Page 9 | A huge Royal Mail exposè is coming...

Skimm · 2023-12-19T17:41:40+00:00

I saw my postie today after not seeing one for weeks and asked whats been happening with the mail recently. He took out his ear phones and wouldn't stop talking. He said that its chaos at the depot, they are being giving thousand of letter to post and when you complain they say ai don't care what you do with them, dont bring them back. They are also being told to prioritize parcels and that letters aren't important. People are quiting or going off sick so the RM are having to hire agency workers who are dumping letters in bushes and quiting within days. I haven't had post in over 3 week. I have only noticed as I'm waiting to recieve 2 v.important letters that were sent 3 and 2 weeks ago. So who knows how long its been going on. I have phoned the help line and been told that 50% off the staff in my local depot are either sick or absent and that they have shut down certain postcodes to deliveries. They said after the complaint I will recieve post within 72hr. It never happened and I've had to complain again. If you search online you will see I'm not the only one. It seems to be happening nationwide in cities and rural areas. The issue is that RM are denying that there is an issue. They are suppose to deliver post to every postcode Monday to Saturday and now I've been told that they are closing down certain postcodes over the phone but then denying it on social media. I still didn't get my mail today so I'm starting to wonder if I'm one if the people whobhave had their letters dumped.

rockstarshoes · 19/12/2023 23:43

It should never have been privatised! It's an absolute shambles!

My neighbour is a postie he's fishing out NHS Letters for his round & delivering them because he doesn't want people missing their appointments!

Another thing this Govt has broken! 🤬

Aavalon57 · 19/12/2023 23:43

Privatisation has killed what was once an efficient, reliable and proud service. All our essential services have been sold off. If you read The Times article, it's all in there. It's the next scandal. On another note, I sent a parcel to my friend in the US. Sent on the 17th October, took several days to get to the main hub in the Midlands (from London), then ended up a month later in something called the National Returns Centre. I thought it was in the US. After a one hour wait on the phone to Royal Mail customer service, I was told this centre is in Belfast and my parcel had not even left the UK. I am around £130 down. Now have to start the painful process of trying to claim and they want receipts for everything. Who keeps receipts for packets of Percy Pigs or chocolate digestives?! 😡

Original poster

Skimm · 19/12/2023 23:53

I hope everyone on here who is struggling like I am tweets Royal Mail, phones the help line with a complaint and writes to their MP.

They are denying that anything is going on.

I'm waiting for a bank card and I have delayed paying bills thinking that it will come any time now.

The banks in my area are either non counter services or completely shut down so I will have to travel far to go to a bank with a counter to get cash out and then go to the townhall to pay my rent.

With my credit cards that I've maxed out waiting for my bank card, I can't set up a direct debit on the app for some reason so I'm going to have to do that tomorrow over the phone.

With paying my children's tutor via PayPal, I don't know how I'm going to be able to do that without my debit card.

I might have to open a Metro Bank account to get my card on the day and then move funds.

This is exhausting just writing about it.

I also waiting for important maternity documents that my employer has posted and God knows what else has been posted that I'm unaware of.

This really exposes what a cashless society would look like if you lost access to your card. A lot of shops only accept card, you can't pay cash on the bus and all the banks are closing!

OP posts:

endingintiers · 20/12/2023 00:03

Isn’t privatisation great?

soupofpasta · 20/12/2023 00:09

This is one of the many reasons to fight against a cashless society!!

christmaspaws · 20/12/2023 00:20

My hospital letters come by text which I much prefer
You get a PIN and enter that with your DOB and it loads up the letter. If you don't access it within 24hrs they then send you a postal one
Must save money too not having to send all the paper letters

Southpoint · 20/12/2023 00:23

A huge load of Amazon parcels being shipped by RM are probably the reason. Most people shop online and there are the second hand clothes companies that also send their parcels also using RM now. There would also be many posties retiring after Covid. Private or not is more parcels and less keen workers to do this type of job. Probably deliveroo and Uber or other private couriers pay better and have tips incentives. It is sad because it used to work so well but there have been changes on supply and demand. The management needs to overcome these issues as soon as possible. Keep up with the times.

ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming · 20/12/2023 00:49

Thankfkitsfriday · 19/12/2023 22:39

@ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming that's amazing. I might have to move to NZ so my letters will arrive to my family faster than from the south to north of England 😂😭

Funnily enough - the parcels I sent at the same time don't appear to have arrived yet.

Verbena17 · 20/12/2023 00:51

Slightly off topic but was talking to a Brit who lives in the USA.
He said he normally posts his Xmas cards once he’s back here to visit at Xmas, only this year he posted them to the uk from his home town in the USA because it’s cheaper! 1st class in US is about 95 cents a stamp, and here 1st class is £1.25

PyongyangKipperbang · 20/12/2023 01:06

I know someone (friend of a friend) who got a PO box because the family have two children with additional needs and all their appointments come through the post. They missed so many that they got the PO box in the hopes of sorting the issue. From what my friend says, it has helped the issue but we shouldnt have to pay more for a service that was paid for the moment the stamp was purchased!

Willowkins · 20/12/2023 01:25

In previous years I would get Christmas cards every day. It's really weird that I haven't had any post at all for days. I'm also expecting an NHS appointment letter. Thank goodness they texted and I was able to look up the details at NHS Online Services.

SequentialAnalyst · 20/12/2023 01:33

Deathbyfluffy · 19/12/2023 22:41

Why would you order a parcel to be delivered when you know it’ll be delivered at a certain time, and thus you won’t be in to receive it?

Show quote history

Well other people send me things.
And I order stuff on the internet.
And this happened recently, so I know they tried early. But I don't think I can reliably say they always come at any given time.

NumberTheory · 20/12/2023 01:35

I think the problem is that the cost, per letter, to deliver has sky rocketed, in large part because the number of letters being delivered is way fewer. Postal wages were always on the low side. Minimum wage, and other worker rights laws that have come in over the last 40 odd years have had the biggest impact at the lower end of the pay scale and must also have had a huge impact on the cost of delivery.

The government barely subsidises it any more and they limit the cost of stamps so, despite the rise in the price of stamps, it’s not economically viable to provide delivery the way it used to be when post was far more common.

We need a re-think of what service is necessary and how it can be delivered (and whether a privatised service can provide what we need if we want the price to be limited and/or service to be universal and one price for everywhere).

SequentialAnalyst · 20/12/2023 01:59

Meant to say my point was about the uselessness of redelivering the next day at the same time. But perhaps it would work better for other people than I might imagine?

DontLeanOnTheKeyboard · 20/12/2023 02:08

Weird…..it’s like…..privatisation of our essentials has been a terrible mistake…who knew…

sewage being pumped into the sea, runaway energy bills, public transport shambolic, NHS dentists soon to be a thing of the past, post gone awry.

I’m sure someone’s doing well out of it all.

PyongyangKipperbang · 20/12/2023 02:35

Thank you Thatcher

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 20/12/2023 03:58

Deathbyfluffy · 19/12/2023 22:41

Why would you order a parcel to be delivered when you know it’ll be delivered at a certain time, and thus you won’t be in to receive it?

Show quote history

Because how else do you get the parcel? That poster didn't choose the delivery time.

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 20/12/2023 04:01

41quid · 19/12/2023 23:15

Went to the Post Office counter in WH Smith to be told that they had run out of stamps. Switched to the ordinary counter, where they couldn't sell 2nd class, but had books of 1st class stamps.
Bought the bare minimum number of stamps, delivered 12 myself by hand, so feel £15 better off.
This is no way to run a business.

The Post Office is not the Royal Mail.

AzureBlue99 · 20/12/2023 04:31

I have only received one Christmas card this year, either I am deeply unpopular or they are going to arrive over the coming weeks.

Their new policy of trying to deliver a parcel and then trying to deliver a second day rather than leaving a card for you to pick it up from the sorting office is a time waster for the postie and the customer. That is adding to the confusion.

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 20/12/2023 04:41

Unwittington · 19/12/2023 23:20

Genuinely curious what good people think renationalising a failing, not-fit-for-purpose business like RM will actually do besides be a drain on the taxpayer?

The main issue as I understand it, and as a few PP have mentioned, is the infrastructure. In a nutshell, it’s a 500 year old letters business that is desperately trying (and very clearly failing) to be a parcel business and compete with powerhouses like Amazon. When you compare the two (which is what many, rather stupidly, do as we have all come so accustom to everything being immediately available) it’s a one horse race. RM cannot legitimately complete, but they’re trying (and, in so doing, are neglecting letters deliberately as they don’t make any money) and not doing well at all. Their woeful profits speak to this. So what would
taking it back into public ownership do? These issues are, at best, going to take many years and millions of pounds to fix. At worst, they’re insurmountable.

In my view, it’ll no doubt come back into public ownership at some point because it’s just too large and too iconic a business for the govt to let it flounder. But I cannot see how anyone will benefit from this; not the business, not the staff, not the customers. It’ll just be another waste of the country’s ever depleting finances, will it not?

I’m clearly not an economist though so please, someone educated, enlighten me.

Genuinely curious what good people think renationalising a failing, not-fit-for-purpose business like RM will actually do besides be a drain on the taxpayer?

Stop the financial drain on that company known as "shareholder dividends.
Allow the company directors and executive officers to focus on delivering the service that the nation needs instead of having their primary purpose being, by law, to maximise profits to pay shareholder dividends.
Make the Govt, who we indirectly choose by voting for Parliamentary candidates, accountable for the company as the Govt owns it.

Some things can be run effectively by public limited companies, such as food retail. It doesn't matter that the sole purpose of Tesco is to make profit to pay dividends to Tesco shareholders because if Tesco stop selling what I need, I can vote with my feet.

Some things cannot be run effectively by public limited companies. A national postal service with a universal delivery obligation (meaning it must serve every address) is an example of something that PLCs cannot run effectively. No one can comply with both of two conflicting requirements. Royal Mail's executive officers have two conflicting requirements: their personal legal obligation to run RM in such a way as to maximise dividends to shareholders; and RM's legal obligation to deliver to everyone, including addresses where the delivery costs outweigh the postage charged.

The risk of a class action lawsuit from the shareholders against the executive officers for failing to maximise profits frightens the executive officers a lot lot more than the slight loss of profit caused by an Ofcom fine, especially if the Ofcom fine is less than what it would have cost to avoid the Ofcom fine. Ever seen the film Fight Club? Do you remember the lead character's job: deciding whether it was cheaper to recall the faulty cars or not recall them and pay out compensation to accident victims? Executive offers make that kind of Cost A versus Financial Penalty B calculation all the time, and RM's execs are doing it with your cancer surgery letters, house purchase contracts, and job offers.

Did I mention that RM absolutely needs to be renationalised?

marriednotdead · 20/12/2023 04:45

DP is a postman and he has his own theory about what is going on..
They are struggling to recruit where he is, partly because the new contracts involve evening and Sunday shifts, many staff including DP took the job because they could fit in the school run. He tried to get a transfer to our local office when they were told that they were going to be moving their shift times later- it will make his current 30 minute drive nearer 90 and as much as 2 hours later in the day, and public transport is not viable. They were only offering a 30 hour contract working Sundays and 2-8pm. We only get our mail twice a week so he went round to collect it recently, said they have many on long term sick and the office was in chaos.
His own round doesn’t get done on his days off and despite it being so big that he can rarely finish it, they’re still trying to add more addresses in an ‘efficiency rewrite’ of the walks. When he’s on holiday it takes 2 people to complete it.
Of the 3 most recent people hired, one quit within 2 days because of the workload and another was fired after he made major errors and refused to take responsibility despite extensive training. He was also complaining about how much walking he had to do- think he assumed he could sit in a van like Postman Pat and wanted lots of cigarette breaks…
DP is convinced that the plan is to run the business into the ground and continue to deliberately fail the universal service agreement (flat price letter to almost every UK home 6 days a week). The government will struggle to make them comply now because it is a private company and they are no longer majority shareholders. Note
it’s an agreement not a contractual obligation and the fines imposed are swallowed while they play the long game.Eventually the government will get fed up and take the letters business from them (which is what they are hoping) and then they will be able to evolve into another parcel delivery company without the shackles of the loss making letters arm.

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 20/12/2023 04:52

Executive offers make that kind of Cost A versus Financial Penalty B calculation all the time

I meant executive officers.

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 20/12/2023 04:56

Note it’s an agreement not a contractual obligation and the fines imposed are swallowed while they play the long game.

That makes the execs even more likely to pander to the shareholders at the expense of regulatory compliance than I thought.

pleasehelpwi3 · 20/12/2023 07:28

Verbena17 · 20/12/2023 00:51

Slightly off topic but was talking to a Brit who lives in the USA.
He said he normally posts his Xmas cards once he’s back here to visit at Xmas, only this year he posted them to the uk from his home town in the USA because it’s cheaper! 1st class in US is about 95 cents a stamp, and here 1st class is £1.25

Yes, this is believable- my parents did this one year from Thailand and it worked out much cheaper! Some of the cards did arrive in February though.... Although US postage does get insanely expensive for items larger than a letter- you'll see this if you try to buy anything from a private seller on Ebay based in the USA.
Two days ago I sent some silver to someone Special Delivery at 4.45pm- it had arrived a few hundred miles away by midday yesterday. As everyone has said, they are prioritising this service, partially as they don't want to pay compensation for delayed/lost items.

Unwittington · 20/12/2023 09:03

VitoCorleoneOfMNMafia · 20/12/2023 04:41

Genuinely curious what good people think renationalising a failing, not-fit-for-purpose business like RM will actually do besides be a drain on the taxpayer?

Stop the financial drain on that company known as "shareholder dividends.
Allow the company directors and executive officers to focus on delivering the service that the nation needs instead of having their primary purpose being, by law, to maximise profits to pay shareholder dividends.
Make the Govt, who we indirectly choose by voting for Parliamentary candidates, accountable for the company as the Govt owns it.

Some things can be run effectively by public limited companies, such as food retail. It doesn't matter that the sole purpose of Tesco is to make profit to pay dividends to Tesco shareholders because if Tesco stop selling what I need, I can vote with my feet.

Some things cannot be run effectively by public limited companies. A national postal service with a universal delivery obligation (meaning it must serve every address) is an example of something that PLCs cannot run effectively. No one can comply with both of two conflicting requirements. Royal Mail's executive officers have two conflicting requirements: their personal legal obligation to run RM in such a way as to maximise dividends to shareholders; and RM's legal obligation to deliver to everyone, including addresses where the delivery costs outweigh the postage charged.

The risk of a class action lawsuit from the shareholders against the executive officers for failing to maximise profits frightens the executive officers a lot lot more than the slight loss of profit caused by an Ofcom fine, especially if the Ofcom fine is less than what it would have cost to avoid the Ofcom fine. Ever seen the film Fight Club? Do you remember the lead character's job: deciding whether it was cheaper to recall the faulty cars or not recall them and pay out compensation to accident victims? Executive offers make that kind of Cost A versus Financial Penalty B calculation all the time, and RM's execs are doing it with your cancer surgery letters, house purchase contracts, and job offers.

Did I mention that RM absolutely needs to be renationalised?

Show quote history

Thanks for this. Some great points but I can’t help but thinking it’s mostly theoretical when, practically, the govt wouldn’t make any tangible difference.

Case in point being the NHS. It’s a complete shitshow, as is DVLA, passport office etc. What about how these inefficient, resource-sapping enterprises are run instills any confidence that renationalisation will be the answer?

I can’t help but think it’s just some ideological nonsense. To me the only answer I can see is digitalisation en masse, do everything we can get away from letters save for in the most exceptional of circumstances. Leave RM to focus on parcels, regardless of who owns it.