to think the post service is full of lazy incompetent f***wits?

[madamez]

WHY can't I have my post at a resonable time of day or even a consistent one? SO much of my life is spent waiting for cheques to be sent to me, often in a panic because if they don't arrive more direct debits etc will bounce and yet I can't ring up the people who should have sent them and shout because the POST HASN'T COME YET AND IT@S F LUNCTHIME!

Ours never comes before 11am, it's usually around midday, and occasionally can be as late as 3pm.

This week we have had post addressed to someone two streets away, then someone one street away (same house number as us in both cases), and also two letters addressed to our next door neighbour. On those days there were no letters for us, god knows where our post ended up

Also hate this new system where 'fat' or large letters have to have a more expensive stamp even if they are very light - means you have to make extra trips to the effing post office, whereas before you could just slap a first or second class stamp from your handbag on there.

No Tarantula but when something isa lost between being put in a post box and not getting to a house, then yes, it's the workers fault.

I agree the post is so slack it's unreal, my post can come anytime between 8am & 4pm.

I hate it when you get a card through the door saying "we tried to deliver etc etc" but actually they never even kncoked in the first place this happened to me at my mums & funny enough i was in the hall way by the front door when the postman walked up to it, he pops the red slip through no knowck, charming.

I phoned & complained.

I understand where you're coming from tarantula but there are very bad workers who do what the hell they want regardless of the management. Our postman disapears into a house down the street - for anything up to three hours - I've also seen him run up the lane at the side of our house and dump mail on the railway track - Yes he has been reported a number of times and he's still working and still doign what he wants.

No your can't just blanket blame the postmen and women. My postman sometimes has to cover two or even three rounds due to illness - when my mail turns up at 5:30 I'm not going to blame him - he's been working since 6:30am and doing two people's jobs. It's no wonder they make mistakes.

A few weeks ago he had to cover a round he hasn't done for 8 years - not sure I could do that as quickly as the regular postie who knows the area either so of course the mail will be late - for those he hasn't delivered to for ages and for his regulars who he delivers to after he has done the other round.

Gingermonkey your postie risks losing his job every time he does what you describe. Mine does it to and I'm damn glad, but it is an instant dismissal matter if he gets caught.

joash the post office are not responsible - Royal Mail are - two different entities entirely (although I see you did correct what you wrote a lot of people do complain to the wrong people so the complaints do not get heard or acted upon).

I know there are problems at management level, however when people in the same area repeatedly call the Royal Mail to complain about the same things happeneing over and over and over again, then they expect improvements. It's almost as though the posties jsut couldn't care less, they don't care about children not receiving Christmas cards or birthday cards, they don't seem to care about people not getting important mail , they don't seem to care if peoples parcels get knicked because they have left them on the doorstep

Ours usually comes at about 1pm. In the past it came at about 9a.m. Am I imagining it or did we used to have a 2nd post each day as well? I'm sure we did.

fgs!!!!! unparp

complain to your MPs.

There are bad workers because the rm employs CASUAL workers because they're CHEAP.

you really don't know how good a service you get.

There are arguments on both sides really.
It seems to me though that the only people that defend postal workers are people that are/have a dh/have a family member that work for the post office.

Believe it or not, sometimes it is the workers fault. I often don't get post for a week at a time. I once confronted my postie when he came to deliver heaps of post after not delivering for 10 days!! His excuse was that he could not get into the building!! There is a tradesman buzzer, we are always home, the elderly lady downstairs is always home. And he had never had a problem using the trade buzzer before. He also did not deliver to the house next door and she has a letterbox on her front door!

He just likes to let it build up so he only has to work one day a week, he refuses to deliver parcels and just leaves a card. He is just a $5*£@!!!

I am not saying they are all the same. But please stop saying it is not the workers it is the chairmen, because that is sheer bull*cks!!

My postie brags about working for the RM for 20 years. He says "complain, they wont do anything" and he is right!

That argument about casual workers is weak.
Some people are just crap workers, especially the ones who think they can't lose their job.

yes because those of us with family members at the rm know the whole situation and have to wade through these types of threads. it's like hitting head on a brick wall.

years ago posties had to pass an exam to get in.

if you care for your postal service you should be supporting the workers rather than blaming them. as i said write to your mps and ask them why the service has been allowed to degenerate to this current situation.

why weak? they are untrained. lots of them don't care. that is the root of the problem to the public.

sea, I can sympathise with your general point, but what about sugarmatches' postman? He's not a casual worker employed because he's cheap. He's a permanent employee who is crap. Does he need to be supported rather than blamed?

!!!

That same argument can be said of midwives, nurses, teachers, and many other employees.

Sometimes there is just personal responsibility and no one takes it...ever!!

My freind's mum is a nurse and she puts up with so much crap! Shift changes, low pay, bad management. She looks after people who are dying of cancer fgs!! She was told last year her shifts were changing and she had to do nights because they was no one else to do it. She now works 8pm to 8am 4 days a week and she has a 14 year old at home. That is disruptive, but she cannot complain because she would be sacked.

To top it all off, she has just been told her financial records have been misplaced by the hospital!!

Please just face that many workers have it hard and there is nothing special about posties!!

sugarmatches - I Don't have any friends or family members who work for Royal Mail and I am standing up for them. I worked in a post office for a short while which had a sorting office attached to it and I saw how the posties got messed about pretty much every other day.

The only people who are going to know what goes on behind the scenes are those who have seen it for themselves or have a DP etc who has to put up with it so you have to expect that those are the people who are going to defend the workers as they know what the workers have to put up with!

did anyone say posties are the only ones who have had it hard?

And believe me, I know what you are saying about casual workers because we get those too and it is abysmal service.

All I say is have an open mind and see why people might get edgy about not getting their post.

of course alot of workers have it bad, but this thread is just poison. calling them f*ckwits didn't exactly put me in the sympathetic to all sides position.

Nope Coby, not on this thread. But is seems like some unwritten rule on MN to not criticise posties.

I criticise everyone if they piss me off

I agree fuckwit is harsh. For the record, I used a load of symbols to describe mine...and it was just because he is a load of symbols!!

for the record my dp is not a f*ckwit.

hell he used to go to the nursery school and tell the children all about being a postman.

I agree calling them F*wits is nasty. However I feel I have a right to be annoyed with my postie becasue I don't think he cares. It was ahrd for me to ahve to tell ym children why half thier Christmas cards and presents didn't turn up until teh 3rd January. Then we ahd no post from 7th january until yesterday Despite several complaints by me to RM, nothing gets done about him.

Sorry for spellings, Dses are yelling and screeching at each other right behind me

oh don't get me started on this one!! Our post gets stolen regularly, by the postmen (not the chairman!). We have a private letterbox (it's not left in a communal hall or anything), but plenty post never reaches us. I have lost count of the number of letters gone stray. They get pinched in the local sorting office and there was a police investigation, so it is a recognised problem with the staff there. Never bills, but anything interesting like cards in a coloured envelope, never reach us because ( I presume) they think it's a birthday cheque or somehting inside. I tell people to send me things at work where there is no issue or else put it in a brown envelope which also seems to work.

Kids love postmen too! Ds1 wanted to be one when he was really small. But we had a really great postman then who brought him sweets.
Hello Mick from Hendon!!

SEA, I am sure your dh is a great postman. I am sure many of them are great. it al comes down to liking your job and having pride in what you do. Going to schools and talking about your job obviously means you love it!!

It is a shame that a few bad apples can spoil the barrel.

I stand by my postie being a dork, but I still gave him some cash at Xmas because I can appreciate that it is a hard job.

Maybe, just maybe, madamez's postie is a (bit of a) f*ckwit. That is all I was saying. Most people do take people on an individual basis don't they?