To think WTF is going on with Royal Mail?

[WorriedandScared93]

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

Some people on here are acting like they don’t have the right to strike as they’re insignificant low paid workers, who should be grateful that they get any wages and any treatment or expectation is fine, they should accept any conditions. Key board warriors who forget that these are real people, with real lives.

But in the real world, they’re getting lots of support.

Agree @Banjoman

Though l was coming on to say that I received letters today. Not that I like receiving bills on a Sunday, but they're trying to catch up in between the strike days.

Only because the NHS insists on sending letters instead of modernising and using SMS or email.

Anyone here not supporting the key workers they were clapping like seals for in 2020 should be ashamed of themselves.

Oh I definitely support the nurses also, though I did not take part in any clapping.

I do hope so @Banjoman.
Saw my postie on Friday, looking very weary and haggard. He can’t keep up with the strikes either, but said he appreciated my support. Poor bloke.

Our post has been dreadful ever since we moved here over 30 years ago. Our local delivery office has a reputation as one of the most hard-line union membership in the country. We go for days without post and then receive half a sackful through the letterbox, staff have been rude to my husband who couldn't get to the door within 10 seconds when they knocked whilst he was recovering from a knee operation, we have caught them putting a ' sorry you were out ' card through the door when they haven't knocked. On one occasion when I went to collect a parcel they had apparently tried to deliver, I was told there was no such parcel. When I asked how they knew to write the card for my young child - it was a birthday present - and not one of the adults, they claimed it was an error and insisted there was no such parcel. When I said I was taking the delivery card to the police to report a theft, the parcel was miraculously found in a cupboard. Then there was the time I paid for whatever the premium signed for service was at that time, only for the item to be lost. When I complained, I was told that they did not offer a guarantee that any items would actually be delivered. So why charge me an exorbitant price for a service they don't actually offer? These are just a few of the reasons I no longer choose to use RM unless I have no choice. Unfortunately there are occasions when I order from companies and it is not obvious until after the order is placed, that they use RM. I have two items caught up in the strike - one, a 24 hour tracked item that has been stuck in a super hub for 10 days and something I ordered for my dgs for Christmas. As it is letter sized, I don't expect to see it before Christmas. Going forward I won't order from that company again, which is a shame as it is a small business, but I can't afford to lose money like that.

Which not everyone has access to. My Uncle and his partner don't have email and don't use text messages. They either need a letter or for someone to call them on their landline.

But if the NHS only used texts and emails they'd have to. They wouldn't have any choice. The NHS cannot use an outdated form of communication, that costs much more and is far slower and more likely to not reach the recipient, just because of a very small number (that is getting smaller) of people that refuse to move with the times.

The Royal Mail is stuck in the past. When you go and collect a parcel that hasn't been delivered, the person on the desk there types the number off the card into a computer, writes down something off the computer onto the card, then disappears for minutes on end into the back before coming back with the parcel. It's such a weird and inefficient way of doing it. Argos was more advanced 30 years ago (probably 40 years ago).

Let’s keep in mind the NHS has only just stopped using fax machines. The NHS could do a lot of things if it had to.

They're 87 and 93! Why should they have to? The majority will want texts so why can't something be put in place for those who don't or can't? What about people who are blind? My DM was blind, suffered from depression and panicked if she didn't understand something. It would cause more stress and worry and make some people more likely to miss appointments.

People who can't see can't read letters either.

It's either for someone who can't see to get an email as they can use text to speak apps. You can't do that with a letter.

Maybe they could do something where texts and email was the standard but a box could be ticked to send letters out for people that require them. Which would be a lot better and cheaper than just churning out letters to everyone.

What is USO please?

The agreement where the Royal Mail has to carry letters to anywhere in the country at a set price, with delivery 6 days a week.

@Florenz 👍

Why are EVRI not delivering ffs?!

Because they've had such a massive increase in the number of people using the service, its overwhelmed them?

A person with loss of vision might request large print or braille. Not everyone is up to using technology, and even though the NHS should indeed move with the times that doesn't mean that a reliable letters service isn't needed for a significant minority.

There must already be an option on the system for "communication by braille" so just add one for "communication by letter" for people that require it, and everyone else just gets a text and an email. Far quicker and cheaper than sending out countless thousands of letters which can get lost, stolen, delayed due to strikes etc.

Email servers go down sometimes or make mysterious choices about what goes to spam. Peoples devices break. Letters used to be a reliable way of ensuring that information was delivered.

This. DM could see large print even though she was technically blind. There’s no way I would have been able to teach her to use an app or text to speak.

Why is it down to the person with the disability to make all the changes, whatever happened to reasonable adaptations? There should be a choice of how people are notified with letters in various formats as options.

Tbf most people with visual impairments have embraced technologies that make printed material more accessible to them (magnifiers, readers etc).

The world moves on. If you chose not to move on with it, or can't move on with it, then life does get more difficult.

Paid £7 for signed for,special tracked delivery for a DLA form to be sent off for my dd. Paid said £7 as post office recommended it with the strikes. That was nearly 2 weeks ago. And i certainly will be ringing and expecting refund as it was literally a letter. I could have walked to the office at the other end of the country and back by now ffs.

It might not have ended but it is probably very inconvenient at times when you need something the next day. Especially if bills or medical appointments are sent out by post. You can argue that they should go by email but the fact is that don't in the UK, so you need a sensible postal service.

As it is, I found when I was paying my father's energy bills for him when he went into a care home, that they were sent out a few days after their date, second class, (and then had to be redirected to me which was actually very quick but still added a minimum of 24 hours) and I had about 3 days to pay them when they arrived. Even without the redirection it would have been a pain. Add in a weekend with no post and you'd already be over the time for paying.

The fact that he should have paid by DD is neither here nor there, really. He didn't. And lots of people don't. And until they do, you need reliable letter deliveries. Ditto letters for medical appointments.

My husband still gets his credit card bills by post...