Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Royal Mail & Parcelforce delay-have you experienced any?

69 replies

FrenchBoule · 18/12/2020 13:30

Not just the Christmas time but this year.
48hrs “guaranteed” parcel took 6 days to arrive, another one nearly 10 days.

I’m still waiting for DS’s books as Christmas presents- one was returned to sender goodness knows for what reason, the other one apologised and asked for patience (a couple of days more).

I bought the books on 3rd of December,surely I waited long enough?

OP posts:
Foxyloxy1plus1 · 18/12/2020 14:55

I ordered things from M&S on 7th December. They say things might be sent in separate parcels. Two out of three arrived.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 18/12/2020 14:59

Recently, no. Two parcels I posted earlier this week have arrived. I've received a parcel that was posted to me.

We did have a parcel that went missing from March to May!

ajandjjmum · 18/12/2020 15:01

Hermes have been a disaster for us recently - latest is a Christmas parcel gone missing, and of course, no insurance!

tectonicplates · 18/12/2020 15:08

Yes, lots of delays going on. Several small online businesses have closed for orders as they can't get items to you by Christmas. Lots of first class parcels are taking around ten days to arrive and there's warehouses full of backlogged parcels. There's nothing anyone can really do.

dameofdilemma · 18/12/2020 15:08

Royal Mail special delivery (should be next working day) Covid test kits - took 5 days.

Covid test samples - tracked 24 - are still sitting unscanned in the local sorting office three days later. They have literally made it from the post box to a kilometre away. In three days. RM can offer no eta on when they will arrive at a lab.

These are Covid test kits and samples. Supposedly priority.

Postal testing is important to limit people who may be infectious having to travel, queue, interact with others.

This will result in people not testing, not isolating. It will result in a higher rate of infections.

Royal Mail are not coming out as heroes in this pandemic I’m afraid. And I don’t mean individual employees, I mean the organisation.

tectonicplates · 18/12/2020 15:11

Royal Mail didn't take on enough Christmas temps, especially considering how many staff have been ill, so the backlog will take weeks to clear and then there'll be a load of returned parcels in January.

sliceoflife · 18/12/2020 15:14

Posted my student DD’s train tickets so she could come home for Christmas as the collection code would only work with my credit card. I posted them on 11th December, 1st class signed for so they should have taken at most two or three days. It’s now been a week and no sign of them. Non refundable for travel on Monday 21st December.

They cost me £53. Do I hang on in the hope they turn up before Monday? Or do I bite the bullet and tell her to re book now as the prices have risen considerably since the original booking and will rise further over the weekend.

Do we just wait and take the risk that all tickets might have sold out by Monday if the original tickets haven’t been delivered.

No way am I leaving her on her own in a student flat over Christmas. The only other option is a 350 mile round trip to go and get her. No spreading it over 2 days as overnight stays are banned. We had planned a winter break in her uni town and were then going to bring her back with us this weekend, but like every thing else this year, the trip was cancelled due to COVID.

So frustrated by Royal Mail and their delays. If I had realised how bad things were I would have looked into using an alternative carrier.

cautiouscovidity · 18/12/2020 15:18

I work for an online retailer. Most of our Royal Mail 48 parcels are taking 7-10 days. 24 parcels are more like 5-7 days and it's getting slower as the week goes on.

thedevilinablackdress · 18/12/2020 15:20

Only the past couple of weeks. Rest of the year, not at all.

WhatHaveIFound · 18/12/2020 15:22

8 days for a first class Signed For envelope. Christmas cards taking 7-10 days to arrive (again 1st class). Most days we don't get post, then it all turns up on one day later in the week.

I sent Tracked and Signed documents to the EU which took 8 days to arrive but a standard airmail envelope to the same address arrived in just 2 days.

DPD have been fab though. DHL less so.

cautiouscovidity · 18/12/2020 15:23

@sliceoflife

Posted my student DD’s train tickets so she could come home for Christmas as the collection code would only work with my credit card. I posted them on 11th December, 1st class signed for so they should have taken at most two or three days. It’s now been a week and no sign of them. Non refundable for travel on Monday 21st December.

They cost me £53. Do I hang on in the hope they turn up before Monday? Or do I bite the bullet and tell her to re book now as the prices have risen considerably since the original booking and will rise further over the weekend.

Do we just wait and take the risk that all tickets might have sold out by Monday if the original tickets haven’t been delivered.

No way am I leaving her on her own in a student flat over Christmas. The only other option is a 350 mile round trip to go and get her. No spreading it over 2 days as overnight stays are banned. We had planned a winter break in her uni town and were then going to bring her back with us this weekend, but like every thing else this year, the trip was cancelled due to COVID.

So frustrated by Royal Mail and their delays. If I had realised how bad things were I would have looked into using an alternative carrier.

For future reference, you can collect train tickets with a different card to the one used for purchase. We often do it at work where the person travelling doesn't usually have the card that the person booking the tickets used. Just pop in any card and as long as the code is correct, it seems to work. Maybe try it though by sending her to pick up the tickets when you book them, so there's time to sort if it won't work. Or buy an e-ticket. Recorded / Signed-for delivery isn't a faster service, nor does it include any insurance for tickets and vouchers etc. It's just the standard post with a signature on delivery so will be subject to the same delays as all the other post at the moment. Special Delivery is what you want for sending urgent / valuable things.
WhatHaveIFound · 18/12/2020 15:24

No way am I leaving her on her own in a student flat over Christmas. The only other option is a 350 mile round trip to go and get her. No spreading it over 2 days as overnight stays are banned. We had planned a winter break in her uni town and were then going to bring her back with us this weekend, but like every thing else this year, the trip was cancelled due to COVID.

You can book hotels for the 23rd -27th though. I booked a Premier Inn for work today and it stated on their website that the hotel was open to all during this period.

ajandjjmum · 18/12/2020 15:26

DPD got a parcel to Australia in 8 days - cost a little more than a first class stamp though.

Hermes can't collect and deliver a parcel within 10 days within the UK.

Royal Mail have been ok.

LittleMissLockdown · 18/12/2020 15:26

Yes a letter aent first class signed for special delivery on th Dec 11th finally arrived this morning!!!

We seem to be getting post at most 3 times a week some weeks I've seen the postie only once!

Hope4theBestPlan4theWorst · 18/12/2020 15:30

My friends brother works at the big Royal Mail sorting office in Sheffield - he says it's been awful;

They haven't been able to have as many Christmas staff (owing to social distancing) and then there's issues with their own staff being off with covid related issues plus this year people are ordering a lot more online so there is more parcels this year and so a bit of a combination of it all really.

Hopefully everyone will get their stuff

heidihigh · 18/12/2020 15:31

Only with Royal Mail - a 48hour tracked delivery took about 10 working days. To be honest, it is probably expected due to the huge demand of online shopping so close to Christmas and especially this year when you factor in employee illness/self-isolation etc etc.

81Byerley · 18/12/2020 15:39

My daughter's village postmistress told her that 2nd class parcels are just being left as they try to deal with all the special delivery and first class parcels. It's not surprising they are having problems, thousands of people posting to relatives they would normally see at Christmas. I'm being relaxed about it. If things turn up late here, that's fine, and as long as I've posted to other people, I'm not devastated if they have to wait until after Christmas to receive their presents.

Kez200 · 18/12/2020 15:44

Parcelforce are so bad I dont use them any longer.

RM has been missing their 48 hour service this Christmas (but had been pretty good before, usually came earlier). Im finding now they are arriving and traceable, so you can see where they are in the system, but they are taking longer.

Springersrock · 18/12/2020 15:45

Yes, I’m waiting for 4 Christmas presents. All were ordered and sent the beginning of December. All via Royal Mail. I haven’t had any problems with the other couriers - even Hermes Shock

One of them is coming from the next town over, I offered to go and pick it up but the seller had already posted it by the time realised how close they were and they picked up my message. It’s only got to travel about 5 miles.

🤞 it all arrives in time, it’s mostly DD2’s Christmas presents.

DH had to send an urgent job for work - sent it next day tracked via Royal Mail on Monday. Still hasn’t arrived and tracking details aren’t available. Customer is desperate so he had to re-send via courier yesterday. It arrived this morning.

Backatsquareone · 18/12/2020 16:03

I’ve been waiting 5 weeks and counting Sad It’s a present for my children and took ages for me to find one. Slight delays are understandable given the situation but I think a wait this long is unacceptable

SkepticalCat · 18/12/2020 16:04

Yes, Royal Mail tracked 48. Item despatched on 8th December. Looking at track & trace it literally went no-where for a week, but is meant to be delivered today. Recipient hasn't contacted me to say it has arrived yet.

PickAChew · 18/12/2020 16:06

I has a package stuck at one of their facilities for a week.

Motnight · 18/12/2020 16:09

Guaranteed 48 hour delivery parcel has just turned up after 9 days...

Wolfff · 18/12/2020 16:13

My daughter, a couple of miles away in London, posted a card 2 weeks ago, it's not arrived yet. Her friends in other parts of the UK and even the US have got theirs though.

Most RM packages are taking 2-3 weeks.

CupboardMonster · 18/12/2020 16:13

48hr parcel took eight days but exactly the same 1st and 2nd class parcels both arrived in two days. I'm sending everything 2nd now.