Reason for non delivery appears strange

[toriwillow]

Hi all. I ordered an item online recently and it was important i had it by today so I paid (quite a bit) extra for the fastest possible delivery. Last night I received confirmation that my item had been received and would be out for delivery today.

I had to pop into town this morning and while I was there, i was parked near the main sorting office which made me think to check the status of my delivery. I saw that it was showing up as being out for delivery, which was great. After doing what I needed to do in town, I drove back home again, and hoped that maybe my parcel was waiting for me. It wasn't, but I wasn't concerned as the times my postman delivers can vary by a few hours day to day.

I pulled up the tracking information again to see if there was any ETA given and saw that it had been updated. The update stated that it could not be delivered as my address was inaccessible.

I'm somewhat bewildered by the reason that was given. Particularly because i had just driven from the town, the same street, where the sorting office is located. My route took me through the main road from which all the various smaller streets in my village can be accessed, to the end, and onto my own street. At no time did I encounter any difficulties, no road works or road closures etc. yet within that time, the update was added stating that my address was inaccessible, although it appears to be perfectly accessible, nothing unusual was apparent in the local area at all.

I had a look for more information on the royal mail website to see what other sorts of issues might cause them to state that as a reason for non delivery. I noticed that other reasons could include communal buildings not being open to allow deliveries, dangerous or hazardous conditions perhaps around your property preventing access, including dangerous dogs etc, none of which is/was applicable. I also checked the service status in my area and it seems post is being delivered as usual.

Are there any other reasons that a postal worker might cite 'address inaccessible'?

Obviously I'm pretty disappointed about not getting my parcel in time, especially after paying all the extra money to make sure I did, but I understand that sometimes there will be some unforseen circumstance that makes it impossible and it's not necessarily anyone's fault. I can also accept that mistakes simply happen sometimes - frustrating but not the end of the world.

But I'm just bewildered by the explanation given. It simply doesn't seem to be true.

[clashcityrocker]

When we scan an item as not delivered we have a drop down menu of reasons.
If you have fat fingers it is possible to hit inaccessible instead of no reply.
It might just be a mistake.

[toriwillow]

Ahh yes, that sounds plausible. Although I do wonder what the actual problem was if this was the case.

Also just half an hour or so after I posted my original post, three letters came through the door. I noticed them on the doormat, looked out of the window to see if the postman was still around and spotted him right at the end of the street. So I ran to the door, flung it open and went to call out to him when I realised I didn't actually know his name. In the few seconds i was trying to think up something appropriate to yell out to him, he disappeared from sight around the corner.

[twoloops]

i was trying to think up something appropriate to yell out to him

Pat

[deltaforce]

When we scan an item as not delivered we have a drop down menu of reasons.
If you have fat fingers it is possible to hit inaccessible instead of no reply.
It might just be a mistake.

But did they
leave a p739 card or couldn’t they be bothered?

[2yearpostie]

Could be something as simple as a dust cart or dog on the street while you were out.

[toriwillow]

When we scan an item as not delivered we have a drop down menu of reasons.
If you have fat fingers it is possible to hit inaccessible instead of no reply.
It might just be a mistake.

But did he leave a p739 card or couldn’t they be bothered?

No, no card left. It simply said 'address inaccessible' when I checked the tracking status via the RM site. And then a few letters were delivered about an hour or so later. Very strange.

[toriwillow]

i was trying to think up something appropriate to yell out to him

Pat

[clashcityrocker]

The other option is there are insufficient resources in the office to deliver all the parcels.
Rather than admit to a failure they have scanned the parcel as no access to "massage" the figures.

[twoloops]

Maybe the postie just ran out of time, we are told to scan any undelivered tracked “Inaccessible” & bring them back to avoid a fail

[toriwillow]

Just daft isn't it, if that is the cause. With online tracking and what not, they no doubt cause themselves no end of earache from customers wanting to know how or why their home was inaccessible etc. when the simple truth will usually suffice for most people, even if they are a bit miffed.
Its no good having all these great looking statistics if the phone is ringing off the hook with annoyed customers. No doubt all the poor postie's end up taking the brunt of peoples annoyance whilst the managers get a bonus for meeting targets. I wish I could say it was surprising, but such is the world we live in these days.