To think post office is totally f@cked?

[BestieNo1]

Have you posted anything lately?

My experience of posting gifts and cards lately!

A) posted 2 books to 2 separate friends in Jan and neither ever received them!

B) posted get well card with surprise commemorative spice girls stamps in them and it got there half opened with the stamps removed! Aw it was to cheer up a poorly friend too!

C) friend sent me a card in posh gold envelope. It was never received!!

D) sent a parcel to friend in US for a week delivery and was quoted £28!!! That was more than the gift FGS!!

E) local post office can't employ any staff as no-one is applying.

What's your experience?

Bearing in mind the huge post office compensation pay out which will be going to the sub-post office managers soon is the post office going rapidly downhill in terms of (honest) employees, price and service levels?

So sad I heard that an ex employee has said it's a strategy to sell off all the profitable parts and leave us with the dregs!

Until recently I'd have not recognised these issues. But last week I received a parcel missing half the secondhand dirt cheap t shirts bought online. Literally worth couple of £ and somehow one was either deliberately nicked or accidentally fell out. And parcel resealed. Made me realise I really need to use tracked signed in future despite the cost sadly.

You're confusing Post Office with Royal Mail.

You mean Royal Mail

I went into the Post Office and asked the member of staff of they were having a good day and he said sadly not as the workers, including him were being cut to the bare minimum and he said because of the lack of staff, they were running as if they were on Christmas day. He referenced the Post Office scandal and them having to recoup their losses. Terrible.

I think the Post Office which you mention is one thing and Royal Mail which is having real issues at present servicing letter etc deliveries, is entirely separate.

https://www.postoffice.co.uk/

https://www.royalmail.com/

It's Royal Mail as PP have said but I agree with your point. I posted a card in early January, first class stamp, put in a main post box (one of the priority ones during covid times), to an address 2 miles away. It never arrived. I sent a handful of Christmas cards around the localish area and they arrived gradually over the course of about 10 days.

We sent a package to the States in, I think it was July, tracked and signed. Never got there. Got texts saying it was in Milton Keynes, and that was it. We got a refund for the postage and some of the contents, but some of it was personal stuff that was just lost. Now if we have to send something we use Fedex. More expensive, but it gets there.

My local one closed, then re-opened as part of one of these small supermarkets; it's got very little stock but the manager deals drugs from the premises so I no doubt makes his money there

They're not even discreet about it and addicts leave openly stuffing wraps in their pockets, but as a postmaster I suppose he's untouchable now so will probably get away with it

Our local post office appear to be thriving, its run by three lovely ladies who can’t do enough for you. I would never post anything of value these days though.

Royal Mail and Post Office are two seperate companies. Post Office can only advise about deliveries, they have no other system and use the same website with the same information that the public use to track an item.

Royal Mail will start prioritising parcel deliveries over letter deliveries. This may mean you will get one delivery a week of letters. Special Delivery items will also still arrive when stated e.g. 1pm next day. Parcels will still be delivered daily.

The series about the Post Office was a great watch and very much needed to kick start the action against the individuals in the Post Office, although it shouldn't have taken tv for it to happen. However, I do believe that since the series was aired, it has created a divide in the public. Some people are horrified and are supporting Post Offices and Sub Postmasters more than ever. The others are not using the Post Office as much, if at all but this is the time that Sub Postmasters and Post Offices need support. Post Offices don't just send mail. They are peoples banks in towns where all the banks are closed. They are the first port of call for people who need information on car tax when they can't get through to or get an answer from DVLA. They issue International Driving Permits, have the exact knowledge of how to send a passport application that will not get rejected, they send money all around the world. They deal in hundreds of different currencies and know exactly which currency is used or whether it is a closed currency. The people who work at Post Offices are not just sending parcels. They have the knowledge of many different industries and they are paid minimum wage.

Our local post office is lovely but it's also a tearoom/ cafe/ ice cream counter/ gift shop and sells eggs/ has a fresh fruit and veg stand run on behalf of a greengrocer the next town over. Dog friendly with free biscuits/ treats. I stop in for coffee and cake when we've had a soggy walk in the rain. The dog loves a snooze on the heated floor.

Oh really I thought post and post office were the same but of course you are right!! Well the "royal " mail is no longer royal as it's more like "robbers mail" these days!

Another depressing realisation of a British institution that has gone to sh:t as the facade has been lifted.

So v depressing! 🙈

It's disappointing from Royal Mail and the Conservatives. The privatisation of the business was supposed to rid it of restrictive labour practices and attract new investment to make the business a model of efficiency and good service. It's clearly failed to do that, and the postal regulator (now part of OFCOM) is coming under pressure to reduce Royal Mail's service standards.

Anyone tried to put a claim in for a lost item?

They required a proof of posting (which I didn't have) for a tracked item that was tracked on their system up to the point it went missing. But that wasn't sufficient evidence of it having been posted!

I did eventually get a cheque but not after a big email argument.

It’s actually very cheap to post a letter for what the service actually is, it’s just that it’s gone up so significantly that people think it’s expensive.

The issue is that the universal service agreement is no longer applicable to a private business model. The government need to agree to change the conditions on it. RM is still the best service we have and significantly better than the majority of other counties.

Sent friend a birthday card, 1st class.
Sent it on a Monday her birthday was following Saturday. She received it 10 days later!

Our post office which is in Whsmith has gone to pot lately. Agency staff who are clueless and massive queues - try and avoid it if l can.

My post office is also within a WH Smith and the employee I talked to said they get paid significantly less because it is a franchise and not a stand alone Post Office. Terrible.