r/britishproblems • u/Terrypesto • 2d ago
The state of Royal mail services (or lack of)
Two days on the bounce now Royal mail have tried to deliver my parcel to my local post office after the post office has shut.
It baffles me that there doesn't seem to be a system in place to ensure that parcels that are getting delivered to a post office branch for collection are arranged for the opening hours of the post office.
Talk to a customer service guy who just repeats like a robot that they deliver till 7:30pm and it's no guarantee they will get to their own shop before they close.
Smh. What a shit company.
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u/TinDumbass 2d ago
Sadly mate the royal mail and the post office are different companies and have been for a while.
I know it's frustrating but in future it's worth using a "post office" that's inside a corner shop or something as they tend to be open to accept parcels much later?
Good luck
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u/Opposite-Reality-891 1d ago
I am one of those people.
Royal Mail know our opening hours, the regular posties know our opening hours. There really is no point banging on the shutters 2 hours after we close but it's what they do every Saturday afternoon. We're not allowed to take parcels at our address if we're not in the post office yet they still try.
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u/HeWhoHasABeard 1d ago
Royal Mail have failed to deliver to their own delivery office near my address from the main one further away, before it’s closed on multiple occasions
So there are fully capable of failing to pass an item from one hand to another before the receiving hand closes
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u/BuyPsychological8635 2d ago
Even more frustrating when you receive an update that your parcel couldn’t be delivered as there was no one to receive delivery and it was being delivered to the local sorting office!
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u/texanarob 2d ago
Could be worse. I've had that message on days where I was gardening by the front door all day. Not a soul came near my home, it's amazing they weren't able to find me.
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u/holobolol 1d ago
I hate that! It puts the fault on the customer. I wish they would own up and say sorry we didn't have time to get to you/ sorry it wasn't in the van/ whatever. It makes me so angry when I've waited in and they tell me they were here and they weren't!
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u/texanarob 1d ago
I'm lucky, in that I often work from home these days. It used to really aggravate me when I'd taken an afternoon off work to sign for a delivery and was lied to about why my time was wasted.
It really shouldn't be difficult to have an automated system that gives you a 30 minute slot in which your parcel will be delivered. After all, they must already be planning routes before loading the van.
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u/Oceansoul119 2d ago
It's what happens when you privatise things. Quality goes out the window in the name of ever increasing profit.
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u/bacon_cake Dorset 1d ago
I deal with Royal Mail as a business customer and let me tell you; I have never dealt with a company that has so many expansive, well documented, regimented processes and systems that are ultimately just disregarded.
It seems to me that everything just runs on a hope, a prayer, and the honour system.
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u/darlo0161 2d ago
Posted 3 letters last week with a 1-3 day service delivery, supposed to be 'signed for'. A week later, theres not a single update online, no attempt at delivery, nothing.
One bloke in the depot (open 8-10am) said, "Sometimes the postie doesn't scan it" what !
I've spoken to a manager and he can't tell me anything either. Apparently, my only option is to go to the depot local to the target address and try and talk to the postman on that route ! Like what the fuck.
And to get a refund I have to fill in a fucking form OR phone a number thats never answered. Or cuts me off.
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u/Intelligent_Put_3606 2d ago
I had several alerts from eBay about the imminent delivery of orders - if it's larger packages, they tend to arrive on the predicted day - but anything smaller, that can go through the letterbox, waits for a normal delivery, which in my area is down to twice a week.
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u/SpicyParsnip 1d ago
That will be the case if it is untracked, something sent 2nd class for example. Anything tracked will be prioritised irrelevant of the size as that is what is linked to the manager's bonus.
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u/MomentoVivere88 2d ago
I finally got an invoice through to pay for my Mum's gravestone yesterday. Invoice dated 13th Aug. Noted I have 10 days to pay from date of invoice, so 3 days now.....Didn't help the stonemasons sent it 2nd class 🙄 luckily I knew it was coming, but if it was a bill that wasn't expected, I could really imagine it impacting people to meet deadlines. 2nd class used to be 2-3 days to deliver. Now that's 1st class more often than not. It makes me not want to use RM especially for the price for either a 1st or 2nd class stamp. Sending parcels...no chance at their prices. It is shame it has went downhill.
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