Sender preparing item at Langley

DoctorBird · Post by **DoctorBird** » 26 Apr 2020, 12:20

Hey guys hope youre all well. I'm an emergency doctor and fully aware these are in comparison first world problems but wondered if you could advise.

I sent three letters last week all international tracked and signed. Last Monday or Tuesday a letter to New Zealand and one to the US. They both took until Thursday to get to Langley and the tracking only updated this morning to "sender preparing item." Weirdly the third letter I sent more recently to the US (on Thursday) was out of Langley in 24 hours. All letters were the same.

Will the two with "sender preparing item" both leave the depot at langley or stay there forever? I've never seen that status tracking on an item I'm sending that has made it to Langley.

Many thanks

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 26 Apr 2020, 19:24

It won’t stay there forever, but it is impossible to say how long it will take.

There has been a big reduction in the number of flights, reducing the freight capacity. Priority is being given to medical items. These two factors combine to push up the price of air freight. And some countries have imposed restrictions on incoming mail, or have practical issues with sorting and delivery. Each country is affected differently.

On top of all that, Royal Mail is trying to cope with increased volumes and reduced staff.

mister3030 · Post by **mister3030** » 27 Apr 2020, 10:30

How strange! I'm having the EXACT same problem. My package heading from UK to EU arrived at Langley HWDC on Thursday last week. Then it was stuck there with no updates until Sunday morning, when the tracking status changed to "sender preparing item" (instead of the usual "item is leaving the uk"). No movement since then.

Have your two packages moved yet since then?

Does anyone know what is going on? Perhaps a specific batch of outbound mail was severely delayed at langley hwdc?

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 27 Apr 2020, 11:30

mister3030 wrote: Perhaps a specific batch of outbound mail was severely delayed at langley hwdc?

At the moment not a specific batch, but nearly all of them.

Packets and letters are at levels greater than Christmas and have been for 6 weeks. Added to that staff are suffering as Covid causes absences, officially 4 [psties are known to have died (possibly over 10). Even regular mail is now getting heavily delayed.

There is no other way to put this but we are getting more mail, but we have less staff and resources to process it, add to that social distancing when we work typically shoulder to shoulder. Delays are now inevitable.

mister3030 · Post by **mister3030** » 27 Apr 2020, 11:46

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
mister3030 wrote: Perhaps a specific batch of outbound mail was severely delayed at langley hwdc?
At the moment not a specific batch, but nearly all of them.

Packets and letters are at levels greater than Christmas and have been for 6 weeks. Added to that staff are suffering as Covid causes absences, officially 4 [psties are known to have died (possibly over 10). Even regular mail is now getting heavily delayed.

There is no other way to put this but we are getting more mail, but we have less staff and resources to process it, add to that social distancing when we work typically shoulder to shoulder. Delays are now inevitable.

But like the OP said, another international package which he posted later than the two packages that got stuck has already made it through langley. I know for a fact that almost all outbound packages are still making it through langley hwdc in 24 hours or less even during the last few days.

I've never ever seen an outbound package get stuck on arrival at langley hwdc for several days and then for the tracking to change to "sender preparing item", when it should have changed to "item leaving the UK".

So this is an issue that seems to be only affecting a very specific batch of packages. I really wonder what's going on.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 27 Apr 2020, 11:56

I know for a fact that almost all outbound packages are still making it through langley hwdc in 24 hours or less even during the last few days.

If you know for a fact then please contact Royal Mail, we aren't part of Royal Mail so we cannot answer for them.

To be frank, most of us are knackered as hell and are doing the best we can under difficult circumstances, and we are only here to give customers an insight. So if "you know for a fact" coming onto an unoffical site is unlikely to help you.

mister3030 · Post by **mister3030** » 27 Apr 2020, 12:08

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
I know for a fact that almost all outbound packages are still making it through langley hwdc in 24 hours or less even during the last few days.
If you know for a fact then please contact Royal Mail, we aren't part of Royal Mail so we cannot answer for them.

To be frank, most of us are knackered as hell and are doing the best we can under difficult circumstances, and we are only here to give customers an insight. So if "you know for a fact" coming onto an unoffical site is unlikely to help you.

Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I just meant that like OP pointed out, a package which was posted at a later date made it through langley quickly. I also had another package make it through langley in a few hours a few days ago.

So yeah, it was a stretch for me to say that most packages are making it through langley quickly based on such a small sample, but it's also not true that all packages are being delayed to this extent at the moment.

I was just curious what could cause a package to arrive at langley hwdc, get stuck there for several days and then for the tracking to change to "sender preparing item", when the normal process is for it to then update to "leaving the UK". Like the OP, I have also never seen this happen before, nor have I read about such case here on the forum.

VonLipwig · Post by **VonLipwig** » 27 Apr 2020, 18:30

mister3030 wrote:I was just curious what could cause a package to arrive at langley hwdc, get stuck there for several days and then for the tracking to change to "sender preparing item", when the normal process is for it to then update to "leaving the UK". Like the OP, I have also never seen this happen before, nor have I read about such case here on the forum.

Though I'm unaware of RM status changes, and can only say that this particular case seems curious, having your item's status change to "leaving the UK" is still no indication of anything at this time. One of my packages took just over four weeks to change from this status to "having arrived in France", with others not even making this time-mark. With all that's going on - absenteeism, new hires, reduced out- and inbound connections, heavy loads of letters and parcels, etc. - I guess statuses sometimes just don't get updated or might be updated wrongly. The only thing I can advise is patience and trust in the respective mail services. They're doing the best they can, should be considered heroes for what they're doing, and will do their best to ensure proper delivery of your shipment.