...to wonder why I have to wait 24hrs before I can get my parcel from the Royal Mail sorting office?

[NiniLegsInTheAir]

Waiting for a parcel to arrive at some point this week, normal postie came and went today with nothing for me so I popped out to get some lunch. I came back and there was a red 'Sorry you were out' card waiting for me. No problem but the card says I have to give it 24hrs before going to get the parcel from our local sorting office. Why?

Until recently the cards used to say give it 3hrs or sometimes only 1hr, but now they always say 24hrs. I'm not desperate to get the parcel today but it seems a ridiculously long time to have to wait. And also - what are they doing with parcels overnight if you can't expect to pick them up from the sorting office the same evening?

I assume so they have time to sort it into wherever it goes?

Most Posties will finish their rounds and put any undeliverable parcels/letters either in a post box or a local post office. It will then go back through the system, ending up at your local office the next morning.

just a process thing, tbh i'd rather wait a day and know for sure it would be there than go, struggle to park, wrestle two DCs out the car ony to find its not there yet.

I would imagine that the parcel van is out all day and they take it back to the sorting office at the end of shift and it gets sorted into the 'to be picked up' cubby holes in the morning

They were probably finding that they weren't meeting the 3 hrs so increased it to 24 to cover themselves

Some parcels are given to local postie's, if they can't deliver it goes back to the post office.

Other parcels are given to a postie who drives all over and then takes them back to a big depot who then send them to the local sorting office.

Therefore they allow 24 hours.

disclaimer I have just made that up and have no idea if there is any truth in it but it sounds plausible

I just don't get how it can have gone from a 1hr or 3hr wait to 24hrs in a short period of time. I had no idea they put parcels back into a post box, makes no sense here as the nearest post box/office IS the sorting office!

trixie The sorting office is just round the corner so I can walk and not have to fret about parking as there isn't any there at all.

24hrs .... swoons with jealously. 48hr I have to wait to get my stuff. And the sorting office is just round the corner from my house and I see the van driver twice a day when doing the school run ( the old van driver used to stop and hand over any parcels for me or leave them in the back garden).

because they all get put into a big pile and then catalogued.

they don't put them in a post box! they take them all to the delivery office and they get sorted out there.

basically, it goes like this:

postman sorts out all post and takes it out on his round to be delivered.
anything that can't be delivered (eg packets) will go back with postie to the delivery office, and put in a big pile for the caller's office (in a rack trolley thing called a york), the person in charge of the caller's office goes through the pile and puts each item into the book under surname and address. the parcels get put on shelves in alphabetical order, and that takes time.
This is usually done by the end of the day, and don't forget even a small delivery office has about 70 rounds!
they have to make sure that all packets/parcels get put in the right place, and that's why it takes so long.

my version is correct, btw - DH is a postie and is sitting here explaining the ins and outs of the whole process

Thanks for clarifying nickel. Now I feel bad for wasting their time because I was hungry and went out to get lunch!

i'm sure they don't mind :)

it used to be shorter because they didn't ave so many packets, and also, they used to start earlier and therefore go out earlier, so more people would be in to receive their packets.

Ours used to be 24 hours, now it has gone up to 48 hours and even then it's a crapshoot as to whether it's there yet, half the time it's not. Given our post can be delivered at any time from 6:30am to 9pm (have had post at both those times..) and spread over multiple deliveries so you can never say for sure if a parcel isn't coming that day, it's becoming a bit of a logistical nightmare if something is due. I popped in the bathroom and missed the doorbell the other day and had to wait three days plus a long trek up the road to get the package.

I know they work hard, and our actual postie is a friendly chap and they're really helpful in the sorting office, it's just.. frustrating.

It says 24 hours but quite often it's back within a couple of hours. My daughter at uni missed delivery of her birthday parcel from me and the card said 24 hours. But she phoned and checked and it was already back so she got her birthday cake on time after all.
Worth a call surely?

mine has never said sooner than 24 hours - I dont always wait a full 24 hours but do try the next day at some point - parcel has always been there

Here all our undelivered mail gets sent back to Northampton to be resorted and then is brought back the next day for collection. Ridiculous waste of time and energy.

Quite simply, because sorting offices were closed down and staff were made redundant, a few years ago, so sorting and processing the mail is going to take longer.

You must have missed the strikes and the publicity that this would mean reduced customer service.