Does Royal Mail take better care of parcels than Evri/Yodel/Amazon?

[Fluffyrugburn]

I believe so but wondered if this was just my experience or wishful thinking!

I'm an Etsy seller and always send fragile items through Royal Mail even though its more expensive. I've never once had an issue unless the item has been sent overseas and handed to another postal service who have then proceeded to beat the box to death.

I'm worrying what will happen with the strikes happening over the next few days and the inevitable backlog of post. Should I chance it with another courier service or just inform the customers that the item will probably be delayed? What are you all doing about Christmas presents, etc?

They mark it with fragile. Whether it will be handled as such is another matter. They will 9/10 times get the parcel to you on time reliably on non-strike days. I’d choose another courier, tbh, given the strikes. Not Evri. But any of the others. Amazon are usually good and DPD are great.

I think anything to do with RM will be problematic at the moment, because the strikes are regular and frequent and will disrupt the service completely. Which, of course, is the reason for striking.

My experiences with RM have not been particularly good and their complaints procedure is pointless. Most companies who use RM have a notice on their website advising potential delays. The issue is when delays turn into no shows.

I'm trying to avoid shopping anywhere that uses royal mail at the moment because even with next day delivery stuff is taking over a week to arrive. I think it would be worth looking at the other options.

Same. My heart sinks when I see someone uses Royal Mail as I know I'm not going to get it anytime soon. We tend to get everything from Royal Mail once a week/once every 10 days. Never had a problem with anything from other delivery companies and they actually deliver when they say they will.

In my experience, yes. I source delivery companies for work, and we mostly use RM. DHL are good, if I'm online ordering (personal stuff) and that's offered, or Evri, I choose DHL.

I'm also avoiding royal mail completely. I had a cake topper dispatched last Sunday, I still haven't received it, it will be in an envelope so not even a parcel. Missed the birthday (I did order late but thought a week from dispatch would be enough)

So for me I'll be Choosing other companies. I have a parcel to send for family, they won't be going via royal mail as so expensive and just awful

I've just checked dpd and it's £6.50 for small parcel 😫 RM are now £4.40 which is bad enough.

Evri and Yodel around the £3 mark. Not sure what to do 😕

I love RM. And often opt to use them over Evri etc.

But this year I'll be shopping on the high street due to the strikes. Everything I needed off Etsy I've already purchased and received.

Evri leaves my parcels on the doorstep in the rain even when it's paper / card packaging. We have 3 drivers and they all do the same. RM leaves with my lovely neighbour (we've asked Evri to do this on the app but they ignore the instruction!)

It's all so area dependent

Former postie here - parcels marked fragile aren't actually handled any differently than regular parcels, so I'm not sure that's any different than any other courier. Obviously if you have a conscientious postie they'll do their best, but there's no separation.

How good Evri is seems to depend entirely on your local delivery person - fine for me, though the tracking isn't great.

DPD are usually the best choice given the superior tracking facilities - a one hour delivery window texted to you, plus the ability to redirect it or change the delivery day even once it's already out for delivery. But yes, more expensive.

Given the strikes I'd not send things with Royal Mail at the mo. I'd think customers would rather have reliable tracking information once they order. The backlog of parcels in RM delivery offices will be insane in the run up to Christmas this year (they usually are this time of year even without the strikes, because of understaffing as an actual management policy), so some parcels will likely end up with even longer delays than those you'd expect from the strikes.

I have a business posting expensive clothing internationally and in the U.K., Royal Mail have taken over 900 items for me and never lost one. They're excellent and the tracking is very thorough, just make sure you insure the item for the correct amount.

Well, I’ve never had RM throw a box over the garden fence in the pissing rain and not bother to tell me they’ve ‘delivered’ it.

I've not had any issues with the other two - parcels arrive when they say they will, they always leave in the 'safe place' we have submitted to them, etc.

We are still trying to retrieve a parcel from Royal Mail which was sent a month or so ago. It's been 're delivered' twice, they never leave it in the safe space despite us asking them too on their online form/link and it's now apparently at the local post office, not sorting office. But the PO don't have it when we go 🤷‍♀️ Even when at sorting office the opening hours are now so restricted it's impossible to collect a parcel when you work.

I'm assuming at some point it might be returned to sender and we can sort that way- t it's annoying that £30= worth of stuff is sat in a box somewhere but we can't get it.

My family are just doing a Secret Santa this year @ £30 as it cuts down the stress of lots of expense and shopping. We will still have fun opening the gifts together. I plan to post Christmas Cards early too.
As far as Couriers are concerned, Royal Mail frequently delivers to wrong address here and most couriers seem to damage goods. Amazon seems to be more accurate.

Interesting to read other customers are avoiding RM. I've always been the opposite and still will be, strikes or no strikes. I much prefer RM or DPD, and if I can avoid using Evri or Yodel I do (but if I really like something, I will order it regardless of courier).

I live in a block of flats and the cheaper couriers just dump everything downstairs just in front of the main door. RM and DPD bring it up to my door. And if I miss it, its much easier for me to pop to the sorting office than to faff about organising redelivery.

What I like about Royal Mail is I know if I am not in it will be treated safely. Either to a neighbour or back to delivery office. By local office is open Sundays and some days into the evening so it's really easy for collection.

With Evri the one time I asked for a change of delivery address en route as I wouldn't be in it went missing never to be seen again. I read on here that had happened to others.

DPD are great as I know exactly when it's coming.

Royal Mail staff are currently being told to prioritise tracked items and parcels over letters so (in between strike days) these are more likely to turn up. Given that things like hospital appointments and bank cards will be delayed, the posties are not happy with this but their concerns are being ignored.
If you are confident that you have something due to be delivered, take ID to your local delivery office around 8/9am and ask for your mail.

I prefer ordering from sellers who use the Royal Mail. They deliver to everyone in the UK for a flat rate and heaps of couriers won't deliver north of Glasgow without a massive surcharge. I've never had an issue with sending fragile things.

As a receiving customer, I prefer Royal Mail (or DPD if RM is not an option) for the reasons many have given above. I have a friend with a small business, and she would also choose one of these (and mainly uses RM). She thinks they are more accountable when anything goes wrong as well.

I'd opt for Royal Mail.

Evri drivers etc aren't given enough time to compete their rounds and take care of fragile parcels its literally here's your destination on to the next. I think they are paid per parcel but not too sure.

Yes definitly. Although my evri and dpd driver chucks it on my doorstep without ringing the bell so the bar is pretty low

I send a lot through Evri (etsy seller too!) and rarely have a problem - well, I hadn't till the last fortnight. I've never had a parcel damaged in the 4 years I've been selling but they are taking longer to arrive lately - which is understandable I suppose as everyone moves over to them because of the strikes.

Even the cheapest postage is tracked through Evri so I prefer them - far too many scammy buyers on Etsy lately.

The one thing I hate about Evri is their couriers idea of a 'safe place' and mine are very, very different. Some buyers will automatically put an 'item not received' case through on Etsy if their parcel has been left in a safe-place - even though I know they've received it because they've posted a pic of their kid wearing the bloody thing on FB 🙄

I wish they'd just take it back to the depot, like RM does - it would save a lot of aggro.

Evri seems to be having a problem (more than usual) lately with parcels getting stuck at the delivery depot for at least a week before being handed to the courier. I don't think things would arrive any quicker with them than Royal Mail, and is far more likely to be damaged. Don't know much about yodel, hardly anyone seems to be using them anymore. Dpd are good, but more expensive.

Royal Mail is an absolute disaster. We're getting post about once a week! Mind you, it's never really got back to normal since the lockdowns...

I've only had good experiences with Evri. Might be in the minority, though...