To tell you it’s starting

[LadyEdithCrawley]

Of course we all know Christmas postal times are crazy but I’ve had 2 parcels this week (separate delivery services) both meant to arrive today and they are both still showing as being in their respective sorting centres where they arrived earlier this week. One has been delayed to some point next week for delivery and the other is showing to now be delivered the first week of December!

So AIBU to warn you all, it’s already starting!!

(‘Its beginning to look like Christmas’ plays menacingly in the background)

I think this reflects the terrible post-privatisation state of the postal system rather than christmas. I was following a thread a few weeks ago where many people said they now only get one or two deliveries a week, and second class post was taking weeks to arrive.

Royal Mail barely deliver in our area (we live in a city, not the sticks). They're 'aware of the difficulty' only attending here once a week poses but nothing changes.

I suspect they've used up all the goodwill they had from their posties and cannot employ enough people to make up the shortfall that goodwill produced.

The non-Royal Mail delivery companies are so hit and miss depending on the sorting centre/courier they use at the time...and all are uniformly impossible to speak to an actual person who can help you when things go wrong.

Christmas is just going to make the shit show worse. I'm not planning on doing anything online outside of this month for Christmas.

I’m afraid that if it’s Royal Mail, everyone will be lucky to get anything. We get post once a week if we’re lucky and the last birthday card I posted, a week in advance of the birthday, arrived three weeks after the birthday, so had taken a month to travel 35 miles.

I don't think it's Christmas related, these issues have been going on for months.

Not just royal mail. I ordered some stuff on Saturday from b and q for delivery Sunday, paid next day delivery,, it arrived on Wednesday. I got a refund of postage, but I'm not putting furniture together after work so it's stuck waiting for this weekend,

Sorry should say they use DHL

I live in the north west and I have to say, usually our delivery is fantastic. Royal Mail is always delivered by 1pm and all other couriers are delivered on time.

I have just been thinking the same! Waiting for both Royal Mail and courier deliveries that would usually have taken a couple of days - it’s now three days for courier and since Saturday for the Royal Mail.

Have been wandering around house despondently, telling myself I must warn (heedless) younger relatives in particular that leaving everything until December 23rd isn’t going to work.

… Courier delivery has just arrived. Royal Mail - not.

In the cotswolds and no problems here sending or receiving mail.

Have to say the same.

Absolutely not had any issues that I have noticed.

Although last year there were some packages that took a few weeks to be delivered.

But currently no problems.

Royal Mail and Parcelforce are both utterly shit in our area (and we're in one of the London boroughs).

Postman comes round twice a week on a good week. Everything arrives late. Everything we post out is delayed by about a week.

I'm planning to post my Xmas cards next week and I still think it's touch and go whether they'll actually be delivered by Xmas.

Only got a couple of parcels to send out, so I'm planning to send them Special Delivery. Previous experience suggests that when I do this then they are delivered only 3 days late and I can claim a refund on the postage. So effectively free delivery, plus I can track them and make sure they do actually arrive at some point.

I live in a London borough and like pp am lucky to get post twice a week. I use evri and inpost now to send stuff and have never had an issue and their deliveries are fine too which is somewhat of a turnaround. I don't think Royal Mail will survive in its current form for long.

Royal Mail is very reliable here, we get our post every day around 2pm (south east, rural). We have a lot of deliveries and all the other couriers are fine too, except Evri which is hit and miss, but lately even they have been okay.

I’m in the south east, well south coast and our postie, who is lovely and works very hard, says it’s staff shortages and illness. Mind you, if they didn’t have to deliver the shit tonne of unsolicited and unwanted rubbish, that goes straight in the recycling, perhaps there’d be a better chance of actually getting post we do want and need.