MRM.COM : New trial begins of accepting mail on urban deliveries

[POSTMAN]

https://www.myroyalmail.com/news/2017/07/going-urban" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We are launching a two-month trial of a new service offering mail collection at the doorstep in urban areas.

This service is already offered to customers in rural areas across the UK.

Customers will be able to hand their first or second class letters and small packets to their postman or woman when they are delivering mail to their address. We will be able to accept any stamped, business reply, online postage and freepost items that you would normally take to a postbox.

The trial will run across four delivery areas:

From today (24 July): Bexleyheath and Rochdale
From next Monday (31 July): Purley and Urmston

Kevin Cooper, head of processing and collections design, said: ‘We’re continually looking for ways to develop our services for customers. This is the first time we have offered this service in urban areas and we’re looking forward to seeing the reaction from customers.’

We will not accept parcels, international items, business mail or items that require proof of posting or special delivery. Customers wanting to post these items will be directed to the local post office or delivery office, or customer services, as usual.

We have fully engaged with the CWU in planning this trial and we are promoting it locally with leaflets and media coverage. Once the trial is completed, we will evaluate the uptake for the service before considering whether to roll it out more widely.

See a copy of the leaflet that has been distributed in these areas...
https://www.myroyalmail.com/sites/defau ... 282%29.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LTB 373/17 - Accepting Postboxable Mail on Delivery Trial...
http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 15&t=80451" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[clashcityrocker]

So you are 5 minutes into a 40 minute loop and the customer wants to hand you 17 small packets of stuff they have sold on a well known auction site.
How do you manage that?
I could understand if the collection was pre booked.

They also give you some letters.
What steps are they taking to ensure that mail is kept separate?

How long before "Is there enough postage on this?" becomes the new hated phrase from the public?

[CAMPINGBLUNDERER]

It's the business"s that try to give you their metered mail rather than pay for a collection that annoys me

[Lounge Lizard]

I've always done this on a deep rural duty and it has never been a problem.
I'm puzzled though by "Customers will be able to hand their first or second class letters and small packets to their postman or woman when they are delivering mail to their address" because Royal Mail pricing doesn't include "small packets". There's nothing between Large Letters and Small Parcels.

[rubberbond]

Am I supposed to knock on every door on my delivery? Asking if they have any letters that need posting?
WillI be conducted if someone rings up and says I didn't collect their post,is everybody going to have a barcode?

[Postie45]

its a great idea really lets face it, BUT RM need to build it into our delivery span which is always the bit they leave out and just think its just another small thing for us to do, like scanning barcodes on packages, scanning all the tracked, delivering to neighbours ... yes each on their own may not take much time, but they accumulate.

[Lounge Lizard]

postie 45,
Yes, "its just another small thing for us to do", probably adding just five minutes a week, but when rounds are too big and we can't finish on time most days anyway that's five minutes a week extra too much.

[britwrit]

If only the Royal Mail had gotten rural customers to use mailboxes like in the states, we could've had wee little trucks like these....



Zip up to a mailbox, lean out to deliver the mail, scoot on. No more trudging about.

[SierraOscarBravo]

https://www.myroyalmail.com/news/2017/07/going-urban

We are launching a two-month trial of a new service offering mail collection at the doorstep in urban areas.

This service is already offered to customers in rural areas across the UK.

Customers will be able to hand their first or second class letters and small packets to their postman or woman when they are delivering mail to their address. We will be able to accept any stamped, business reply, online postage and freepost items that you would normally take to a postbox.

The trial will run across four delivery areas:

From today (24 July): Bexleyheath and Rochdale
From next Monday (31 July): Purley and Urmston

Kevin Cooper, head of processing and collections design, said: ‘We’re continually looking for ways to develop our services for customers. This is the first time we have offered this service in urban areas and we’re looking forward to seeing the reaction from customers.’

We will not accept parcels, international items, business mail or items that require proof of posting or special delivery. Customers wanting to post these items will be directed to the local post office or delivery office, or customer services, as usual.

We have fully engaged with the CWU in planning this trial and we are promoting it locally with leaflets and media coverage. Once the trial is completed, we will evaluate the uptake for the service before considering whether to roll it out more widely.

See a copy of the leaflet that has been distributed in these areas...
https://www.myroyalmail.com/sites/defau ... 282%29.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LTB 373/17 - Accepting Postboxable Mail on Delivery Trial...
http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 15&t=80451" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have serious reservations about this proposal primarily over where it may lead. If we are talking about the odd person coming out to hand over a few letters to post then not really a problem for anyone. The difficulty arises if/when this practice really takes off and we go from a handful of people handing over mail to loads and loads of people handing over lots of letters and small packets.

What happens when people start taping letters on their doors for the postie to collect? If they go missing or are stolen what then? How long before it is determined that small post boxes in streets and hedges are no longer needed and mail will have to be taken to a main post box at a post office or handed to a postie?

I am open to change and while I am not completely against the trial, I think we do need to proceed with caution and ensure adequate safeguards are in place.

[Lounge Lizard]

SOB,
Shock, horror, you're sounding like a real postman now !!
Yes, there is a small danger of people start taping letters on their doors for the postie to collect and them going missing or getting stolen.
And of course it won't be long before it is determined that small post boxes in streets and hedges are no longer needed but that's the whole idea, to cut down on collections.
If it's such a bad idea I expect the workforce, represented by the CWU, will make their views known to the board in a bid to stop the trial being rolled out nationally.

[SpacePhoenix]

Will the stuff accepted make it to the DO before the final run to the MC has departed (my gut feeling is that the answer will be not a hope in hell)?

[plaguelift]

I'm not sure about this at all. A customer who gives you some mail/packets to post doesn't put enough postage on the mail. Postman puts the mail through the system as normal and the letters/packets are surcharged. Meanwhile the customers mail has not reached its destination in the one or two days it should have and the customer now tackles the postie about why their mail hasn't been delivered. Mail is eventually delivered, but postie has been put through dogs abuse about missing mail.
I thought all of the new post boxes which have sprung up all over the country was to make it easier for the customer to post an item. Why would you spend all that money and then decide to let the postman collect mail straight from the customer at their door.
Also, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember getting a memo about 10 years ago saying that we were not to accept mail for posting from joe public, but only collect from a box or a business which had made arrangements to do so.

[lightningpostman]

theres only so muych you can carry and we are at max capacity on most loops, im trying to offload the stuff in my bag not have more stuff added for me to lugg around.

here mr postman 21 samll packets i been selling my dvd's on ebay.

next house here mr postman a teddy bear.

rd customer here mr postman spostman replies sorry cannot carry anymore maybe tommorow

2nd day

same process again

1st customer 7 packetrs

2nd some mail and a dildo

3rd customer postman replies sorry can carry no more
3rd day complaint from 3rd customer postman refuses the collection 2 times in a row, screws call postman into office and give them headache

they gonna take into account the extra time needed and more workload into our rounds?

make loops shorter , i bet the trail does not even see a revised walk plan for said trail area's

create more jobs instead of trying to make us do it all single handedly?

no not rms style postman can do it all collection from boxes, customers, next well be picking up orders from macdonalds and deliverying fast food also

[Alexei]

I'm not sure about this at all. A customer who gives you some mail/packets to post doesn't put enough postage on the mail. Postman puts the mail through the system as normal and the letters/packets are surcharged.

Postage short by 1p... Amount to pay: £1.01. Multiply all over the UK =

[Lounge Lizard]

I'm not sure about this at all. A customer who gives you some mail/packets to post doesn't put enough postage on the mail. Postman puts the mail through the system as normal and the letters/packets are surcharged.

Postage short by 1p... Amount to pay: £1.01. Multiply all over the UK =

No, Postage short by 1p... Amount to pay: £1.50.
But that's no different whether it's put in a post box, as in the past, or handed to us in the future.