Do specials on saturday have to be delivered by 1pm?

joewyan · Post by **joewyan** » 28 Jan 2019, 20:55

themailman wrote:I was always under the impression that the yellow SG sticker and extra postage paid was to ensure that the item gets fast tracked in the system, by means of an extra flight/lorry etc to ensure it gets to the Mail Centre that serves your DO. Something to do with a cut off point for those drivers who work Mon-Fri.
Once scanned into your DO/walk on a Saturday it is then 'live' and should be delivered by 1pm, yellow sticker or not.

This is the case in our office, confirmed by management just the other week. If you have been given a special on a Saturday then it needs to be delivered by 1pm whether SG or not.

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 28 Jan 2019, 20:57

They go through the system with the rest of the SDs. They all have to be attempted on a Saturday (something to do with Saturday retentions, not giving unofficial Saturday retentions) but those without the yellow SG sticker aren't guaranteed on a Saturday to be delivered by either 09:00 or 13:00. Unfortunately the system doesn't record if a SD on a Saturday is a Saturday Guaranteed so will flag up any that don't get delivered after time as a failure, whether they're Saturday Guaranteed or not.

steve1873 · Post by **steve1873** » 29 Jan 2019, 10:45

mattandbenny wrote:So i just wanted to clarify something - i delivered a regular silver label special (not sat guaranteed one) on saturday at 13:20 and long story short i am in the s**t for it - i need to attend a fact finding conduct interview for this (i missed a geniune one a couple of months ago and was on a warning).

I just wanted to clarify the rule for specials on saturdays - if my arguement will hold up or not - that RM guarentees next WORKING day delivery and as it wasnt a saturday guaranteed one then i did nothing wrong delivering it after 1pm as the next working day would be monday, so RM only guaranteed it by 1pm monday.

Just want to know where i stand as i have heard some say this is correct and some say incorrect.

You are correct. The contractual obligation is for 1pm next working day if it isn't a SG. Next working day is Monday, therefore it has not failed, regardless of the system flagging it up as a failure. The customer would not be entitled to compensation!

Relax!

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 29 Jan 2019, 11:09

steve1873 wrote:
mattandbenny wrote:So i just wanted to clarify something - i delivered a regular silver label special (not sat guaranteed one) on saturday at 13:20 and long story short i am in the s**t for it - i need to attend a fact finding conduct interview for this (i missed a geniune one a couple of months ago and was on a warning).

I just wanted to clarify the rule for specials on saturdays - if my arguement will hold up or not - that RM guarentees next WORKING day delivery and as it wasnt a saturday guaranteed one then i did nothing wrong delivering it after 1pm as the next working day would be monday, so RM only guaranteed it by 1pm monday.

Just want to know where i stand as i have heard some say this is correct and some say incorrect.
You are correct. The contractual obligation is for 1pm next working day if it isn't a SG. Next working day is Monday, therefore it has not failed, regardless of the system flagging it up as a failure. The customer would not be entitled to compensation!

Relax!

The system doesn't record which ones are SGs so as far as RM and the system will be concerned they'll be failures as unless they get 739'd there's no way to prove which ones were SGs so chances are that RM will treat any SD on a Saturday that wasn't delivered by 09:00 for 9am specials or 13:00 for all other specials as failures

Acca Dacca · Post by **Acca Dacca** » 29 Jan 2019, 19:30

Saturday Specials GUARANTEE that it will reach the DO, go out for delivery and be attempted
Specials sent out on a Friday but not Saturday Guarantee are not GUARANTEED to reach the delivery office but IF it does it has to be attempted and treated as a normal special due to it being scanned into the system at the DO on arrival

So the reason people would pay extra for a Saturday Guarantee is to do just that - guarantee it reaches the DO and goes out for delivery
If you send it normal special and it gets delivered on the Saturday its just good fortune

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 29 Jan 2019, 19:37

Acca Dacca wrote:Saturday Specials GUARANTEE that it will reach the DO, go out for delivery and be attempted
Specials sent out on a Friday but not Saturday Guarantee are not GUARANTEED to reach the delivery office but IF it does it has to be attempted and treated as a normal special due to it being scanned into the system at the DO on arrival

So the reason people would pay extra for a Saturday Guarantee is to do just that - guarantee it reaches the DO and goes out for delivery
If you send it normal special and it gets delivered on the Saturday its just good fortune

All specials have to be attempted on a Saturday, SG or not, afaik it's down if RM don't it gets classed as giving an Saturday retention for free when you're meant to pay to have a Saturday retention. SG doesn't make any difference as to whether it'll make it to the DO on time as they're sorted together with the non-SGs

steve1873 · Post by **steve1873** » 29 Jan 2019, 20:35

Well I would suggest someone high up needs to do something with regard the SG service before Royal Mail is hit with a fine for mis selling a service.

Imagine how many thousands of people have been conned in to paying for a service that receives the same delivery spec as the cheaper service!

Now imagine they all had a claim for being missold.

Post by **fb1969** » 29 Jan 2019, 20:45

I've always been told to treat all Specials on a Saturday the same way - they must be attempted by 1pm. At a rough guess I would say less than 10% of Specials I have seen on a Saturday have been SG.

I've never understood why RM advertise a premium service with Saturday Guaranteed and charge a lot more, but then give the 'normal' Specials the same level of service. They go on about making sure we cancel unfranked stamps, but then give away a premium service to people that haven't paid the extra.

Acca Dacca · Post by **Acca Dacca** » 29 Jan 2019, 20:56

SpacePhoenix wrote:
Acca Dacca wrote:Saturday Specials GUARANTEE that it will reach the DO, go out for delivery and be attempted
Specials sent out on a Friday but not Saturday Guarantee are not GUARANTEED to reach the delivery office but IF it does it has to be attempted and treated as a normal special due to it being scanned into the system at the DO on arrival

So the reason people would pay extra for a Saturday Guarantee is to do just that - guarantee it reaches the DO and goes out for delivery
If you send it normal special and it gets delivered on the Saturday its just good fortune
All specials have to be attempted on a Saturday, SG or not, afaik it's down if RM don't it gets classed as giving an Saturday retention for free when you're meant to pay to have a Saturday retention. SG doesn't make any difference as to whether it'll make it to the DO on time as they're sorted together with the non-SGs

I never said they dont have to be attempted

I said if it reaches the DO it has to be

It isnt guaranteed to reach the DO though if not Saturday guaranteed

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 29 Jan 2019, 21:12

Acca Dacca wrote:
SpacePhoenix wrote:
Acca Dacca wrote:Saturday Specials GUARANTEE that it will reach the DO, go out for delivery and be attempted
Specials sent out on a Friday but not Saturday Guarantee are not GUARANTEED to reach the delivery office but IF it does it has to be attempted and treated as a normal special due to it being scanned into the system at the DO on arrival

So the reason people would pay extra for a Saturday Guarantee is to do just that - guarantee it reaches the DO and goes out for delivery
If you send it normal special and it gets delivered on the Saturday its just good fortune
All specials have to be attempted on a Saturday, SG or not, afaik it's down if RM don't it gets classed as giving an Saturday retention for free when you're meant to pay to have a Saturday retention. SG doesn't make any difference as to whether it'll make it to the DO on time as they're sorted together with the non-SGs

I never said they dont have to be attempted

I said if it reaches the DO it has to be

SGs don't get treated any differently from non-SGs before they reach DOs

Acca Dacca · Post by **Acca Dacca** » 29 Jan 2019, 22:37

SpacePhoenix wrote:
Acca Dacca wrote:
SpacePhoenix wrote:
Acca Dacca wrote:Saturday Specials GUARANTEE that it will reach the DO, go out for delivery and be attempted
Specials sent out on a Friday but not Saturday Guarantee are not GUARANTEED to reach the delivery office but IF it does it has to be attempted and treated as a normal special due to it being scanned into the system at the DO on arrival

So the reason people would pay extra for a Saturday Guarantee is to do just that - guarantee it reaches the DO and goes out for delivery
If you send it normal special and it gets delivered on the Saturday its just good fortune
All specials have to be attempted on a Saturday, SG or not, afaik it's down if RM don't it gets classed as giving an Saturday retention for free when you're meant to pay to have a Saturday retention. SG doesn't make any difference as to whether it'll make it to the DO on time as they're sorted together with the non-SGs
I never said they dont have to be attempted

I said if it reaches the DO it has to be

SGs don't get treated any differently from non-SGs before they reach DOs

I never said it did

But IF it DIDNT reach the DO for whatever reason the customer has no claim

Hence no guarantee

NewPostieUK · Post by **NewPostieUK** » 29 Jan 2019, 22:40

When the system flags up a fail, it shows the system has failed, it's not fit for the purpose.

Bottom still is though, as instructed by management, even if management are wrong.

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 29 Jan 2019, 22:44

To my mind charging extra to get SDs delivered on a Saturday is a scam and should be stopped. Saturday is classed as an ordinary working day in RM and posties don't get paid any more if we work on Saturdays. There is no additional cost to RM so it's not far off being fraud.

Post by **97gaz** » 10 Feb 2019, 18:17