recorded delivery, whats the point

[eastie]

Whats the point of recorded delivery these days
You pay extra but for what??
A letter sent 1st class gets delivered 1st time whilst a recorded delivery letter can't be delivered without a signature so may not be delivered at all if you are not in or may be delivered to someone in your road with a signature.
So 1st class gets delivered 1st time whilst Recordeds might end up with a neighbour or returned to the delivery office.
Also how does the customer(the person who sent the item )knowif the item has actually been delivered to the person he has sent the item to , yes he may check online if the item has been signed for but there is nothing online to say who has actually signed for the item surely there must be some way of telling if the item has actually been delivered to the address or a neighbours house.
Also there is no way of Customer Services the DOM or the Delivery Office to check where the parcel has been delivered to without asking the postman.

[datasaint]

Whats the point of recorded delivery these days
You pay extra but for what??
A letter sent 1st class gets delivered 1st time whilst a recorded delivery letter can't be delivered without a signature so may not be delivered at all if you are not in or may be delivered to someone in your road with a signature.
So 1st class gets delivered 1st time whilst Recordeds might end up with a neighbour or returned to the delivery office.
Also how does the customer(the person who sent the item )knowif the item has actually been delivered to the person he has sent the item to , yes he may check online if the item has been signed for but there is nothing online to say who has actually signed for the item surely there must be some way of telling if the item has actually been delivered to the address or a neighbours house.
Also there is no way of Customer Services the DOM or the Delivery Office to check where the parcel has been delivered to without asking the postman.

Preaching to the choir. RD is vastly outdated and as you say pointless as anybody can sign for it, a 24hr/48hr tracked service that the public can use at the post office would be far better. Then if the item gets lost at least tracking shows it made it to the delivery office or not as the case may be.

The only way RD could be improved is if when we get a new PDA we take a photo of the person who accepts the item.

[dblad]

Money

[Hitcher]

Proof of delivery - vital if you're selling on ebay.

[datasaint]

Proof of delivery - vital if you're selling on ebay.

Tracked would offer the same proof and would allow smaller items to be posted through letterbox.

[villan]

Proof of delivery - vital if you're selling on ebay.

Tracked would offer the same proof and would allow smaller items to be posted through letterbox.

Marking a Tracked item as "Delivered" on your PDA isn't proof of delivery. It just means you've scanned it and marked it as such. You could quite easily mark it as "Delivered" and then pop it back in your pouch. Of course if the Tracked item needs a signature then it's pretty much the same as Signed For.

The idea of Signed For is that you have to physically hand the item to a human being, although that's far from foolproof because the postie can sign it themselves - and when I say sign I mean that any squiggle will do to satisfy the PDA.

Neither is really proof of delivery.

[windermeredave]

I always ask the name of the person that is about to sign for the item and log that in, if it is a long foreign name then I will log in the address

[framusjsx]

I do agree to a point that its slightly pointless, the amount of stuff that I could have posted if some bugger was home is endless.

However I recently had an item I sent go missing - sold on ebay, or so the recipient claims, so in heinsight should have sent it signed for

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Proof of delivery - vital if you're selling on ebay.

Tracked would offer the same proof and would allow smaller items to be posted through letterbox.

Marking a Tracked item as "Delivered" on your PDA isn't proof of delivery. It just means you've scanned it and marked it as such. You could quite easily mark it as "Delivered" and then pop it back in your pouch. Of course if the Tracked item needs a signature then it's pretty much the same as Signed For.

The idea of Signed For is that you have to physically hand the item to a human being, although that's far from foolproof because the postie can sign it themselves - and when I say sign I mean that any squiggle will do to satisfy the PDA.

Neither is really proof of delivery.

It may be proof because the managers have access to a program that reads the GPS log of each scan. I had one recorded that was signed for and handed over as per spec, but the customer complained. The manager used the program and the complaint went no further, I only found out about it as my manager warned me in case the customer said anything to me, and to be careful in the future. Also apparently there are now companies that put claims in for tracked items if they are not doorstep scanned, and it costs RM £45 in fines and compo.

So yes a RD and a Tracked only can be good for ebayers if they push it when there is a complaint.

One thing I have never understood is posties who sign for them themselves or just push rthem through the door, thats P45 country.

[eastie]

TBT the GPS is crap because it only gives you within 100 mtrs so if you posted it to an address nearby by mistake it cant pinpoint it as we had a tracked item where the person said wasn't delivered but it was and the dog had hidden it and it was found later on

[bigcol]

the dog had hidden it

[Lincox]

Was there a little red prodder alongside it?

[datasaint]

Marking a Tracked item as "Delivered" on your PDA isn't proof of delivery.

I'd rather place trust in RM taking accountability for confirming an item as delivered than having a Recorded handed to an unknown neighbour who can invent whatever name.

[villan]

It may be proof because the managers have access to a program that reads the GPS log of each scan.

Do you know if the GPS log still works if the PDA comms are suspended when the scan takes place? (i.e. you see OFF in the top left hand corner of the screen instead of OK)

My PDA often loses comms during my delivery. Sometimes the comms stay off until I get back to the office, even though I try to resume them.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I believe that Comms and GPS are separate from each other. Comms refers to the VODAFONE network and it shuts itself down to save battery life. GPS is a passive system that is based on the location of satellites at a particular time, your position is then calculated using spheres of probability and where they intersect. [boring] The calculations also use einsteins theory of relativity to correct positioning because time at the satelittes position runs slower than it does for us on earth surface.[/boring]