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?

My area isn’t on that list, but we’ve been told they’re prioritising parcels and tests. We’ve had one delivery in the last month. We went to the sorting office and collected a pile earlier this week.

We've been getting parcels but not letters very frequently.

Our postcode has never been on that list, yet we didn’t get post for 2 weeks. We missed an urgent hospital appointment as the letter didn’t come (still hasn’t). Annoyingly the hospital told us half their appointment have been missed for the very same reason. Not sure why they didn’t send the automated text notification, but also the NHS is in a bad enough state without rescheduling these appointments too.

I was actually expecting it to get bad but I honestly haven't noticed any difference at all in how often we get post or how long stuff is taking to be delivered with Royal Mail (I did have a parcel from DPD which the guy inexplicably took away without knocking our door which was then delivered by a different driver the next day, but that has nothing to do with RM lol). They seem to be keeping things ticking very nicely here. We're in Aberdeenshire.

Ours is normal here. Even had post and a parcel from them on Sunday! I received a parcel today that was posted Tuesday 2nd class.

@AutumnDragon

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

I know I just posted that I personally haven't noticed any late deliveries but I buy from a few small businesses and their instagrams are often full of apologies for stuff taking ages to be delivered lately. I personally wouldn't mind waiting a while for handmade stuff because I know it's nothing to do with them really once it's posted out and gets delayed from there, but it must be causing them a lot of stress if people are impatient or have, e.g., ordered something as a birthday gift and then it doesn't arrive due to post office holdups.

My area isn’t on the list but I’m in a neighbouring one and therefore my post is messed up too as they are stretching staff.

My area is not in the list.

Posted something 1st class recorded delivery on 28 December and it arrived yesterday. Unbelievable.

Ordered something Tuesday and it arrived the following day.

Can only assume they are processing the daily mail daily and doing a chunk of the backlog per day too. So the daily mail gets delivered regularly but the backlog is taking forever.

I will be complaining. It’s tracked so I can prove it took way longer than it should have.

I have stuff from before Christmas still set to arrive, by all accounts it is stuck in the system due to covid outbreaks.

I asked our lovely postie how things were. "Hell on earth" was the reply. He says people are being abusive despite them all doing extra shifts.

@TimBoothseyes

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.

Both of the items I mentioned above were postmarked on the day sent so I know in this case the delay is on their part.

Interestingly I received my LFTs within two days so I wonder if they are being prioritised.

Not had any post for over a week 🤷‍♀️

I’m due a few letter (that I know have been sent..)

Royal Mail are getting close to being worse than Hermes and that’s saying something 🤣

Got a Christmas card postmarked 18/12 today.

I've heard they prioritise Tracked 24/48 parcels only as they are monitored on their speed on those. Any standard 1st or 2nd class is taking much longer.

My area never seems to be on the list of affected areas but there have been weekly posts about delays in our local FB groups with some streets not getting post for weeks.

Didn’t bother them with my recorded delivery 1st class letter that took a fortnight to travel five miles!

Since COVID they no longer have to stick to their previous guarantees. Nor even attempt to. Only exception is timed services. Eg the 24 hour service - not normal first class, but paid for tracked 24. Everything else will come as and when and no complaints will be entered into as no other services are now guaranteed. Loads of posties off sick of course and no Christmas staff taken on locally as it was cheaper to not even attempt to deliver standard first and second class mail.

Lateral flows huge priority and of course so many of them going out at the moment

My DH paid I think £6:50 for guaranteed next day delivery - important contracts - they never arrived - they were on the tracking system , then they disappeared He complained and got nowhere

I posted a parcel (in England) on Tuesday, 2nd class tracked. It shows as having been delivered (in Belfast) on Thursday!

My area is on the list which I'm surprised at as post hasn't been too bad.
We received nothing for a couple of weeks near Xmas but have been receiving a couple of deliveries a week recently which is as much as we ever got due to where we live. It's always the van that comes as they can't walk here, and parcels have been quick this week. We don't seem to be receiving any 'old' post so I guess there was just nothing to deliver around Xmas and NY.

Probably not helpful but I received a birthday card in NZ yesterday (13th Jan). It was posted in the UK on 25th November... Usual is 10 days

Interestingly I received my LFTs within two days so I wonder if they are being prioritised.

Insider gossip here: DH works for RM out of a DO in SE London. LFTs are being prioritised over other mail. They were snowed under over the Xmas period whilst people were desperate to get tested before meeting friends and family.

They are a good money-spinner, the contract is very lucrative for RM.

You have to remember RM is a private company now and they will go where the pound note takes them. Letters, even packets and small parcels have a much tinier margin than LFTs and junk mail.

In addition to this RM have been deliberately under-recruiting so there are staff shortages (as well as a proportion of staff having COVID/isolating from COVID). Injuries are quite common, anything from a trapped hand in a letter box to a broken leg falling down some steps, so that also has had an impact. If you complain RM will blame COVID exclusively, but that's not the full reason. By not staffing properly, they save money and increase profit. The union are constantly banging on about the issue.

My DB sent something for DD on the 17th December and we still haven't got it. My DM sent a Christmas card on the 15th December and I got it on the 5th January after I took the decorations down. I think hospitals, law firms, courts etc should give up using snail mail and email or text people with their appointments, because RM will not be getting better anytime soon.

I often choose RM as the courier when having stuff delivered as I want to keep it as a service. But it's so unreliable I think it might kill itself!

I want to limit the money I give Amazon and Hermes are so awful. For example they delivered a parcel to a completely wrong address and both the sender, the platform (eBay), payment method (PayPal) and Hermes all dismissed my request for refund or replacement as parcel was delivered (to the wrong address!)

Received a christmas card posted well before Christmas yesterday. We only get post delivered every other day now and before Christmas we didnt get it for several days.

London SE22 not on the list? Unbelievable .

Weeks go by with no or only one delivery .Been bad for 2 years - worse now- closed local delivery office ,lost staff .

If I'm ordering online I always try and find out who the courier will be and don't order if it's RM .