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Mark, believe it, used to be on a contract for a now defunct parcel delivery company. We used to trunk the parcels from the big store depots to the parcel delivery warehouse. And at one we had to collect half a load and then go to another and when I got there they freely went through the cages previously loaded and removed items... And when I complained about the pilfering I was told in no uncertain terms that as a truck driver I do the same, my reply was that it appeared his culture made a trade of doing it. For the next load we had a fridge trailer with a wall to wall, floor to roof devider, that stopped their game.Comment
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Good news. I have been informed by RM my paints are out for delivery today. Hurrah!!
This is after a email just after 8 last evening saying it had left Norfolk Distribution Centre and I can expect it Monday between 11am and 2pm.
At least they are letting me know, have to give them credit where due!!Comment
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Royal Mail seems to be making a fair old c***-*p of its deliveries. We have not had problems - so far!
I think that one of the great assets of the Royal Mail is its Universal Service Obligation. This requires letters to be delivered 6 days a week, parcels 5 days and most importantly Uniform Pricing Throughout the UK. It is the last bit that is a mill stone around their neck compared to other carriers. When we lived on the Outer Hebrides many carriers would not deliver to the Highlands and Islands and those that did charged a premium, often that premium was very high. RM did deliver to us. The carriers have taken away much of the lucrative deliveries and left Royal Mail with the outlying communities which are expensive to deliver to and yet they are compelled to charge the uniform price. Without the RM many isolated communities would be at a great disadvantage.
I'm not trying to defend RM because they are getting so much wrong at the moment but many parts of the UK do need them. Far fewer letters are being sent now with the advent of email etc but parcel deliveries have grown enormously. The RM is going to find it increasingly difficult to survive if they are only left with the loss making deliveries which the other carriers don't want. I don't know what the answer is but Uniform Pricing for the whole UK is a valuable aspect of the online buying boom.Comment
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Royal Mail have always been prompt, courteous, and easy to deal with in my experience.
Interestingly I’ve had many issues with the “other” carriers. in particular, FedEx and Hermes service I’ve found to be execrable. We’ve had failed deliveries when we’ve been in, lost items, very late items, and parcels left out in the rain, despite having a porch with a door where there can be left completely in the dry (as previously instructed). One delivery of plants, for which my wife paid a premium for 24 hour delivery, came about ten days later. It should have been fruit trees, but had been in the van so long it was basically kindling. Contacting them to complain or rearranging delivery has also been awful because they are so difficult to deal with. The modus operandi of their call centre staff seems to be stall as long as you can and when the complainer finally loses their temper, hang up on them.
Now, when I buy mail order, which is frequently, I try to make sure it’s brought by a courier I trust (usually RM). I’ve not had a red card for a failed delivery from them since I moved here about four and half years ago. In fact, I don’t even know where my local sorting office is.
These days, if I do get issues with a courier I take it straight back to the vendor of the item in the hope that repeated issues will prompt them to pick someone better.Comment
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It's very possible geographical Tim. Portland mail office has never been 100%. I've lived here for nigh on 55 years now and they're not the greatest. I have seen others complain about the other couriers and indeed had a few problems with one or two but not on the scale of Royal Mail errors.Comment
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Pretty sure it is. My daughter lives in London and to get a Xmas card to her on time you’d probably have to send it in October :smiling:Comment
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As someone who lies in the countryside in a part of the UK that gets terrible service levels from almost every service industry. here are the positives I find with parcels delivered by Royal Mail
1. the track and trace app/website works
2. a parcel sent anywhere in the UK to my house costs exactly the same money for the same level of service.
2a. 48 hours delivery is 48 hours delivery max.
3. a non-deliverable parcel (due to signature requirement and no one home) results in a card left in the letter box and ability to collect from whatever time is stated on the card.
No, Royal Mail are not perfect, but they and Amazon work as a far better team than any other delivery system up here
other services ( e.g. Evri ( the delivery guy is good , the service time is shocking )
1. track n trace is a gamble ( most of the time it updates only after delivery )
2. it costs me a lot more to get a parcel sent here , than it does for me to send in the opposite direction.
2a. 48 hour delivery is the time it takes to get to the local depot ...... the local depot is in Dundee , a mere 142 miles away , Hermes/Evri do not do 48 hour delivery North of Edinburgh.
3. a non deliverable parcel results in an inability to arrange redelivery as the person delivering didn't leave any notification.
3a. parcels get delivered , no photo taken, and claims by Evri of delivery at 9pm ..... i live up a road that any vehicle needs lights on to travel up , and as we are at the corner at the top of a hill , we see all car lights light up our front of house/garden.
The local driver knows us and often apologises for the ''incorrect info supplied by the depot'' when parcels location are queried.
Many of the bigger companies dont have vehicles up here and use local delivery services for ''final mile''Comment
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