Is anyone else having problems with the Royal Mail?

[cathyandclare]

We’ve struggled with getting post recently. A few important letters have taken ages to get here, missing deadlines and causing no end of problems. DD sent a document first class and it’s taken a week to arrive. Most days there’s nothing and then tons of mail turns up.

We managed to spot our postman today and he said that we’re only getting deliveries twice a week. We live in a small village but only three miles from a big sorting office and less than a mile from a post office.

It’s real problem because NHS, DVLA, HMRC etc only use the Royal Mail. Is it just a local issue or more widespread?

Have had similar here (village location SW), some weeks we only get 2 deliveries a week and other weeks post comes daily. I have had things like hospital appointments arrive a day before the actual appointment meaning I haven’t got time to arrange child care. I think it’s a wide spread issue.

Ours seems fine, MIL posted us a 1st class large letter on Tuesday afternoon and it got here today.

Piece in the paper this morning that some places are getting a delivery once a fortnight. Some places in London area even!

Yes same here. Some firms will only send things out by post but then it’s taking 3 weeks to get here.

Yes. Edge of a large city and lots is going missing/taking over a week to arrive. Or being delivered to our neighbour instead.

Someone sent me flowers via Royal Mail and they were perfectly dried by the time they arrived six days later! Company are resending them...

Unless it's tracked 24 or 48 hr post with RM it's fairly slow and unreliable. In my experience.

We're the same here. It's really frustrating as I try and support Royal Mail as I sell on eBay and try to use them as we don't want to lose our post office but the postal service is horrendous at the moment.

Also in our area when we miss a delive

Same here and we live in a huge town in the South East, not village at all.
Barely see a postman anymore. According to one I spoke to a while back it's because most people don't get mail anymore, not even over Christmas so they are cutting staff. They can also tell of its spam post so they bin it.
It's helpful as we get less rubbish mail but not good when we know we are waiting on a hospital letter. I have now asked the hospital to put me on paperless Comms.

Same here
Actually about to call the sorting office
last week a temp came and he had so much post for my block, it was mad.

We are the same - Scotland - regular mail arrives about twice per week, in batches, tracked parcels are generally 2 days later than the tracking app suggests.
mid-sized town, not rural.

Royal Mail are turning neighbourhoods into 'postal deserts' mol.im/a/12070663 via https://dailym.ai/android

It's a similar issue here (edge of large city) the post seems to come in batches every two or three days.
The only reliable deliveries are 24 and 48 hour tracked.
A few weeks ago we had no post for a fortnight. When I called to find out why I was informed that postie was off sick and there was no one left to cover.
It's certainly not the reliable service of several years ago.

Same here. 6 miles south of Oxford with our own delivery office. We hardly see a postman and perhaps get mail once or twice a week. This is a town with a population of 35k, so not small.

They blame staff shortages and lack of holiday cover. Occasionally I pop into the delivery office and collect the mail for us and our immediate neighbours.

I don't think it's good enough.

Can you get mail from the delivery office? I had no idea that was possible- that will save us the stress of waiting and waiting for items we know are on their way.

South west village and only getting post once a week.

In my area, posties with years of service were made redundant and I think it's minimum wage temps now. They are very friendly and helpful but maybe only employed once a week? The chap who came with lots of stuff said it had been sitting in the office and he'd rounded it all up.

Yes!! Our postie used to be really reliable, I don’t know what’s happened. No post for over a week- the DC get magazine subscriptions so we know it’s not just that nothing has been sent to us!! Parcels with RM showing as delayed, and one which they supposedly “attempted to deliver” which is a blatant lie. I’m also expecting a parking fine so hoping that arrives within the deadline to pay the reduced rate!!

They don't seem to mind. I asked after we'd had no post for 2 (maybe even 3) weeks - we had been expecting appointment letters from the hospital.

Might be worth going and asking - my feeling was that the worst they could do was say no.

I’ll definitely pop into the office next time- as you say, it’s worth a go!

Ours is about twice a week at a push currently. It's not really improved since the pandemic

On hold to the sorting office and being reminded to be considerate (which I would be, just struck me as interesting).

17 mins on hold
given up for today

My partner is a postie and they are all being told to prioritise parcels. All the new services that are being advertised to the public (parcel pick-ups, returns, etc) are all distracting from delivering the actual mail. There has been days when he and his partner have collected and delivered 100's of parcels, yet the letters are sitting in the office for days on end. Posties are leaving by the week and agency workers only last a few days when they realise what the job actually entails.

No overtime being paid anymore, threats to working conditions, and RM trying to get rid of anyone on old contracts to make way for the new ones is slowly but surely destroying the service.

Same here I almost missed a hospital appointment
The letter was posted 10 days before
West Wiltshire