What is success rate for special delivery?

[customersmith]

I have only used special delivery (before 1pm) twice, first time worked ok. On this occasion my package is still in Leeds and according to customer service will now be a day late. This gives a success rate of 50%, not really good enough for a premium service, I can't believe this is typical, so what is the usual success rate for special delivery?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

According to the Quality of Service Report for Q3 its 98% http://www.royalmailgroup.com/sites/def ... 4%20Q3.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In fact at the same link you can check the success rate for your Post Code (first 2 letters), and any other.

You can also check the QofS reports for any year back to 2007/2008 http://www.royalmailgroup.com/customers ... ce-reports" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


But please don't forget we are not an official site so we can't held responsible if you question these figures.

[souldeep]

Interesting - I was a part of the 2% statistic last year - or more specific to the postcode stat - part of the 7%.

I lost a special delivery package , or more to the point, it was stolen from the Romford sorting office (apparently a number of special delivery sacks were taken but I've never heard back about the internal investigation). Gutted as the monetary value returned by the insurance (£200) was no where near the item value.

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

I have only used special delivery (before 1pm) twice, first time worked ok. On this occasion my package is still in Leeds and according to customer service will now be a day late. This gives a success rate of 50%, not really good enough for a premium service, I can't believe this is typical, so what is the usual success rate for special delivery?

just out of interest could you post the track and trace results from here:

http://www.royalmail.com/trackdetails" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

just to check did you post the item after the last collection time in the post office as that may explain the delay, it should tell you if it was after the last collection on the reciept

[customersmith]

Thanks for the stats link,I understand this is not an official forum so I was hoping for frontline staff opinion, I have worked for a large company and understand that stats can say whatever the compiler wants them to say.
Just to clarify, the first time I used special delivery I was the sender, this time I requested special delivery from a vendor, tracking details as follows
19/03/14 23:48 RECEIVED ATTYNESIDE MAIL CENTRE TYNESIDE MAIL CENTRE
19/03/14 15:11 DESPATCHABLE TOTYNESIDE MAIL CENTRE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
19/03/14 13:38 RECEIVED ATLEEDS MAIL CENTRE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
19/03/14 10:34 DESPATCHABLE TOEARLY TO LATE SHIFT HANDOVER LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
19/03/14 08:58 RECEIVED ATLEEDS MAIL CENTRE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
19/03/14 05:20 DESPATCHABLE TONIGHT TO EARLY SHIFT HANDOVER LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
19/03/14 03:28 RECEIVEDOUT OF COURSE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
19/03/14 03:26 COLLECTED LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
18/03/14 18:18 DESPATCHABLE TOLEEDS MAIL CENTRE SOUTHAMPTON MAIL CENTRE
18/03/14 17:45 COLLECTED SOUTHAMPTON MAIL CENTRE
18/03/14 14:23 ACCEPTED AT POL 32 - 34 Above Ba SO14 7LE

I was thinking of offering special delivery as on option to customers myself but the price always seemed prohibitive, the experience of using it is not so good either.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

18/03/14 18:18 DESPATCHABLE TOLEEDS MAIL CENTRE SOUTHAMPTON MAIL CENTRE

Thats where it went wrong, simple Human error. I'll take a wild guess and suggest you live in the TS Post Code area which is served by Tyneside, the fault here is that they have sorted it to the LS post Code and thats why its gone to Leeds.

The cost is quite high for Special Delivery but the good news is that compensation is of a higher level, and if you follow their compensation guide and purchase the consequential loss you can recover most if not all of your costs if it goes missing entirely. In this case as it will have failed its guaranteed delivery then the sender is entitled a full refund of the postage costs.

[customersmith]

Package arrived ok today after going the scenic route, put this one down to experience. As a regular Royal Mail customer this is only the third time I have hit a snag which is probably pretty good overall though special delivery will be a last resort from now on. As I was the recipient late delivery was less of a problem this time, but i'm sure you can appreciate me telling an irate customer his special delivery package will be a day late is not good for business. Then to smooth things over I tell him " don't worry I can get my postage costs back so i'm alright", if he wasn't angry before (and some of them must wake up angry) he would be after I told him that. If I compensate from my own pocket with a very tight margin then its a loss. Still, we all make mistakes.

[postman1979]

18/03/14 18:18 DESPATCHABLE TOLEEDS MAIL CENTRE SOUTHAMPTON MAIL CENTRE

Thats where it went wrong, simple Human error. I'll take a wild guess and suggest you live in the TS Post Code area which is served by Tyneside, the fault here is that they have sorted it to the LS post Code and thats why its gone to Leeds.

Its now so common to see people using lower case letters in a postcode and that is where the issue lies. They will write ls instead of LS and ts instead of TS and peoples handwriting being what it is, it can be very hard to spot unless time is taken to read the address on a letter or packet in full. Given the amount of items that most special delivery lockers deal with in the short period between 6pm and 10pm it is not surprising that mistakes are made.

[customersmith]

I checked back to see if anybody had figures for the success rate of special delivery ( not official figures ) as this was the whole point of my original question, my late package was not really the issue, but just to set the record straight- the package delivered late to me was clearly addressed in block capitals written in black ink. And I was staggered by the suggestion that staff may not have time to read the address properly at £6.95 an item. I am definitely not a Royal Mail basher as over the years the service has been very good, and our own postman is great, but it does seem that there is an issue with special delivery if staff do not have the resources to process it properly.

[Himaggen]

What I'm particularly interested in is what the twelve hour sequence of events were following the out of course receipt until correct despatch.

19/03/14 03:28 RECEIVED OUT OF COURSE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE

1. 19/03/14 05:20 DESPATCHABLE TONIGHT TO EARLY SHIFT HANDOVER LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
2. 19/03/14 08:58 RECEIVED AT LEEDS MAIL CENTRE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
3. 19/03/14 10:34 DESPATCHABLE TO EARLY TO LATE SHIFT HANDOVER LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
4. 19/03/14 13:38 RECEIVED AT LEEDS MAIL CENTRE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE

19/03/14 15:11 DESPATCHABLE TO TYNESIDE MAIL CENTRE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE

[adb2aber]

What I'm particularly interested in is what the twelve hour sequence of events were following the out of course receipt until correct despatch.

19/03/14 03:28 RECEIVED OUT OF COURSE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE

1. 19/03/14 05:20 DESPATCHABLE TONIGHT TO EARLY SHIFT HANDOVER LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
2. 19/03/14 08:58 RECEIVED AT LEEDS MAIL CENTRE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
3. 19/03/14 10:34 DESPATCHABLE TO EARLY TO LATE SHIFT HANDOVER LEEDS MAIL CENTRE
4. 19/03/14 13:38 RECEIVED AT LEEDS MAIL CENTRE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE

19/03/14 15:11 DESPATCHABLE TO TYNESIDE MAIL CENTRE LEEDS MAIL CENTRE

Night shift found it wasn't going to the local area, gave it to Early shift. Early shift don't process SDs so kept it secure and gave it to Late shift. Late shift sent it on its way.

[Himaggen]

Early shift don't process SDs

Therein lies the problem.
This shouldn't be processing an SD, it should be a Customer focused rectification of a Royal Mail error regarding a Premium Service.

[adb2aber]

Early shift don't process SDs

Therein lies the problem.
This shouldn't be processing an SD, it should be a Customer focused rectification of a Royal Mail error regarding a Premium Service.

What is that in English?


Early shift don't process SDs because they despatch into the 2ND CLASS network. Now if you want a parcel to take an extra 3 days to get there then by all means try asking the early turn to send them out. If you want it delivered asap then it has to wait on the next available 1C/SD service - on the late shift the next day. That is the best that RM can do. The scans are there so the posting customer can see that updates are happening and that it is not lost, just miss-sorted and so that we can follow the item audit trail.

[Lounge Lizard]

And Royal Mail makes the mistake with it being 'miss-sorted' and all they will do about that is refund the postage ?

[janitor]

What more do you want to happen? Do you want the sorter taken into the yard and shot. People make mistakes, and it's not always the sorters fault, some people handwriting is unreadable, I have seen more hieroglyphics that make more sense than some peoples hand writing.