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

[LivIoe]

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

We had different family member post a better and parcel same day - we got the parcel few days later - letter with cheque in - no a sign that was at start of Decemeber.

I read somewhere they were prioritizing the parcels over letters - and some postal workers were speaking out as sometime letter are NHS hospitals letters - indeed had a family member get told off for missing a hospital appointment they knew nothing about - letter came two days later having taken over a week and a half.

No, so they cherry-pick the most profitable bits. How many times do you see on checkout forms "UK delivery except Highlands and Islands"?

Yeah they need to stop really. Me and DH ordered 6 items between us between 2nd and 8th of December. 3 Christmas gifts for him, (from me,) and 3 Christmas gifts for me (off him.)

So far, all 3 of my packages have come (so all 3 of HIS gifts.) But 2 of his packages (MY gifts) have yet to surface. They show as 'despatched' on 4th and 5th of December, but nothing since. 11-12 days later. I don't think they're coming!

Doubt I’ll even see mine.

I’ll tip my Evri courier though.

The Royal Mail has a universal service obligation under the Postal Services Act that requires it to accept letters and parcels Monday to Saturday. The emergency exemptions probably wouldn't give leeway to suspend this just to clear a backlog.

I'm not.
The strike was the last straw this year. He has taken too many items to the wrong house. Usually between us we have tracked and retrieved them but the last one was never found.

I thought postcodes on mail was meant to indicate where it should be delivered. Apparently not here.

It is the reason I started to ask sellers which delivery they use before buying, and then not use RM. I am heartily fed up with them whereas a couple of years ago I chose them above all others. Never again.

I'm still giving my postie his tip. He's out in all weathers, and aways chirpy. He checks if he hasn't seen people / notices stuff piling up. It's not the fault of the posties or the sorting office staff - they always took on additional staff from November (as someone above said) but haven't been this year due to the strikes - and tbh I agree with it. I've got about 4 parcels missing, and lots of cards, but they'll turn up eventually (I hope, most I know are probably sitting in those containers in Chester). Blame the bosses who are cutting staff & increasing workloads. Instead of one village, our postie now has 5 - which doesn't sound much until you look at the actual geographical area. And he's not even allowed to accept a refill of his flask, or water bottle in hot weather.

Lots of people are talking about using alternatives and the strike which have encouraged this so how does it benefit. Surely the RM is damaging itself with this strike and unlikely for conditions to improve

My Evri driver is great (so is the Yodel one but don't see him often). I gave him his usual gift, plus the one I normally give to the postman.

Postcodes don’t denote single houses, so it’s possible for post to be put through wrong doors in the same post code area. That said, the first line of your address AND your full postcode should identify your exact house and so, in theory things shouldn’t go missing. We do have things go walkies here though. Our house has a name, there are two other houses with similar names, eg ‘Church House’, ‘Church Cottage’, ‘Church View’ (not actual names) in the same postcode area, so we often end up with each others’ post.

It's pure greed.
They know they won't deliver most of what they already have.
I'm surprised they have enough space to store everything.

Our postperson can't read the numbers on the doors.
We frequently get stuff mis-delivered.
Last one was my new debit card...before that was I received my neighbours bank statement.
We've called them back as they walk down the drive and told them when they've got it wrong, but they don't give a 💩 and expect us to chase our own post.

It's a national scandal. I wouldn't be surprised if every business customer reviewed their use of RM as they are so unreliable.

Part me is releived that Her Late Majesty is not around to see RM (inevitably) go out of business.

Also, their comms on the move to barcode-only stamps have been dreadful and so many people will not know this is happening. It seems like a very convenient lack of promotion for RM.

I agree that royal mail is bad but I can't see that any other company has the capacity to cope with the mail
there is no alternative surely?

BUT if your parcels don't arrive do not expect customer to order from you again.

There's an alternative, go to the shops and buy there.

Thank you, I didn’t know that but it answer my question

On Saturday, I posted a parcel to be signed for at the post office. It arrived at its destination today…delivered by Amazon! They left it in the lobby and signed for it themselves.

I just buy most stuff off Amazon now as it consistently arrives next day as we have prime

It’s quite sad to see those piles of mail but RM will still need the custom I suppose

It’s a tough one as it will drive business away further

I closed my small business early for Christmas, at the busiest time of the year for business because of the strikes. I’m getting lots of complaints from customers about parcels sent in November. I won’t use RM again in the new year for shipping. Need to fill out their long compensation forms, send replacement parcels and still will lose the customers.

@MaggieMagpie357 thanks for the advice. I'll keep my fingers crossed it arrives soon.

We send everything tracked. If the parcel genuinely didn't arrive at all, then we'd refund. If it was delayed due to circumstances beyond our control then of course the customer is at liberty to go somewhere else in future.

I've had post earlier this week and a delivery today that was only ordered on Saturday......but still awaiting something that was dispatched in November! I reckon they're piling stuff on top of the older items and not getting to them.

What do you think would happen if they did stop accepting letters and parcels? Return them to the sender? Who is responsible for doing that?

Anyone ordering online from a business - small or large - has internet access therefore they are aware of the strikes affecting post. As a customer I can either take the risk of it getting stuck in the RM system somewhere or request another courier.

RM are digging their heels in on the changes to T&Cs, pay and working plans and basically telling staff that if they don’t like it they can find another job. These are people who have done the job for decades, the same round, they know everyone on their round and take pride in their work. They can do their round quickly, marching along in their shorts, you don’t get cold when you’re carrying 15kg and walking 4mph. They know their round so well they could do it with their eyes closed. They can do it quickly. If they do go and get replaced by agency staff this is the sort of service us as customers would be getting. The agency staff don’t know the round and often don’t give a shit, they just want to get the job done and get paid. The way I see the strikes is that it is an example of what can go wrong when your regular postie stops giving a shit too.

People will complain, “well it’s always been diabolical” - so either it’s got no worse, why are you complaining? Or it actually wasn’t all that shit, the postie was just overworked every day with all of the online shopping junk that people absolutely have to have. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone - this is what it would be like if it was gone.

Regarding letters - the moron CEO wants RM to move away from letters and be a parcel focussed company. So your birthday cards, hospital appointments, HMRC letters, gas bills and postcards will be at the bottom of the priority list. Someone’s cheap clothes from Shein will be prioritised over your sons hospital appointment and a cling film cutter from China will be delivered before your Nan’s birthday card. The future of RM! It’s not just pay and terms and conditions they are striking over, it is the absolute destruction of the job they take pride in.