Royal Mail!!

[Lettuceandtomatoes]

Was expecting a parcel today, 24 hour tracked, in all day only to discover a card through the door. I didn’t hear the knock even the dog didn’t. Went online to redirect only to find ‘sorry something went wrong’. Called them and the earliest is December 5th. This is such rubbish and sick to death of the tap and scarper approach with them.

My normal postie is fantastic, the actual Royal Mail parcel, nope. No way.

@Jaybird43
I did wonder if it was a shaggy dog story 🐕 whilst listening to Hounds Of Love

I got most annoyed when I was in and they just left a card with no attempt to ring the doorbell (we have three v noise sensitive dogs and a doorbell camera), then when Inwent to collect, the parcel office got really really shitty with me because the we missed you card said Mr Muddling and I am Mrs Muddling, at the same address. I had a copy of his ID and they were still very shitty about handing the parcel over as I was not him.....when they eventually did, turns out it was addressed to Mr & Mrs Muddling and they just hadn't written both on the card. Oh, the look on their face when I had the audacity to point out who it was actually addressed to!

Yes I'm aware. Its shit what's happening to them. I love my posties ❤️

I’m aware too of staying in all day to receive an important parcel, a present which wasn’t delivered in spite of listening out with purposely no music on and a dog in the house. What exactly do you bring other than spam which goes straight in the bin. Other couriers manage it and are great. I now have to wait 6 days for re delivery.

oh look another late night, first time poster coming on to slag off RM posties!

Simon, you need more beauty sleep get to bed!

I’ve caught many jumping over the boundary wall when not even delivering to my house so not have to walk back down the other drive to save mere seconds. Cheeky.

And how does this harm you exactly?
If they save 15 seconds on every delivery by doing this that's a lot of minutes saved every shift.
As I said, they are under constant time pressure. Apart from @IzzyGee 😊

Sigh, another thread where OP is given a hard time for saying something entirely valid. The Royal Mail service has been terrible lately! Yes they have every right to strike, like everyone else, yes I understand they’re at the end of their tether and in need of change. But this is the case in many industries right now and all the disruption happening at the same time and on Christmas IS frustrating. It’s possible to feel for the Royal Mail workers while also thinking it’s frustrating to not be getting your post. Like several posters have pointed out, it does happen that they post the “sorry you were out cards” without even having the parcel with them. I DID answer the door after the tiniest knock known to mankind. The postman looked incredibly embarrassed that I’d spotted him and immediately admitted he actually didn’t bring my parcel full stop. This is clearly something that IS happening and it’s not on. As much as they are having difficulty, they could spend their time better than posting fake cards through the door in order for me to do their job and collect it. If I’ve paid for a service I definitely don’t want them to try and fob me off in this manner.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.

Then tell your colleagues to do their fucking jobs properly. Like a lot of people have absolutely had enough.
Service has gone down the toilet in the past 3 years. I get cards through every other day even when I’m in.
Ive requested and requested that parcels get left in my safe space. I’ve said repeatedly to any posits who will listen that I will take any neighbours parcels as I m from home.
but no. They don’t knock now. I have a different postie every day and they never ever leave anything in the safe place. So I’m wasting petrol and time having to pick up parcels from the shitty depot which has 2 customer parking spaces (taken up constantly) and is a devil to get in and out of.
Never used to be like this.

It’s more or less a useless service now, I try to avoid using Royal Mail at all

Next joke. Our sorting office is open between 10-12 every day. So are we expected to take annual leave to visit the sorting office to pick up a parcel now? I no longer order from companies that use Royal Mail for delivery because it's impossible to pick up my parcel.

Sorry but strikes are designed to be inconvenient. It’s OKAY if people want to post here and vent about Royal Mail. Some posters here are almost treating RM like a cult that should never be criticised !

ultimately we are all going through a cost of living crisis and the festive season. People are reasonable to be disappointed that things they’ve spent their money/effort on are being lost in the postal system. That’s not a personal insult to posties🙄 I hope they get the salary increase they want but it is concerning when my £350+ tracked delivery has had no tracking updates in days, I have to reschedule events that relied on that delivery and am out of pocket.

I’ve worked hard for that money. I’m not exactly someone that can help RM increase staff wages so it’s the little people hurting the little people almost.

Evri did this on Saturday, didn’t buzz the bell or anything just stuck a fucking card to the flat main door with no name on it no nothing. Only realised it was mine when my neighbour knocked and said to check the tracking number and it was from a store I ordered. Said it would be the next working day, Wednesday tomorrow and apparently the couriers not got it and it’ll be with an agency courier. They’re fucking useless

Have those saying “why would the postman want to walk round with your parcel all day? You didn’t hear the door” (some quite aggressively) read the multiple accounts on the thread of posters who managed to catch up with the postman because they saw the card straightaway, and whose postman then admitted that they didn’t bring the parcel out with them in the first place?

Right, but this post is about the times when a card has been put through the door and the resident knows there has been no knock. And the vast majority of people knows that happens sometimes so not sure how your post is remotely relevant.

More useful is@IzzyGee's post, explaining that some posties will do this in desperation because of overload of work.

I hate having parcels delivered by RM - our regular postie is lovely but I have never received a parcel to my door, I always receive a "Sorry we missed you" card.

Which would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that the sorting office is only open 12-2 and they want you to wait 24hrs after you get the card to go and collect even if the postie didn't actually bring the parcel at all.

I had a parcel due for delivery last week (had a safe place designated on the delivery, as always) and was literally standing in the hall next to the door putting my coat on to go out when the post came through the letter box with the red card on top. The postie had the decency to look sheepish when I immediately opened the door and he admitted he didn't have the parcel with him and had left it at the sorting office, hence the card and no knock.

Since it was my day off, the parcel hadn't actually left the sorting office and I was at work the following two days when the sorting office was open I went straight there with the card. I was then told by the member of staff at the counter very dismissively that I couldn't have my parcel as "It isn't here because we have to wait for the postie to bring it back from their round, did you not read the instructions on the card?".

When I told her the postie hadn't taken it on his round in the first place and had our conversation on video (ring doorbell) to prove it, so I knew it was there, she tried to argue that "regardless, the card says you have to wait 24hrs so come back tomorrow" until I asked for her supervisor to make a complaint about the service I'd received (or lack thereof) at which point she reluctantly went off to find it and came back with my parcel a couple of minutes later.

I have no issues with the posties wanting to reduce the pressure on their rounds by not carrying parcels but you can't offer a parcel delivery service, routinely not deliver the parcels and then have staff being rude to customers when they are trying to collect them. I am more than happy to collect my parcel from the sorting office, providing I can do so on the day it is due for delivery and in a reasonable time scale (ie not just open 2/3hrs in the middle of the day and without having to wait 24hrs even when you know the parcel never left the building).

We have an awesome postie (and actually all our couriers are ace) but at my previous house, they regularly just used to shove a card through the door without knocking (Ring video doorbell) and when challenged, frequently didn't actually have the parcel with them to deliver.

As with loads of stuff in this country (including the holy NHS), the mail isn't some free nationalised charity -- the post is a service I pay for, and thus do actually expect what I've paid for to happen.

Go on strike by all means, but also some folks need to actually just do their job?

Unfortunately I think they are going to destroy the business with the strikes. Did you know many of their competitors are seizing on this opportunity to take market share, especially with small businesses?

I sell apx 100 items on ebay per month ebay are now actively encouraging sellers to use other couriers and have negotiated lower prices. Seeing as I have to refund non delivered items after 4 days and I'm now saving around 25% on delivery costs it's an absolute no brained to switch.

I respect the right to strike, but they'll be striking their way out of a job at this rate as many sellers/ businesses won't switch back to RM after.

Yes this is true. Bit sad after I've seen so many improvements with eg. Their app and text notifications over the last couple of years.

Royal Mail is shocking bad these days. We only get post once or twice a week now and it takes 2 weeks for a first class letter to arrive. My sorting office is only open an hour a day too.

It has such an enormous impact - I'm a carer and have missed crucial appointments as letters take weeks or dont turn up. Its not good enough. Ive complained numerous times...they dont give a shit.

I don't believe that.... Come on!
Your dog was sat in the lounge reading a book? I suppose the dog told you about the card too?

I wouldn't be using them at the moment for anything important in the run up to Christmas if it can wait as stuff could get lost in the strikes back log and Christmas post. I have got some important stuff to deal with that needs posting but will be doing that in the new year

Doorbell working just fine. No dog.

By not ringing the bell, the postie created more work for someone else - the parcel had to be processed back at the sorting office and processed again when I went to collect. Both may be small transactions, but neither would have been needed if he'd actually attempted to deliver it.

@Whyusernamegone of course it’s believable - he’s the cleverest boy!

You're all idiots if you think the postmen are the ones to blame for your issues. As ever the lower paid, over worked worked are the ones getting slagged off and blamed for the business decisions that are forcing the service to go down the pan. Direct your anger at the big boys at the top who are dictating and destroying the service.