Royal Mail

[Gingerkittykat]

How long are letters taking to get to you via royal mail right now?

I had one small parcel posted the 17 Dec which arrived on the 24th.

I had some documents sent first class on the 5th of Jan which arrived today eight days later.

Is this standard now or is it just rubbish in my area?

We’ve had post once since 29 December when a whole bundle of things that had clearly built up over ten or more days landed on the doormat. Not the important legal stuff we’re waiting for but some thank you cards and the Christmas credit card bill. Nothing for the few days since. It seems there are huge staffing problems both at sorting and delivery stages so sporadic deliveries are where it’s at right now, though parcels do seem to be coming as normal.

Same here. One posted before Christmas yet to arrive. One posted Jan 3rd came today (1st class).

I asked the postmaster if we had a backlog as he hadn’t been in 2 weeks. Just shrugged. Neighbour received 46 letters yesterday, so maybe our backlog has still to come 🙈

Same here, everything taking an age to get here, even Royal Mail tracked 48 letter took 5 working days to get here so I think it's a problem everywhere.

I'm waiting for a parcel that was supposedly sent on 3rd January... Not had much other at all. West Midlands.

46 letters! Don't know if that's a good or a bad thing....

I was sent via Royal Mail, something I ordered on Vinted on Christmas Eve…. Still waiting!

Very little. Door to doors twice a week. I had a pile of actual addressed mail last Thursday, some of the letters dated 15/12. Ndn is had the same. I'm presuming staff at such a low level that it doesn't even allow for a daily absorption round.

Depends, my lateral flow tests came less than 24 hours after ordering, my clothes that I ordered took under 48 hours - both Royal Mail

Same here. Parcels received a month after posting first class recently. I actually went to the sorting office to ask if I could just pick them up myself after waiting a couple of weeks and the attitude was very much “we’ve got thousands of parcels, you can’t expect them to be delivered anytime soon” The woman on the desk actually told me that unless I choose guaranteed delivery, there’s no point in any of the other options as they’ll arrive when they feel like it.

It’s very frustrating as a small business owner who sends a lot through Royal Mail. I had to repost countless items over Christmas as huge cost to myself as they just weren’t being delivered by RM. I’m not having to look into alternative delivery services.

I posted a letter first class and it arrived next day and my LTFs arrived 2 days after I ordered them so it seems OK where I am. I have also received some Christmas cards this week which were postmarked before Christmas though!

My postie told me last week that we are lucky to get our post every second day at the moment and it's going to get worse. Village in rural scotland for reference. He said they've never seen it so bad with the sheer volume of letters vs staff absence.

Royal Mail clicky link
if you select "Deliveries Today" it will tell you which areas/post codes are currently experiencing issues.

The list is much longer than it was just before Christmas.

Actually - here's todays list cut n paste from the above site:

Amesbury (SP3 and SP4)
Barking DO (IG11)
Bearsden DO (G61)
Bicester DO (OX25 to OX27)
Bredbury DO (SK6)
Bridge Of Don DO (AB22 and AB23)
Bristol South DO (BS3, BS13 and BS41)
Burgess Hill DO (BN6 and RH15)
Caldicot DO (NP26)
Camberwell (SE5)
Cramlington DO (NE23)
Cricklewood DO (NW2)
East Kilbride DO (G74, G75 and G79)
Eccles DO (M30)
Erskine DO (PA7 and PA8)
Finsbury Park DO (N4)
Glasgow G33 and G34 DO
Glasgow G43 and G46 DO
Golders Green DO (NW11)
Hanwell (W7)
Havant DO (PO9 and PO10)
Herne Hill DO (SE24)
Hitchin DO (SG4 and SG5)
Holloway DO (N7)
Hornsey DO (N8)
Hove DO (BN3 and BN52)
Islington DO (N1 and N1C)
Lancing (BN15)
Lark Lane DO (L17)
Larkhall DO (ML9 and ML10)
Maida Hill DO (W9)
Manchester South West DO (M15, M16 and M32)
Maryport DO (CA15)
Muswell Hill DO (N10)
New Ferry DO (CH32, CH62 and CH63)
Newport East DO (NP18 and NP19)
Newton Mearns DO (G77)
Northwich DO (CW8 and CW9)
Oxted DO (RH8)
Perth DO (PH1. PH2 and PH14)
Pontefract DO (WF7, WF8, WF9 and WF11)
Rayleigh DO (SS6)
Redcar DO (TS10 and TS11)
Rotherhithe DO (SE16)
Rottingdean DO (BN2 and BN51)
Sheffield North East DO (S5)
Shepshed DO (LE12)
South Croydon DO (CR2)
Speke DO (L24)
St. Helens DO (WA9 to WA11)
Swindon West DO (SN5)
Thame DO (OX9 and OX39)
The Hyde DO (NW9)
Upminster DO (RM14)
Upper Holloway DO (N19)
Upton DO (CH30 and CH39)
Wallasey DO (CH27, CH44 and CH45)
Wantage DO (OX12)
Warrington DO (WA1, WA2, WA4 and WA5)
West Norwood DO (SE27)
West Wickham DO (BR4)
Willesden DO (NW10 and NW26)
Wootton Bassett DO (SN4 and SN16)

received today (13th Jan) a card with a 13th Dec postmark
get a few bits each day then every now and then a big old pile of stuff, still getting xmas cards

That list feels like practically the whole country! I know it isn't, but it's a long list.

I sent a couple of things from Ebay sales recently. I hope they get there.

Been waiting on some documents to arrive which was posted on 5th Jan. I needed to have them signed and sent back by today and still not got them. Tracking shows they have the documents but they not moved for days now.

I sent a parcel first class signed for last Friday (7th), it arrived yesterday (12th) and I was actually surprised it took less than a week because consensus is that's the minimum at the moment!

@annoyance

That list feels like practically the whole country! I know it isn't, but it's a long list.

I sent a couple of things from Ebay sales recently. I hope they get there.

well yes and no.

So my town is on there, but only one part of it.
We don't live in that part, our post has come every day and things ordered are coming in a reasonable time.

So I assume it is only one local sorting office which has a problem, the other 3/4 of the town is fine.
And only one other area in our whole county and none in the county next door.

I ordered last Tuesday, received yesterday. An order of live mealworms, half of them are dead!

I had a load of letters delivered on 11th Jan, most of which were dated 29th December. One was from the 24th 😕

It was a bit rubbish because I was waiting for my new pin number for a bank card and I am also awaiting a hospital appointment and am worried I might miss the letter.

It's odd because. Amazon, DPD and DHL seem to be business as usual.
.

My Mum sent a cheque recorded delivery first class on late November to the tax office. After a week it hadn't arrived so her accountant told her to cancel it and she paid over the phone instead...
I kept tracking the letter and it took another week to arrive.

There is another explanation and that is Royal Mail are getting some official letters (NHS, certain councils, etc), late. This is because all such letters are sent to printing factories to be printed, enveloped and then sent on to various mail centres for delivery. Many of these printers have had a lot of staff absences due to covid isolations. If the Royal Mail haven't got the letters then obviously they cannot be delivered.

Ah, my area is on the list.

Forgot to mention hat I work in 1 of those printing companies and we were down to 60% staffing levels in the 2 weeks around Christmas because of isolations and holidays (we only had the Bank Holidays off not the whole of the week between Christmas and New Year). We are still trying to clear the backlog.

That not hat....edit button please MNHQ

We run an online company and exclusively use Royal Mail for posting as our items are small. We have had loads of complaints about slow deliveries and it isn't getting any better.

The line we dread is : "but I ordered something after yours and it's been delivered". What happens in Delivery Offices is that new stuff gets put in front of the older stuff, so the new stuff goes out first. They are monitored on it being late, but not on how late, so its best (and a lot easier) to deal with the new stuff first.

At this rate we're going to go under as we're expected to refund the money even though we know and the buyer knows that it will probably be delivered in a couple of days