Football club chief David Attwood faces an early kick-off – just to post a letter.
Because the last collection time at his local pillar box is being switched to the crack of dawn.
David and his neighbours in Quarry Bank, Dudley, are the victims of a Royal Mail cutback which will see nearly half of all post boxes across the Midlands being emptied earlier in the day.
The decision was announced in the summer but it was never spelled out just HOW early.
Now the Sunday Mercury can reveal that in many cases – as in Quarry Bank – collections will be pushed back to 9am on weekdays.
And if you want to post a letter on Saturday, you’ll have to be there before 7am.
The current times are typically 5.30pm on weekdays and 11am on Saturdays.
The changes affect Birmingham, Black Country, Solihull and Coventry postcode areas, with 2,194 of the 5,179 boxes moving to early doors.
David, club secretary of Halesowen-based Cradley Town Football Club, which plays in the West Midlands (Regional) League, said: “It is absolutely absurd.
“Why should customers have to get up so early to ensure a first-class letter is received the following day?
“In my football role, I have to post a lot of time-sensitive correspondence to the league, and to the Birmingham County FA.
“If documents are received late, the club can be fined.
“The long-suffering public is already having to pay ever-increasing prices for postage stamps – and yet is receiving an ever-decreasing level of service.”
“We have always had two level of service: first and second class. Now we have third class, too.
“Royal Mail, once a proud national institution, was sold off cheaply and they are now treating their customers in this disgusting fashion to keep the shareholders happy.”
Royal Mail insists that only ‘low volume’ pillar boxes are being downgraded.
But David, who posts hundreds of football club letters a year, says that his two nearest boxes are often full to near-overflowing.
Disgruntled customers will be expected to walk to a pillar box in Quarry Bank High Street, nearly a quarter of a mile away, for a later collection at 5.30pm.
But the box is at the top of a steep hill, making access for the elderly and disabled difficult.
Confusingly, Royal Mail says that while earlier collection time panels have already been fixed on affected post boxes, the new timings have yet to come into force. Bizarrely they add that 9am doesn’t actually mean 9am at all.
“The 9am collection time stated on the box means there will not be a collection before 9am, but it will be typically between 9am and 3pm in urban and suburban areas,” said a Royal Mail spokesman.
“Altogether, we are moving between 45,000 and 50,000 of our 115,000 post boxes to an earlier collection time. The mail will be picked up by the postman or postwoman as part of their delivery round. No post boxes will be removed as a result of this initiative.
“Changing our final collection times to reflect users needs and volumes will unlock the opportunity for efficiency savings.
“Mail volumes have reduced by 33% since the high point in 2005. The majority of post boxes will retain a 4pm-or-later final collection as they have now, and we will ensure that there is a late-posting box within half-a-mile of each post box which moves to earlier collections.”
