Office (This is free as far as I know). This would mean you would need to collect your items but they would at least have less chance of being damaged.

You are quite within your rights to ask Posties not to cross your lawn and they should do as you requested, and they should not be rude to you if you are being civil. If they are being rude, rather than short, or continue to cross your lawn or not knock for large items after repeated requests then you can write to their
Delivery Office Manager, the address can usually be found n Yellow pages or google.

Late magazines is a difficult one, I have a subscription to a couple and since they transferred to TNT for delivery they always seem about 3 or 4 days late. The problem here is TNT do not have to deliver their own items, even though they are a Postal Company and do deliver in some areas. They can take 3 to 4 days to put them into Royal Mail for delivery and we have only 2 or 3 days for them to pass through our system. its very unlikely that your postie is delaying them as officially every Delivery Round should be checked to make sure that all their mail has been prepared for delivery and nothing is left in the office. If they are being delayed as said previously its more likely in the processing side of TNT rather than the delivery side.

Just one caveat - we are not an official Royal Mail site so the above response is my own opinion and is posted in a private capacity. You should not take what I have posted as an official response, or as official Policy - for that you would need to go through the proper channels.

[janitor]

Have noticed a lot of mail arrives later once it switches to other postal companies, my credit card statement is nearly a week later than when it was mail sort, and one of my magazines which turned up 3 days early now sometimes arrives the same day it goes on sale, all this happened when it switched to DSA.

[chrisj]

If you really work from home and you are home most of the time, you can always leave a note for the postman to knock the door or have a large post box as advised or even a closable receptacle near the door where the postman can leave larger items. Or you can tell them to return to the depot items that do not fit the letter box.

As a postman, I try to accommodate what the customer wants (I read the notes and act accordingly if reasonable and not going to get me in trouble). If you want the postman to knock then try to get to the door as quickly as possible and a friendly smile or apology for being late or not having the key ready will go a long way.

We have customers that order Netflix DVDs but has a vertical letter box that the DVD will not fit unless the packaging is folded a little - what to do? If possible to slip under the door then fine but most will slightly fold the corners of the DVD packaging to post the DVD.

No excuse to walk on the lawn especially when a postman has been told not to do so. Being a bit put out by such a request is out of order but might not be outright rudeness in some people's eyes.

[NewPostieUK]

Knocking on doors of houses that have small letterboxes is a hard one. Most of us simply haven't got the time. Cards and magazines aren't counted as parcels, they are just normal mail items and we have literally seconds to post them. Have you tried to post the items through your letterbox yourself to get an idea of the problem? I find it mind boggling that people have letterboxes that aren't fit for the purpose. I have dozens on my walk, and don't have time to knock at every one. I have no choice but to fold magazines, birthday cards etc. It's so frustrating. I don't want to damage the items, but the letterboxes are simply ridiculous. I have little sympathy when a nice large letterbox is only £20 - £30.

If the problems aren't caused by the letterbox, then, as with the other problems such as walking on the grass, you should ask nicely, then when it happens again, make a complaint. There's no excuse for that.

As for the magazines, I too have noticed that I am delivering magazines days after they hit the shops. I don't know what's changed, but you can hardly blame your postman. Maybe it's the distributors? I always used to get my computer magazine before it was in the shops, but now I know what the cover looks like before I get it.