Royal Mail logic

[Simpo Two]

This is not really a rant because it doesn't have any fks in it, but I just needed to get it off my chest.

Today I had to post something which needs to arrive tomorrow. It should not be difficult; the Victorians managed it 120 years ago with steam engines and horses. Unfortunately I was too late for Special Delivery (cut-off time 4.45pm) and acceptance at the counter for first class (also 4.45pm). However there's a postbox outside from which the last collection is 5.45pm. Hurrah! I can use that!

Perhaps, seeing as it's important and SD isn't an option, I should get a Proof of Posting (POP), so at least I can prove I did my best. I go inside and ask the woman at the counter. She can give me a POP, but only if I give the letter to her. Unfortunately, giving the letter to her means that it's not going in the box outside, but will fester inside until tomorrow. I ask her if she can give me POP and then I can post it in the box outside. No, she can't do that because then she hasn't got proof I actually posted it. Doh! It crosses my mind to suggest that she could follow me out and watch me post it, as it's only 30 yards away, but something tells me I'd be wasting my time.

So I summarise for her: 'So the only way I can get POP is for it to leave tomorrow?' She doesn't understand, so I explain it again. Then she agrees. I can post it outside and it will leave today, but if I want POP it wil have to be posted inside and then it won't go until tomorrow.

And of course, in return for postal charges going up faster than petrol, I get one delivery at noon instead of deliveries at 8.30am and 11.00am, and an hour off the last posting time.

Is this country fked or what?

[pokethepope]

I understand your point, but they have to have a cut off at some point. And could you not scan & email or fax and then send the original the next day by SD?

[GreenV8S]

Simpo Two said:

I was too late ... it's important ... I did my best

You were too late posting the letter, why is that their fault?

[Simpo Two]

GreenV8S said:

You were too late posting the letter, why is that their fault?

The collection from the box 30 yards away was 5.45pm. Not a mile away, not two miles away - 30 yards away.

It's not their 'fault' - it's their system. How can it be in their interests to send a van out for 4.45pm and then have to do it all over again an hour later? Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier for them to make one collection at 5.45pm - just like they now only make one delivery to my house (usually around midday or early afternoon) instead of two?

Had the woman had any initiative she could have seen the stupidity of the situation and said 'I'll just pop out and see you post it'. After all, I was the only customer there. But people don't want to help or think - they just cling to 'the system' - even it's patently stupid or unhelpful. That is my point. And that makes the lives of ordinary mortals still harder.

[tribbles]

Simpo Two said:

Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier for them to make one collection at 5.45pm - just like they now only make one delivery to my house (usually around midday or early afternoon) instead of two?

The post office may (probably does) close before 5:45, so rather than keeping staff working there, it'll be "better" to close it at, say, 5:00.

They could always change the 5:45 to 4:45 for cost effectiveness

[Podie]

Simpo Two said:

Today I had to post something which needs to arrive tomorrow. It should not be difficult; the Victorians managed it 120 years ago with steam engines and horses. Unfortunately I was too late for Special Delivery (cut-off time 4.45pm) and acceptance at the counter for first class (also 4.45pm). However there's a postbox outside from which the last collection is 5.45pm. Hurrah! I can use that!

2 things occur to me...

1) What time was the Victorians cut-off time for next day delivery?
2) You still have a local post office

[Nurburgsingh]

The "Post Office" and "Royal Mail" are two completly different entities. The Post Office acts as an agent to Royal Mail in the same way as it does for the DVLA for roadtax.

The letter box outside belongs to Royal Mail. so the PO can't issue you a POP for that any more than they could issue you a dry cleaning ticket if you dropped your trousers off at Sketchleys.

The only other option, which you may or may not have depending on where you live, would have been to go to the main sorting office. AFAIK some still offer an over counter service after the last collections are made from the boxes.

[SGirl]

The Royal Mail do have their little foibles, don't they? And more than their fair share of jobsworths, it seems.

I received a letter the other day that was in a large envelope, but with a small envelope first class stamp on it. This meant the letter was underpaid by 8p.

Now, our usual postie would've just ignored it and dropped it off anyway, but she's on holiday. So the jobsworth postie stuck a sticker on it saying I had to pay the 8p plus a £1 handling charge. And then instead of trying to deliver it to the house, he dropped off a card at the house telling me to go and get it from the sorting office.

So, to summarise: I had to take 20 minutes out of my (currently massively busy) day to go and pick it up. I had to pay for petrol to go and pick it up. And then I had to pay *them* £1 for handling?!

And all over 8p.

[zcacogp]

SGirl said:

So, to summarise: I had to take 20 minutes out of my (currently massively busy) day to go and pick it up. I had to pay for petrol to go and pick it up. And then I had to pay *them* £1 for handling?!

And all over 8p.

Now that sort of thing would really piss me off. I sympathise.


Oli.

[GreenV8S]

Simpo Two said:

GreenV8S said:

You were too late posting the letter, why is that their fault?

The collection from the box 30 yards away was 5.45pm. Not a mile away, not two miles away - 30 yards away.

Yes, I'm sure you'd prefer that somebody popped into your office and collected it for you, and reminded you when it was time for your afternoon nap and so on. But YOU missed the post, not them. It's your problem, caused by your actions.

[Nurburgsingh]

SGirl said:

Now, our usual postie would've just ignored it and dropped it off anyway, but she's on holiday. So the jobsworth postie stuck a sticker on it saying I had to pay the 8p plus a £1 handling charge. And then instead of trying to deliver it to the house, he dropped off a card at the house telling me to go and get it from the sorting office.

And if every friendly postie ignored all of the little 8p underpayments then RM would make even less money, and then end up with even less staff and thus provide the rest of us with even poorer service than they do now. Great!

thanks!

[SLacKer]

Nearly as daft as recorded delivery items having a tracking number which when used tells you that it cannot be tracked until it is delivered by which time of course I already have it and don't need to track it at all.

[ninja-lewis]

SLacKer said:

Nearly as daft as recorded delivery items having a tracking number which when used tells you that it cannot be tracked until it is delivered by which time of course I already have it and don't need to track it at all.

It's not meant as a tracking service; it's simply proof of delivery hence "Recorded Signed For".

[Deva Link]

zcacogp said:

SGirl said:

So, to summarise: I had to take 20 minutes out of my (currently massively busy) day to go and pick it up. I had to pay for petrol to go and pick it up. And then I had to pay *them* £1 for handling?!

And all over 8p.

Now that sort of thing would really piss me off. I sympathise.

That happened to us about 10 times last Christmas with slightly over-sized Christmas cards - my missus passes the sorting office on the way home so it's not out of our way, but the trouble is that about 2000 other people also call in at that time, so there was usually quite a wait.

[Engineer1]

SLacKer said:

Nearly as daft as recorded delivery items having a tracking number which when used tells you that it cannot be tracked until it is delivered by which time of course I already have it and don't need to track it at all.

Ah no, you forget the Recorded package will have been signed for then disappear into the ether, Royal Mail will then say its been signed for and hence delivered.

[SLacKer]

ninja-lewis said:

SLacKer said:

Nearly as daft as recorded delivery items having a tracking number which when used tells you that it cannot be tracked until it is delivered by which time of course I already have it and don't need to track it at all.

It's not meant as a tracking service; it's simply proof of delivery hence "Recorded Signed For".

Well then why is it called a tracking number..??????

[LMC]

Don't get me started on Royal Mail/ParcelForce

The tts tried to deliver a package to me (no tracking) but couldn't. The guy left a card saying the parcel had been taken to their depot, 15 miles away, and I would have to collect it.

Off I goes, only to be told that it was actually in my local Post Office, a mere 3 miles away from my house.

Off I pops, and the bh behind the counter wouldn't release it until I handed her 50p !!!!!!!!!

I argued til I was blue in the face, but she wasn't for budging. If it wasn't something expensive I would have told her to shove it right up her fat arse, out of principle

[Vron]

Yesterday I had to return two small packages to Amazon. They were each about the size of a paperback book and had prepaid return labels on them. The Postman / Van was there collecting the parcels. I asked him if I could pop the parcels in the sack he was holding to which he barked they had to go over the post office counter. I then had to watch him walk past me into the post office, collect some more parcels and then walk out so I missed the collection.

Knob

[SGirl]

Nurburgsingh said:

And if every friendly postie ignored all of the little 8p underpayments then RM would make even less money, and then end up with even less staff and thus provide the rest of us with even poorer service than they do now. Great!

thanks!

You're welcome. This wasn't aimed at you personally. You wouldn't have got 8p's worth of service less, you know...

Where did I say I didn't want to pay it? I didn't have a problem with paying the 8p, though the £1 handling charge is a bit enthusiastic. No, my problem was with the jobsworth postie not even attempting to deliver it. He cost me 20 minutes + petrol. At this current busy time, that's a fair amount of money - about £70.

So how come it's not okay to cost the post office a piddling 8p, when it's okay to cost me around £70 in lost revenue?

[illmonkey]

SGirl said:

Nurburgsingh said:

And if every friendly postie ignored all of the little 8p underpayments then RM would make even less money, and then end up with even less staff and thus provide the rest of us with even poorer service than they do now. Great!

thanks!

You're welcome. This wasn't aimed at you personally. You wouldn't have got 8p's worth of service less, you know...

Where did I say I didn't want to pay it? I didn't have a problem with paying the 8p, though the £1 handling charge is a bit enthusiastic. No, my problem was with the jobsworth postie not even attempting to deliver it. He cost me 20 minutes + petrol. At this current busy time, that's a fair amount of money - about £70.

So how come it's not okay to cost the post office a piddling 8p, when it's okay to cost me around £70 in lost revenue?

£180/hour, good going...

The £1 covers all things like storing it, they could operate out of smaller buildings if they never had to store parcels. Also the stupid bit of card they give you. The fact they get a letter to you for only 36p is pretty good going.