Postman not delivering! Help please.

Longleggedhair · Post by **Longleggedhair** » 13 Dec 2017, 21:25

I have always had a brilliant service from Royal Mail, for many years we have had various different postmen who come and go, but our mail was delivered every day, and at a reasonable time. The problems started about six months ago when we had a new, permanent postman.

At first I thought it was just coincidence, but I soon realised that our postman was only coming 2-4 days per week. He will NEVER come if the weather is bad, and it's really starting to cause problems for me as I depend on the post for my job. I have spoke to neighbors and they are experiencing similar problems.

When he does come I have a big pile of post, some with date marks days before, he turns up late, rarely before 3pm. I spend my days waiting in for him to arrive and it's becoming a real nuisance. I made a complaint to the sorting office and spoke to the manager, who assured me the mail went out every day. I really don't know where to go next. I feel bad making too much fuss as he is an old guy and is clearly struggling to keep up with his job, but it's having a severe effect on my employment. I wonder if you guys have any thoughts.

Thanks

Post by **Lounge Lizard** » 13 Dec 2017, 21:30

Have you not asked this now permanent "old guy" postman what's happening ?

Post by **woody38** » 13 Dec 2017, 21:49

It’s not that he doesn’t come when weather is bad it’s the fact we are not allowed to deliver when weather is bad, in the West Midlands Post was only delivered again today & then not all walks went out.

If you are having a problem with your post ask him if there’s a problem some people deliver the post different than others,

Longleggedhair · Post by **Longleggedhair** » 13 Dec 2017, 21:53

Thanks, I am in the West Midlands, we have had no post delivered since last Thursday. I can understand Monday and Tuesday due to the ice, but it's usually wet weather he won't deliver in. Is there a way a postman could hoard the mail and only deliver every couple of days? Or something else, I'm just totally perplexed. Haven't had chance to speak to him about it as yet.

Creditshampoo · Post by **Creditshampoo** » 13 Dec 2017, 21:54

What do you mean he turns up late?

loverman shabba · Post by **loverman shabba** » 13 Dec 2017, 22:22

what is a reasonable time? if the postmans finish time isn't until 15.30. you could get your post any time up to that time and even after if it is a busy day. you could always arrange to collect your mail from the sorting office if it is such a problem

Creditshampoo · Post by **Creditshampoo** » 13 Dec 2017, 22:24

Nothing will happen regarding you complaining about what time you wish to receive your mail. If the customer hasn’t paid for before 1pm special delivery (the sender being the customer) Royal Mail do not care.

There’s some rounds in my office where people don’t get their mail until 6pm, this has been going on for 2 years everyday it gets picked up by overtime

joewyan · Post by **joewyan** » 13 Dec 2017, 22:35

You should receive your mail every day but the time can be any time of day up until about 6pm. The best thing to do is speak to the postman if you can and ask about why you might not be receiving mail.

How do you know that he isn’t delivering in wet weather and that you just haven’t got any post those days?

Post by **CPTNemoUK** » 13 Dec 2017, 22:47

Could be wrong. but to me it sounds like your postman is probably cutting off or leaving mail in. That's why you only get it so often and it's probably more management fault for not getting it covered.

world class male · Post by **world class male** » 14 Dec 2017, 04:29

Longleggedhair wrote:but I soon realised that our postman was only coming 2-4 days per week.
he turns up late, rarely before 3pm.
but it's having a severe effect on my employment. I wonder if you guys have any thoughts.

Thanks

do you live somewhere off the beaten track?
mail can't really be late "as in the time of day" as long as it comes daily,
for the sake of £4, post a 1st class letter to yourself every day for a week and see what happens
or as posted above, set up a c&c, though you shouldn't really have to do that

gary1975 · Post by **gary1975** » 14 Dec 2017, 05:04

A post blaming the "old postman" who's delivery is probably to long and unachievable sounds like he's handing back mail,not hoarding it.more like a Management failure who quite happily let you think it's the postman fault

Post by **woody38** » 14 Dec 2017, 06:33

Longleggedhair wrote:Thanks, I am in the West Midlands, we have had no post delivered since last Thursday. I can understand Monday and Tuesday due to the ice, but it's usually wet weather he won't deliver in. Is there a way a postman could hoard the mail and only deliver every couple of days? Or something else, I'm just totally perplexed. Haven't had chance to speak to him about it as yet.

What kind of drive to you have, we are told not to deliver to houses when it is slippery. If you have a concrete imprinted Drive we a told not to deliver to houses that have them in the wet because to many postie have fallen on it and broken bones.

LaggyBand · Post by **LaggyBand** » 14 Dec 2017, 09:10

Have you gone through the customer services sausage machine?

I understand that there are plenty of reasons why this guy could be innocent. A few years back a guy in our area was known to be taking on docket then just feeding any of the awkward places back into the system. Complaints to local management fell on deaf ears cos he was "clearing" it for them.

Since privatisation, standards in our area have fell dramatically. Whilst still a disciplinary issue for sure, left mail is not actually challenged anywhere near like it used to be. Managers desperate to sign off as "cleared" don't want to lose those willing to "do it".

If the OP goes through customer services, will it not eventually be investigated using a simple test letter? If the guy's doing nothing wrong then no problem.

LaggyBand · Post by **LaggyBand** » 14 Dec 2017, 09:37

As an addition to my above post, if you do call customer services, tell them:

1. that you understand there are fluctuations in the post. Some days you genuinely have nothing and others you have lots. You get that;

2. But this happens three days of the six (or whatever the true rough pattern is);

3. First class letters have date marks from two or three days ago and it isn't just the odd one (if true);

4. Those first class letters have a slightly "beaten" look to them (if true). Most experienced posties can spot letters that have been delayed quite easily as they have a certain "look" to them. For example, letters that are slightly wrinkled where rained on the day before, or more worn than usual having gone through the system twice;

5. If there is a good reason why mail is not delivered to your address daily, you need to know what that reason is so that you can take steps yourself to put things right if needed (eg unsafe to deliver);

6. And tell them local management are saying that it is being taken out of the frame daily, but no further information has been provided despite the reasons for your concerns above.

People avoid customer services as they feel it is too long winded but used correctly it can actually pump out results.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 14 Dec 2017, 13:17

Longleggedhair wrote: Is there a way a postman could hoard the mail and only deliver every couple of days? Or something else, I'm just totally perplexed. Haven't had chance to speak to him about it as yet.

Possible - Yes.

However, extremely unlikely as without a frame to sort it into it would be nearly impossible to sort and deliver a few days mail every few days. Also with the security features, Royal Mail have in place such practices are usually uncovered fairly quickly. A postie certainly could not sneak a whole deliveries worth of mail back into the system as its usually multiple bags, not just the one you see the postie with.

The way you have described it, and if it has happened before the recent snowy weather, with a 4-day cycle then there are 3 official possibilities.

1. The postie is on 4 days on 2 days off shift pattern and the office manager isn't adequately covering the other 2 days.
2. The round your delivery is on is a "lapsing round" and on some days certain sections are not being done.
3. The round you are on may be a "difficult" round where the postie has trouble completing within his contracted hours each day. When this happens management should either offer overtime to the duty holder (which is voluntary) or to another postie. If they can't get it covered on overtime they can delay certain parts of the delivery to the next day. However, this exacerbates the problem for the next day and a pattern of 4 deliveries and 2 non-deliveries days could be indicative of that.

In essence, although you appear to blame the postie, it's possible that it's down to poor management as well. I would log an official complaint with Customer Services and if continues escalate it to the ombudsman as well.