My mother recently posted me some memories collected by my grandmother, who took me on holiday to Belgium as a child in the early 1980s. They included my grandmother’s handwritten notes, a handful of photographs (including some of me as a child taken in Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges and Paris) and a postcard she had sent.
Unfortunately, by the time the envelope arrived, only my mother’s covering note was inside. The envelope was sealed, but the rest of the contents were missing. I think it must have come open and been pressed back down again. I was told by local sorting office staff that lost property goes to a warehouse in Belfast, but the only information on the website is about compensation.
I phoned customer services, but after selecting the appropriate options I reached a “dead end” message that told me Royal Mail does not keep lost items.
This astonished me. Presumably some lost items are valuable and many more are personally treasured. I don’t want compensation, just my grandmother’s pictures and notes back. Any suggestions or information you can offer are gratefully received. SF, Birmingham
Very sad but, firstly, anything that precious should be securely packaged and, secondly, anything irreplaceable should be copied or scanned before it's sent and/or sent by Special Delivery.
Lounge Lizard wrote:Very sad but, firstly, anything that precious should be securely packaged and, secondly, anything irreplaceable should be copied or scanned before it's sent and/or sent by Special Delivery.
Correct, anything of value, be that in monetary terms or nostalgic terms should be sent Special Delivery.
in my experience, i rarely see packages opened or damaged that have been packed properly, its almost always the senders fault by not using appropriate packaging, this may not be the case here but from what ive seen it pretty much always is.
I find customers think we have more time on our hands than we do. They seem to think their package is handed postman to postman on an individual basis from collection to delivery.
I don't even try and explain their clearly labelled 'fragile' package was sorted by 'throwing', then 30 other parcels thrown on top of it, then shoved in a sack and dragged around the streets in the rain all on the clock to a time limit.
Theghost wrote:He is asking for help in finding these items,Not a lesson in how to send items through the mail.
Sorry i dont know how to help,Hopefully someone can.
Its not the thread starter asking for anything, its a link to a guardian article
If you tolerate this, then your paid break will be next
Always always always cellotape envelopes shut because they are very liable to coming loose, this goes for jiffy bags too. Especially if there's rain, the glue can't hack it. And let's face it, there's always rain somewhere in this country.
