To think that not getting your mail delivered until 3.45pm is a fucking joke?

[HangingBasketCase]

When I arrived home from work an hour or so ago and saw that there were no letters on the mat I presumed we wouldn't getting any mail today, as it usually comes around 11am or here about. So imagine my stunned surprise when five minutes ago I glanced out of the window to see the unmistakable sight of a postman trudging up the path of the house opposite us, at 3.45pm!. And he hasn't even got to us yet!

It's been getting later and later for years but this really takes the biscuit. It's nearly tea time for Christ's sake. What the fuck is wrong with the Royal Mail these days?! I remember waking up to to the sound of post coming through the letter box, opening your mail whilst eating breakfast. If your waiting for something important to come in the mail you want it ASAP, you don't want to be hanging about till early evening waiting for it!

Nearly 4pm just isn't acceptable is it?

I don't really care.
If its not going to be here before I go to work (and I wouldn't expect it to be on my door mat before 7.25), frankly it can turn up at any point before I get home.

And actually, if parcels came in the evenings (Disclaimer: I am not proposing this as a realistic solution - it wouldn't be fair on the hard working posties) I'd be here to receive it. Bonus.

I did hear a great idea on the radio the other day: drive through parcel collection at the sorting office, so no need to find a parking space, drive up to the window, hand over your card, and then drive on to the collection window to get your parcel.

Try living in a remote part of a Scottish island, it's never delivered till 5.30 and you have to walk up the track to the mailbox because they aren't prepared to open the gate.

As the wife of a postman I can say yabu. Dh is up and out of the house by 5am, spends hours in the sorting office sorting all the post then walks round carrying one big fuck off heavy bag for hours on end. It's bloody hard work and their routes are getting longer and longer all the time. The amount of times dh has come home and said they've added yet another bunch of houses onto his route is ridiculous!

It's getting to the time of year where he will be out delivering from 9.30am til gone 6pm some days and somebody's house had got to be on the end of the route, he can't deliver all post within an hour or two of leaving the sorting office!

What post do you get that needs immediate action?
Most people who work leave in the morning and get home after 5pm round here so I can't imagine we'd notice. Yes you used to get it in the morning but times change. I'm more frustrated about having to spend my whole Saturday in because a delivery company tried to deliver on Thursday when we and our neighbours were at work so now if we aren't here today they will send it back to the person posting it. Glad I didn't have plans today. We called and were told it's coming at some point this afternoon (they told us this at 12pm so we'd figured the pm time slot!)

honestly.

i assume that at a point, domestic deliveries will be 3 times a week. if you want it to arrive at a specific time, you pay more for it.

if you are a business, you do your stuff via email, or pay more for it.

it is as plain as anything that the victorian model of post on the breakfast table everyday for the same price is unsustainable.

parcel firms will start using drop off points (like the argos thing)

Does it really matter? As long as you're getting it, surely that's all that matters. To me, as long as they are delivering within the timescale then it doesn't bother me what time in the day it comes.

My fiancé is a postie and I do get annoyed when people moan so much about the RM. His job is unbelievably stressful and I wouldn't do it for twice the salary. They are constantly being timed but forced to do 'lapsing' which is basically each picking up parts of another round before even starting their own work for the day. They also don't even leave the office until 10am, when posties used to start at the crack of dawn.

So yes, YABU.

Also, the number of parcels being delivered thanks to online shopping has obviously increased the workload tenfold so times have changed.

DP himself says that they actually have to wait for a large amount of mail stamped 'UK Mail' and 'TNT' before they are allowed to leave the sorting office, and this mail comes in later than the other stuff.

He also says that some individual walks are 90 mins long, which is only one part of that day's route. He also thinks YABU.

YANBU to hope for a better service but, as others have said, this would probably require an increase in postage costs across the board. The people who actually deliver the post are already under a lot of pressure to do a difficult job in all weathers for low wages.

My last postie was lovely - he even used to bring biscuits for my dogs. Dogs can be a hazard for postmen (or women) so he liked to ensure he was welcome, which he was, of course.

Unfortunately, he had to give up his job after many years through stress. He just couldn't cope with the increasing demands upon him and received little support when he became ill. He was basically managed out, as I read the situation.

We all want more for less (or most), but this inevitably comes at a price.

I can't find anything to foam at the mouth over quite frankly, I'd be happy if they cut it down to a couple of times a week.

Someone was complaining about the junk they deliver the other day.

You send something for 60p.
Very few letters are being sent.

How exactly do you expect them to make money.

Either the cut costs where they can or the cut the frequency of deliveries or hike the price right up.

You cannot have post delivered before 9am, everyday, no junk mail and it cost you 60p.

My friend wrote a letter of complaint to the sorting office, as he is self employed and very often has post that needs responding to or stuff sending out to customers within 24 hours. He was getting his post at almost five, leaving him no chance to deal with it the same day, and was losing business and money as a result.

Response to the complaint..... nothing. Not even worthy of a template reply apparently.

Our post sometimes comes at 9am, sometimes 3.30, it seems completely random depending on who is doing the round that day/week. Very annoying when you have to wait in and you have no idea how long it will be, so you have to block out the whole day anyway.

I feel sorry for posties actually. Our local postie is lovely, really truly lovely. I was walking the other day and saw him on his rounds, he was literally running between the houses. Not legging it but more of a run pace than walk. He's no spring chicken either. I guess it's good that it keeps them fit but it's really not an easy job, especially not when the poor sod is doing it in the pissing down rain, cold and snow too! And their bags must get heavy with all the parcels.

We get a letter maybe once every three days, everything is paperless now so the only real post we have is parcels. I'm really grateful for our postal service. It's not without its flaws but it's certainly miles better than a lot of other countries. And I can't see an issue with getting post at 4pm either, someone has to be at the end of their rounds.

Also with people whinging about having to stay in all day for parcels- it's the same with any courier so why expect different from RM?

It's usual time here, if the mail is delivered by 1pm, that's a bonus.

So 4pm is acceptable to us.

There are often days where I receive a bundle of leaflets and no personal mail. There would be no need to stop at my house (and presumably, some others) if there weren't any adverts to deliver. Things like that used to be delivered with newspapers, now RM deliver them.

Please don't think I am having a go at Postie's. They do a fantastic job. There just clearly aren't enough of them and they are so overworked and subject to ridiculous deadlines and rules. I object to the way the service has been sold off and ruined.