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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think WTF is going on with Royal Mail?

500 replies

WorriedandScared93 · 13/12/2022 12:32

What is the actual point of them anymore? I sent a small parcel 1st class 2 weeks ago and it's still not arrived...

OP posts:
Florenz · 14/12/2022 21:08

Competition between private companies leads to improvement and innovation. It wasn't that long ago that if you wanted a phone, the only place to get one was from the Post Office, with a waiting time of three months or more, and having a phone was expensive enough that many people didn't have one.

The romantic idea of a postman being a friendly figure of the community, looking in on old people and catching runaway dogs is a nice idea but it's irrelevant when people just want stuff delivered cheaply and efficiently.

eastegg · 14/12/2022 21:10

There were postal strikes on the 30th September and 1st October which the media didn’t pick up on at all. They affected me a lot partly because of DS’s birthday and partly because of some official and time sensitive docs I was expecting. Cards my parents sent for DS were, I’m not exaggerating, 7 weeks late sent first class. So 2 weeks, when these strikes have been heavily publicised, shouldn’t come as a surprise. Still annoying, though.

FerretFumbler · 14/12/2022 21:32

Why all the support for nurses on MN yet just grumbling about the posties’ strike?

Banjoman · 14/12/2022 21:38

Florenz · 14/12/2022 21:01

It's because people are sending Whatsapp or Facebook messages instead of letters or cards through the post that all this is happening. The world has changed and RM staff have to accept that their job has to change along with it. You can't keep paying people to deliver "bits of paper that end up in recycling" along with catching dogs and looking in on the elderly, when the business is now in delivering parcels at times when people are at home to accept them. That is the business. RM workers either accept that or they need to find another job that is more to their liking. There is no third option.

Or they strike for what is right! They keep striking until they’re listened to! They don’t be one a push over and accept working in a gig economy!

that’s another option….

Banjoman · 14/12/2022 21:41

FerretFumbler · 14/12/2022 21:32

Why all the support for nurses on MN yet just grumbling about the posties’ strike?

Because they’re low skilled workers as @Florenz says and therefore they should all go retrain or accept being treated badly!

that’s how some people’s minds actually work.

Supportingstrikers · 14/12/2022 21:42

Workers don't control,manage or lead the postal services. Aim your anger where it belongs not at low paid workers.

SofaSurferfinder · 14/12/2022 21:45

I sent a large parcel Monday 2nd signed for and arrived today , in the UK . I think cards and letter are bottom of the pile and parcels taking priority.

Horseyhorsey3 · 14/12/2022 22:07

Been waiting 2.5 weeks for my new credit card to arrive, no option to collect it in branch either... My brother is a postie so I understand and support why they are striking but he has told me that a lot of his colleagues are doing the bare minimum and waiting for a payoff.

Florenz · 14/12/2022 22:10

Banjoman · 14/12/2022 21:38

Or they strike for what is right! They keep striking until they’re listened to! They don’t be one a push over and accept working in a gig economy!

that’s another option….

Show quote history

If they keep striking there won't be a Royal Mail for them to go back to.

If listening to them means letting them work the same hours, the same way they've always done, before long there won't be a Royal Mail anymore.

There's no "what is right" about it. The needs of the customer change, the business adapts to that change, and the employees have to adapt to the needs of the business. That is how it works in the private sector. It should be how it works in the public sector as well.

Dancingonthemoonlight · 14/12/2022 22:22

Mistlewoeandwhine · 13/12/2022 13:49

I was a postie years ago. I worked in one of the biggest sorting offices in the U.K. The posties are the nicest people you could meet. If they are willing to go without pay for days at the time when a) they’d need the money most and b)theyd make the most money (they get a huge amount of overtime from the Christmas schedule) - does they not tell you something? People don’t give up much-needed money for no reason.

Since RM got privatised, it’s gone down the toilet as an employer. Stop moaning and support the posties! 🫶

I would but the service is an absolute shambles and is only being destroyed by the posties and the union. No sympathy.

Banjoman · 14/12/2022 22:23

Florenz · 14/12/2022 22:10

If they keep striking there won't be a Royal Mail for them to go back to.

If listening to them means letting them work the same hours, the same way they've always done, before long there won't be a Royal Mail anymore.

There's no "what is right" about it. The needs of the customer change, the business adapts to that change, and the employees have to adapt to the needs of the business. That is how it works in the private sector. It should be how it works in the public sector as well.

Show quote history

You’re like a stuck record!

You’ve got very low standards , particularly around childcare, others don’t share that and will continue to fight.

Florenz · 14/12/2022 22:34

Banjoman · 14/12/2022 22:23

You’re like a stuck record!

You’ve got very low standards , particularly around childcare, others don’t share that and will continue to fight.

Show quote history

You keep saying the same thing. How do you suppose RM adapts with the times if it's workers are not prepared to adapt?

Mandyjack · 14/12/2022 22:37

Have you seen the piles of unset t post and packages on TV etc?
You'd be better to use Evri or something

bossybloss · 14/12/2022 22:40

I have sent e cards this year ...due to cost of postage and also risk of people not getting their cards

Livelovebehappy · 14/12/2022 23:03

It’s been good for the high street shops. I’ve chosen to go out on foot to get presents this year rather than shop online. Royal Mail were crap before the strikes. The only company whose delivery times are great is Amazon.

Toddlerteaplease · 14/12/2022 23:08

I've had nothing for weeks. A parcel dispatched on 29th November still hasn't arrived.

DdraigGoch · 14/12/2022 23:46

YourMommaWasASnowblower · 13/12/2022 12:38

We have received nothing either and waiting on cards and 2 parcels. We haven’t even received general letters that are due now. We have had nothing since the beginning of December. They were useless before the strikes they are way beyond useless now. They don’t deserve the pay rises they are demanding. It’s a completely unreliable service.

Perhaps if they raised wages and stopped threatening conditions, the service would improve. You can't provide a good service with demoralised staff.

Tygger · 15/12/2022 00:06

I think that the posties are akin to turkeys voting for Christmas, before these strikes their performance wasn't great, it seems that delivery to your door will be phased out and like many EU countries you will have to collect your mail. A great deal of business mail is dispatched via independent mail companies, I think that Lloyd's bank use Whistl, with the postie just making the final delivery. Many of our Christmas cards are now sent electronically, we use Jacqui Lawson.

Fanakerpan · 15/12/2022 00:39

The postal service was privatised, so that alone speaks for itself, this was supposed to make it 'fit for purpose', and more efficient, utter rubbish the only people benefitting from that are the shareholders, it's not the posties that are to blame for the current situation, I would add that I am not a radical red, all the previously nationalised services that were privatised are an utter shambles and a disgrace in the way they are run, certainly not for the benefit of Jo Soap the public.

DdraigGoch · 15/12/2022 00:50

Florenz · 13/12/2022 20:47

The "low paid" Royal Mail staff will be out of a job soon if this keeps up. They need to realise that it's 2022. Not 1972. "Spanish practices" aren't acceptable in this day and age.

"Spanish practices"? You mean like the employer providing a fuelled vehicle for use on deliveries rather than asking employees to use their own cars?

angharadsgoat · 15/12/2022 01:06

If they keep striking there won't be a Royal Mail for them to go back to.

I don't know if we're thinking for the same reasons, but I think the same. Everyone has switched to other couriers (who often offer time slots of when they'll deliver) and may not switch back afterwards. It's a worry for them . I wish it could be resolved.

I received an email about another parcel of mine delayed ('only' sent on 9th December) but they predict, via tracking, it will arrive on the 24th. Except I think that's a strike day!

I've had hospital letters dated back weeks, and fortunately I received separate telephone calls to prevent me missing. Nothing life threatening, but might be more serious for others.

Lancrelady80 · 15/12/2022 01:09

Florenz seems to feel v strongly about this. Skin in the game, I wonder?

Anyway, The workers need to weigh up whether these strikes are worth destroying the business over ... actually no, the bosses of Royal Mail need to decide that and make an effort to deflate strike-busting egos in order to resolve this dispute. Offers to talk in order to postpone this/next weeks strikes were made by the CWU, RM didn't even bother responding.

And with regard to posties needing to change...dh only a few years had to be in at work by 4:45am. Now it's 7:12am. RM want it to be later still, meaning lone workers out in the dark in the middle of winter. There WILL be accidents. And given that a reasonable proportion are female, RM are happy to put them in vulnerable situations where sadly some will be at risk of attack and rape.

But hey ho, the needs of the business and all that.

DdraigGoch · 15/12/2022 01:12

amy85 · 14/12/2022 14:22

My son has missed a hospital appointment because we never got the appointment letter through the post...we now have to wait until February for his appointment that's after I had to pretty much beg for the appointment as they had took him off the consultants list for missing an appointment

My GP surgery sends appointments out by text. Why can't the rest of the NHS modernise?

dolor · 15/12/2022 01:26

They're striking, have you not noticed? 🙄

Spliffle · 15/12/2022 01:36

I agree with others that the stikers are only hastening the demise of RM. After all this trouble, many businesses will switch permanently to other services making RM unsustainable.