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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why Royal Mail are accepting parcels at this point?

140 replies

LivIoe · 16/12/2022 10:36

Surely it’s time to stop, and clear backlog? I’ve had no post on a month, parcels posted in mid-November haven’t arrived.

Social media shows crazy pile ups.

I don’t begrudge the strikers, but surely the company needs to pause at this point?

Im also amazed small businesses are still using them frankly- I’ve had a regular order today dispatched with Royal Mail… I’m not hopeful it’ll arrive

OP posts:
DesertIslandPenguin · 16/12/2022 12:08

I have had all my online purchases delivered (wasn't given a choice of couriers so crossed my fingers and hoped for the best) but we are still awaiting a college offer letter that was sent just before Black Friday. It only had to cross from one side of the city to the other! I'll have to chase it up in the New Year...

MadCatandBirdLady · 16/12/2022 12:14

Had a parcel delivered Thursday. Wasn’t in so asked for it to be delivered today. Got a text at 4.30 am saying we weren’t in and they were unable to deliver the parcel. Complete lie. No attempt to deliver at all.
Finding it hard to have sympathy for them really as a business. However the posties are usually lovely

fernz · 16/12/2022 12:15

I finally received an online order today that was sent on 28th November.

Small businesses use RM because especially for smaller items that can be sent as a large letter, RM is by far the best value for money. If you're selling small items in the £10-20 price bracket, customers don't want to pay £5 for delivery.

Other courier companies are also struggling massively with the increased parcel numbers and the weather. DPD for example is not delivering at all in some parts of the country and have given business strict limits for how many parcels they will take so any company not already using them won't be able to ship with them now at all.

LovelyRachel · 16/12/2022 12:17

We had post yesterday (I'm sure it was a strike day!) - but it was ALL spam post.

Once I unsubscribe from it all - I'll have less need for the Royal Mail. We sent Christmas presents to family via DPD. We sent it yesterday at 1pm and it was already delivered today 400 miles away.

Can't go wrong with that 😊

Precipice · 16/12/2022 12:20

If they stopped completely, the businesses using them still wouldn't switch automatically to something else. You might say if you're not getting your parcel this makes little difference, but some places offer free returns but only through their carrier. I wonder how that will work in practice if it doesn't ever get delivered, but since you should have proof of posting, hopefully then refunds get processed as it's not the customer's fault.

Evri have been delivering well in my area - but I have something to return where they deliver with Evri but accept it back by RM.

Soothsayer1 · 16/12/2022 12:20

Surely no other company has the infrastructure to compete with royal mail?

DailyMailReporterTellMeAllYourSecrets · 16/12/2022 12:21

Yeah right. And EVRI. The only reliable one at the moment seems to be Amazon, followed closely by DPD.

fifteenohfour · 16/12/2022 12:23

It's a postcode lottery our RM with incoming mail hasn't been affected but I know my grandad hasn't got parcels I sent in November. Stupid me should of used Amazon prime to get them to him instead.

itsybitzy · 16/12/2022 12:24

I agree with you. It's not on at all is it.

LovelyRachel · 16/12/2022 12:25

If anyone needs to send a parcel. Give DPD a try. We dropped ours off at a local shop and it was so easy to send.

Evri is delivering on time here!

GeneratedRandomly · 16/12/2022 12:26

Small businesses use RM because especially for smaller items that can be sent as a large letter, RM is by far the best value for money. If you're selling small items in the £10-20 price bracket, customers don't want to pay £5 for delivery.

But what is the point of this if the strikes cause the end for the small businesses?
Other companies will pick up the work and it will be too late.

People don't want to pay high prices for delivery, it is often partially absorbed by the seller. If businesses can't claim compensation as mentioned above, there will be less items to be sent because there will be no businesses to use RM in the first place. Jobs will be lost at RM. End of an era.

I'm not posting anything currently and will reconsider what to do next year but have lost faith in RM, the waste of all those parcels is appalling, people aren't going to want rat infested post that has been left out in all weathers.

MaggieMagpie357 · 16/12/2022 12:27

@h78 I ordered a birthday gift for my SIL on 30/11, it was shipped next day via RM48 and has literally arrived today (16/12)

Do you have any tracking you can check? Hope it arrives soon!

Thriwit · 16/12/2022 12:27

I ordered something a few days ago, the company usually use DPD. Just had email from the company saying DPD aren’t accepting any parcels for delivery to my area! I can choose to either wait& see whether they’ll accept again soon, or use Royal Mail 24Tracked. Both seem like shit options, I don’t really know which to pick

Bluevelvetsofa · 16/12/2022 12:27

I’ve been asked to review something from a company that uses RM. It took a month for it to arrive and I won’t get anything else from them if they continue to use RM.

I agree that you should be able to find out the carrier, before you place an order.

Toddlerteaplease · 16/12/2022 12:29

I've had no mail for weeks. Waiting for an ID badge and time sheets for an agency job. And some cards I ordered at the end of November.

CharityShopChic · 16/12/2022 12:31

DS had a Christmas job last year as a parcel sorter, he started end Nov and worked right through to the weekend after Christmas. Applied again this year - no temps being taken on because of the strikes, and the unions kicking off about temps being asked to do the work of the strikers.

So as well as the strikes, they have even fewer members of staff than they usually do to clear the backlog.

I saw a BBC reporter asking a union official about this - you're in a declining market, parcels are the profitable part of the business, there are alternatives, you are sabotaging your future viability. Unions don't care.

Original poster
LivIoe · 16/12/2022 12:32

I feel bad, but I’ve just asked eBay to step in and refund a parcel from 21st November.
Its not a small amount I can write off at all (£90), and there’s a chance it’s realistically ruined or undeliverable at this point from what I’ve heard.

OP posts:
FastandLoose · 16/12/2022 12:32

As a small business owner, whichever way we go, it’s a nightmare for us. We’ve used Royal Mail generally happily for years but are now offering customers to option of RM, Evri or DPD but as a company are too small to have a regular account with Evri, DPD won’t collect due to their own issues. So I have to waste many hours taking courier orders to local shops, which don’t really have the capacity.

I’ve gone out of my way to pre-warn customers of delays, which is losing us a load of business compared to Amazon or large companies who have more postal options.

We've brought last posting dates well before the already earlier Royal Mail one, again a big hit for us at our busiest time of year. In the quite possible event that they don’t deliver before Christmas or lose a large number of parcels, many customers will rightly be let down and angry and financially we’ll be stuffed.

Happy days.

FastandLoose · 16/12/2022 12:34

Should say, most parcels are being delivered, if slowly. It’s very uneven. Ultimately this is going to massively hasten the decline of Royal Mail as so many people just have to look elsewhere for delivery services, whether they want to or not.

Original poster
LivIoe · 16/12/2022 12:38

Evri round here have changed into an impressive outfit. I’ve had all their parcels quicker than promised, most next day. Just had a yodel book arrive very fast too.

OP posts:
GimmeSleep · 16/12/2022 12:42

Evri are trying their best round here, drivers posting on local FB groups with updates, working as many hours as they can to deliver parcels and asking people to get things delivered to local parcel shops where possible.

Not had any issues with RM personally although I've not ordered much that's being sent by them and not bothered if Christmas cards don't arrive.

DPD on the other hand usually the best courier in this area are not delivering currently😫

Fossie · 16/12/2022 12:47

We are not bothering with sending Christmas cards this year though I had hoped to use up a lot of the old stamps. I wonder if this year will mark the end of the Christmas card?

LynneBenfield · 16/12/2022 12:47

RM have been slow locally but everything expected has now been delivered. Thankfully, by total fluke, we were ahead of schedule this year. Had I have left it until my usual point in the year to start shopping, I’d be screwed.

EVRI are the only ones I’m having an issue with. I’ve been waiting on a parcel coming via them for 20 days now. Customer services are no use, they just keep telling me that they have a backlog and expect it to be delivered in the next 10 days. The retailer isn’t much more help, just sending me an auto reply because they’ve been inundated with emails. Probably a load of customers like me, wondering wtf there parcels are and requesting a refund.

LovelyRachel · 16/12/2022 12:48

Are people tipping their posties as usual this Christmas?

PeekAtYou · 16/12/2022 12:51

The problems with RM is at the top and people paying them for services makes their bottom line look good.

I suspect that new mail sacks are piled onto the old so parcels sent now are more likely to reach the recipient than ones sent in late November.

Amazon seem to be the only ones consistently delivering packages on time. With the other couriers it seems to be pot luck. Evri sent me my contact lenses with next day delivery but owe me a parcel from November.