60 replies to this topic

[ady]

As a fair few of you know I work for Royal Mail..i'm proud as a delivery guy to do so too.

 

Day-by-day I see packets left on doorsteps abandoned by 'the opposition'.....darn Royal Mail you left me a ticket and took it back to your pathetic delivery office...........yeah we didn't leave a 'not home visual to the scum'.

 

Now onto letters...............

 

We HAVE to deliver to EVERY household daily, as has always been by LAW.

 

Seven years ago the 'completion' was opened up....rightly too, there's no problem with US getting a good service.

 

The government told Royal Mail, you WILL deliver all the competitors post...we upheld this 

 

Now this time has been exceeded by YEARS, the competition 'cherry-pick', eg they deliver to the cream, London, Manchester and all the major cities........from there on they give the 'crap' to us.

 

WE lose money because of this obviously....

 

Please support THE delivery service

 

look at your post tomorrow........we BY LAW can only charge blah-blah pennies to deliver their mail...........they are sucking the postal service.

 

Its my job of course, but you live just a mile away from a city--take my word, if RM go only expect a delivery when THEY want to deliver it!

[richy1976]

TNT have been delivering the majority of the mail by mine for the last month or so, man on a bike.

[aaamusements]

And the universal service offered by Royal Mail is still incredibly good value. For instance try taking your own letter from Lands End to John O'Groats for 62p!

[Matty.N]

The letters are fair game & can't beat the price for joe public. But when it comes to larger items, I can go to someone like Hermes who will do it for less than half the price of standard parcels (Or whatever it is now) & if there are any issues then they are easily solved.

 

Had a mate sent a printer through RM, paid for the extra insurance & it got lost during transit & because the systems were down when it was posted it was never registered on the system or something & so it was invalidated & his compensation was 6 stamps. 6 Stamps for a £150 item + £30 P&P is a bit of a joke. Since that day i will make the effort to go to the next town over & use someone like Pony Express.

 

As long as it is there before 5PM it will be with the recipient the next day, Text message confirmation & they'll even message the other end to make sure it will come at a time to suit them, all that for £9 (upto 3KGS W/ Insurance or £7 w/o insurance). RM can stick their £15 & it might arrive the next day where the sun don't shine.

 

Edit: As for items being left out i've never had Hermes or Yodel do that, they both take them back to depo, but Fed Ex had left mine on the doorstep in the rain, on a main road before & marked it as "delivered". No effort to knock the door was made as I'd been in all day & no card was posted. Disgusting how they can get away with it.

Edited by Matty.N, 26 June 2014 - 08:31 PM.

[letmein]

I'm very rarely home in the day, Royal mail ALWAYS leave a card, and I can pick my delivery up from the local yard. However Yodel just throw the parcels over the back fence. I have never received an undamaged package them.

Moral is, you get what you pay for.

[unclechicken]

I never get parcels delivered first time from Parcel Force or Royal Mail.

 

I ALWAYS get a card put through my door, even if I am inside my house waiting for them, they don't even bother delivering the parcel, just a card saying I wasnt in, when I clearly was.

 

rant over.

[Bencrest]

Had some shoes delivered by Yodel this week - no knock, just a bag left on the driveway (not even on the ramp or porch!). Just cheap shoes, but even so.

 

I'm probably lucky in that I get on well with my RM postie - he's definitely a character

 

I still use RM for little parcels (1st Recorded) and big expensive ones like laptops (SD) but anything else I tend to use City Link / DPD or Collect+ these days for cost reasons.

 

RM simply can't compete on low value but heavy items, like power supplies.

Edited by Bencrest, 27 June 2014 - 11:56 AM.

[vectra666]

The problem is people don't know a good thing till it's gone,like all companies they're only running for one thing 'profit'. Can't remember exactly what was said but on the real hustle they said a good offer is not always the,right offer they're always be a catch somewhere. When they sell post office where you gonna like me pay your council tax in cash or road tax, pensions etc privatisation of nhs it'll cost you a arm and a leg literally to see a doctor for everyone, young old n scrounger lol.tesco's buying up everything building everywhere selling cheap food reasonable quality at first now look at them losing customers selling dearer low quality food than there competition, these newer companies will do the the same. Once they've got rid of the competition ie royal mail they'll ramp up the prices and offer shit service.
Next bit also applies,to here I suppose. You don't know what you've got till it's gone!
So use it or lose it.

[ady]

TNT have been delivering the majority of the mail by mine for the last month or so, man on a bike.

 

And if you arn't home it's just left on full view?

I'm very rarely home in the day, Royal mail ALWAYS leave a card, and I can pick my delivery up from the local yard. However Yodel just throw the parcels over the back fence. I have never received an undamaged package them.

Moral is, you get what you pay for.

 

And I see them day-in and day-out....but if the customer does complain they call us 1st?

I never get parcels delivered first time from Parcel Force or Royal Mail.

 

I ALWAYS get a card put through my door, even if I am inside my house waiting for them, they don't even bother delivering the parcel, just a card saying I wasnt in, when I clearly was.

 

rant over.

 Sorry that's utter rubbish UC, it's far easier for us to deliver a packet that write a card, carry it back, fill in the documents at work and then have to redeliver it....i think you need a new bell lol .

We WILL NOT doorstep an item as an open invite to some skank ....

[nails]

if royal mail was the best in the world, people would still pick holes in it.

 

I really don't know what the good things are, though im sure ady would know plenty, but ive seen royal mail lay people off, deny pensions, introduce small/large letter sizing (probably paid some guy £40k a year to think of that). etc etc

 

 

 

 

like all businesses, you have great staff and w*nkers for management.

[Bencrest]

Surely the problem here is not Royal Mail as a whole, but a failure on the part of local delivery offices? You are probably doing a spot on job Ady, as I'm sure many of your colleagues are. You do unfortunately get some bad eggs in every business, and it's those that people report back on. Same with any review site - people are far more likely to vent their anger, than go online and congratulate a person / business for providing good service.

 

As I said above, I get on great with my postie. I've had probably one crap postie the past 10 years, but all the others have been brilliant. They are great with the parents too, they appreciate that they are both disabled and are polite and professional when dealing with delays this might cause.

 

I've also had some excellent couriers. My local DPD chap was brilliant, knew him from business for a few years, then started using them for personal transactions. He once dropped a parcel off for me, after shift, in his own time, because he lived locally and a 'relief' driver pretended I wasn't in despite the fact I'm obsessive and was sat here on the PC looking out the window waiting for the van (while using the PC of course!). Turned out the relief driver didn't know the area and later said he couldn't find the address (which is easy to find).

 

Likewise I've had crap service from Royal Mail, and from couriers. My local RM for example, left a card on 23rd December, saying to collect the parcel on Christmas Eve. I roll up 5 minutes before the depot opened to be greeted with other people and a sign on the door saying 'open again 27th'. It was a last minute gift due to an Amazon Marketplace seller letting me down at the last minute.

 

Aside from things like this though, I generally don't fault RM -  I just wish that they compete on price, if they did I would use them more. Unfortunately, as I said above, the cost of sending low value bulky parcels with them isn't competitive. Sending something like a 5KG PSU would cost me £14 2nd Class or £16 1st Class.

 

I'm talking about things like PSUs, which are only worth say £10 > £20 anyway. I can hardly say to a buyer 'yeah, I'll sell it for £20 but it'll cost you £15 in postage'. I'd also be stupid to eat the postage fees on that as I'd either make a loss, or get nothing for the PSU. So I use Collect+, print out the labels, pay online, take it to the BP down the road, and pay £6 instead of £16.

 

I can't fault Special Delivery, and use it to send items up to £1000 in value (adding extra insurance as required) and 1st Class is great for small packets, where they always arrive next day - but otherwise I don't use them.

Edited by Bencrest, 27 June 2014 - 10:10 PM.

[richy1976]

@Ady I have not been out yet when they have brought anything (apart from letters), only been small items, letters, they brought me a dvd boxset I bought from ebay.

They have only really been doing it for the last month or so, rm have been bringing anything large still.

[Magz]

I'd echo the sentiment about RM in terms of cost (sometimes quoting 2 to 3 time competitors) and also delivery. For some reason they always try and deliver stuff to my office at 7:45am give or take 5 minutes. It's an office dumbass, there's not going to be anyone in.

 

I called RM and they said they could redeliver but couldn't guarantee 9-5 or even 8-6. Result - company policy is not to use suppliers who ship by RM and we make that clear for any prospective supplier. I don't think it's just us either as I've had feedback that we're not the first to ask the question and it's rare now that any supplier uses them, possibly for this reason likely for costs.

 

On the flip side my wife buys and sells all sorts from eBay and others and uses RM. The postman is friendly, flexible and does his utmost to deliver.

 

If I was RM I'd ditch the parcel side or radically change the pricing model to make it competitive (and deliver during business hours to business addresses!).

 

For the post the government needs to allow RM to charge different rates to the other postal companies for delivering to outlying areas and universal service needs to be applied to any postal operator on those grounds.

 

Great staff and improved management is one thing but if the actual business model has a huge flaw in it then there's only one way it's to going to go.

[fruitman69]

Well if you ask me all RM's problems stem from that postie down Brighton way, now what was his name......... lol

[nails]

steady.. ady's a top bloke

[ady]

Thanks for the input here guy's it is really appreciated.

 

Personally I take my job very seriously, as with any business there is good and bad.

 

I'm not a manager but I do have a hands-on role within my unit and to read some feedback really helped.

 

Of course I may well be bias, but I do see the workings of my company and maybe have an understanding of the way the delivery business works.

 

A friend of mine works for Brighton Buses, (or is that busses?) and I, as a customer think the service is second-to-none, alas he say's it totally rubbish (a bit of a turn on my reasons for the thread I know!)...but a twist from an insider.

 

I read with interest all the replies...May I give a simple piece of the regulations...in plain English.

 

RM, by law, has to perform a daily delivery to EVERY household in the UK............other firms don't.

 

RM, by law, has to deliver competitors mail that we are capped to what we can charge them, therefore they collect let's say NatWest bank statements...in the Cities they deliver themselves where the money is made..the rest is dumped on us and we HAVE to process and deliver that at a loss.....a big loss too as there is no offset.

 

As for parcels, yes RM may well be dearer in some cases, but you have the knowledge that if you choose a 24 or 48 hour service that will be there when stated in 95% of cases, then there's a cheaper Parcel Force rate that gives an 'upto' 5 days...that's almost standard isn't it outside RM?

 

Why do we leave a card?....simple, it's for security. Other business are on 'peace work' they don't deliver they don't get paid..hence they are left anywhere.....Believe me it's a pain at times when we are busy...carry the parcel, wait at a door, write a ticket, return it, document it on return then knowing we will have to add that to our load next time...it's in everyone's interest if we deliver it 1st time but that's why we do it.

 

Thanks again.

[Bencrest]

 

As for parcels, yes RM may well be dearer in some cases, but you have the knowledge that if you choose a 24 or 48 hour service that will be there when stated in 95% of cases, then there's a cheaper Parcel Force rate that gives an 'upto' 5 days...that's almost standard isn't it outside RM?

 

Why do we leave a card?....simple, it's for security. Other business are on 'peace work' they don't deliver they don't get paid..hence they are left anywhere.....Believe me it's a pain at times when we are busy...carry the parcel, wait at a door, write a ticket, return it, document it on return then knowing we will have to add that to our load next time...it's in everyone's interest if we deliver it 1st time but that's why we do it.

 

Thanks again.

 

I'm not aware of an 'up to 5 days' service for Parcelforce, I only normally get offered ParcelForce 24 or ParcelForce 48.

 

ParcelForce 48 is a reasonable price for some items (once sent an electric guitar to Scotland using it!), but again I can send items cheaper elsewhere, depending on insurance levels required. One thing I've never understood is why there is such a disparity in price with RM once you hit 2KG, especially on Special Delivery. They should really introduce different bands, or have a '£1 per kilo surcharge' or something, instead of just jumping from £10 to £22 if your item hits the 2KG barrier.

 

I feel sorry for many of the staff at RM, but at the same time I have to look after my own interests.

Edited by Bencrest, 29 June 2014 - 05:33 PM.

[ady]

 

I'm not aware of an 'up to 5 days' service for Parcelforce, I only normally get offered ParcelForce 24 or ParcelForce 48.

 

ParcelForce 48 is a reasonable price for some items (once sent an electric guitar to Scotland using it!), but again I can send items cheaper elsewhere, depending on insurance levels required. One thing I've never understood is why there is such a disparity in price with RM once you hit 2KG, especially on Special Delivery. They should really introduce different bands, or have a '£1 per kilo surcharge' or something, instead of just jumping from £10 to £22 if your item hits the 2KG barrier.

 

I feel sorry for many of the staff at RM, but at the same time I have to look after my own interests.

 

You are correct, it appears the 'upto 5 days' has been removed...that must be as-of the new pricing.

 

I'm mythed on the price jump though Ben....parcelforce offer a back-2-back service for more heavy stuff.

 

http://www.parcelfor...rices FINAL.pdf