Put the wrong postcode....

Kimski44 · Post by **Kimski44** » 05 Jul 2016, 20:46

Hello Posties! After sending off a little parcel to my daughter who works at the Head Office if a well-known store on Baker St, London, by 1st class signed-for last Monday, I was surprised when it hadn't arrived by Wednesday. After checking with her, I've realised I've stupidly put on the wrong postcode (eg her home address in Streatham as opposed to work address in W1). I guess the parcel went to the sorting office in Brixton/Streatham.... but as this company is well-known, as well as the road, do you think, in your opinions, it will eventually make it there? It's over a week now and we are a bit sad about it. Any info on the likelihood of it reaching its destination would be good! Should she even go to her local sorting office, do you think, to check? Thank you.

Post by **baldrick** » 06 Jul 2016, 08:13

Hi Kimski44, there was a time when your packet would have reached your niece fairly quickly, even with the wrong postcode. Every mail centre used to have a 'Blind Duty', where wrongly or badly addressed items would be dealt with by experienced sorters with directories, maps and reference books to enable them to send the items on to the correct address.

Unfortunately in the interests of 'efficiency' and 'modernisation' (ie saving money), most of the London mail centres have been closed and the Blind Duties scrapped. If your item had a SW London postcode it would now be sent to Croydon Mail Centre. Most of the sorters there would probably not know whether there is a Baker St in Streatham, so would have sent it to the Streatham Delivery Office. Once there the postperson for that postcode would know that there isn't a Baker St in that postcode, and would have returned it to Croydon MC. It would have been returned to Croydon MC that day, so there isn't much point in going to the Delivery Office.

When it got back to Croydon MC they do not have a Blind Duty, so it would have been sent to Mount Pleasant MC in Central London, who deal with all London missorts/blind items. But they do not have a Blind Duty now. They use to have one person when I was there 3 years ago trying to deal with thousands of blind/missorts every day. That person has a computer with roads and postcodes on it, but would not probably know where Baker St is. Baker St is in two postcodes, NW1 and W1 which are dealt with by different Delivery Offices. So it might have been sent to 1. NW1 DO, 2. W1 DO. Going first to the NW1 Delivery Office, and when they found the address wasn't in their area it would have been sent on to W1 DO.

Given the volumes of badly addresses/blind items in London it might well still be at Mount Pleasant MC awaiting processing. It would be impossible to know where it is unless it had been sent by Special Delivery which is trackable. Signed For items are not tracked through the system.

So unfortunately it might take a bit of time to reach your niece. But that is 'efficiency' and 'modernisation'.

Kimski44 · Post by **Kimski44** » 06 Jul 2016, 10:32

Thanks Baldrick, that's really interesting, but gives me slight hope it might make it there eventually even with a massive long delay. What is it with these large organisations and their cost-cutting? I have the same in my Company yet they still want to charge the same high prices - it's getting embarrassing to have to continually say sorry to customers who don't understand the penny-pinching cost cutting when they're still paying for a service.
Well, I guess it's in the system somewhere and I suppose I can be hopeful it will eventually turn up. I was sort of thinking because it was addressed House of Fraser (head office) which most people have heard of, in a street which for London, is well-known, it might get redirected more easily than some random Acacia Avenue type address!
Do they give up after ten days though, after the sender can claim its lost, do you think?
Thank you v much for the information.

Post by **baldrick** » 07 Jul 2016, 07:47

Hi Kimski. Previously sorters, or at least the Blind Duty, in the SW London MC would have known where the House Of Fraser HQ is, but sorters in Croydon probably wouldn't. I must admit I didn't know that though I worked at the Baker St Post Office for a couple of years. I know there is another major store HQ there, M&S I think. I would think that it will reach your niece in time.
If the person at Mount Pleasant MC dealing with London Missorts can't work out where it should go, it will be returned to you if you put a return address on the outside. If not it would be sent to the Returned Letter Office in Belfast who can open it to find an address and would send it on, or return to sender. But that might take up to six months due to the volumes of work they deal with.
If your niece hasn't received it within 10 days you should get a missing item form from a Post Office and submit it, and Royal Mail will then try to locate it.

Kimski44 · Post by **Kimski44** » 09 Jul 2016, 11:17

Well thanks very much for the reply ..... I guess we'll just have to see if it eventually turns up. I am heartened to see it might turn up even weeks later (I though they probably wouldn't bother after a couple of weeks and just chuck em). I think she's going to pass by the Brixton sorting office later on any, just to see, as she was going that way later. As I mentioned, the fact that it was addressed to a well-known company, in a well-known street made me think that it would have been much more likely to get there, than some obscure address - but after a couple of weeks go by, you begin to think it won't! I have never had anything go astray before now, but certainly will be double checking the postcode in future and always using Special Delivery. I would never use "signed for" again, that's for sure..
Thanks for all your information!

Post by **baldrick** » 09 Jul 2016, 13:40

I forgot to say that when London Missorts are sent by Mail Centres outside London, like Croydon MC, they are first put back on Primary Sorting at Mount Pleasant. It is quite likely that a sorter there would see the SW postcode and sort it to Croydon again. It can go round in circles until it is sorted by someone who recognises that it should have a W1 postcode.
When I was at MP I used to see items frequently being sorted by postcode to other MCs and then coming back again. I used to write the date it was returned to MP again, then send it to the person dealing with Missorts, who would often then also forward it back to the MC dealing with that postcode, and it would be returned to MP again. I had one letter which was going round in circles for weeks when I retired. It might well still be.

Kimski44 · Post by **Kimski44** » 09 Jul 2016, 21:19

Oh crikey - it sounds like us at British Airways. One time, I was coming back from Nice on a jolly when all baggage services had given up and were sending everything off to a storage centre in Italy. My husband said, why don't you just save the bother and just send it straight to Milan - it appeared they took him seriously and guess what, my suitcase was missing for three days.... If the barcodes go off the side of suitcases, they will never get back. I try to remember to put my address inside the suitcase, so it's a bit like Royal Mail, to be honest. Without it, the bag just goes round and round the carousel until it eventually disintegrates.... I'm not sure if I put the address on my parcel or not..... I'm still vaguely holding out hope, but it's fading to be honest. But thank you v much for all,the info; it's very interesting.

Kimski44 · Post by **Kimski44** » 14 Jul 2016, 20:41

Thank you! It turned up!!! It was delayed by three weeks, but eventually got there. I would say to anyone in same predicament, to wait three weeks or so before giving up. As you explained, it can go between all the different mail centres for a while, before it heads in the right direction!

TopCustomer · Post by **TopCustomer** » 25 Aug 2016, 15:10

Just carrying on from this ... baldrick says that in London these "blind duty" sorters have been scrapped. What about the rest of the country? are they scrapped outside the capital also?
Seem like a good idea to me if RM is going to do all it can to ensure safe delivery even if addressed incorrectly.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 25 Aug 2016, 15:30

Don't know about Mail Centres by my Delivery Office has a blind and deads duty that searches out addresses.

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 25 Aug 2016, 19:35

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:Don't know about Mail Centres by my Delivery Office has a blind and deads duty that searches out addresses.

Think ours was axed a few years ago