Royal mail

[champion7]

Apologes for this rant but i got in from work at 2 oclock ,by the time i had had a shower the postmen had been and surprise surprise none of it was for me.It took me 20 mins to walk around the neighbour hood delivering other peoples mail that the postman had felt lazy enough to dump on me.
I will now have to wait until at least 6 tonight for mine to appear from someone else's home.This has happened every day this week.
On phoning the PO and complaining i was told to think my self lucky that we had a postman in our area this week.

And they call it the people's post office.

 

[strings]

I have never had that problem in the Midlands, but my parents in Littlehampton have the same problem as you. They have taken to writing 'this letter was not delivered to the correct address' on the front and then sticking it into a post box.

 

[Mendoza]

I think that it is a disgrace that someone has to drive to a post box, pick up all the mail in it, take it to its nearest sorting office, where people spend ages sorting and franking it. From there it gets driven to its destinations nearest sorting office, for further sorting, so it can can be picked up by a postman come rain or shine, who then drives it near some houses, to hand deliver it to each and every house that has a letter, and all for 32p. What a rip off!!!

 

[strings]

I think that it is a disgrace that someone has to drive to a post box, pick up all the mail in it, take it to its nearest sorting office, where people spend ages sorting and franking it. From there it gets driven to its destinations nearest sorting office, for further sorting, so it can can be picked up by a postman come rain or shine, who then drives it near some houses, to hand deliver it to each and every house that has a letter, and all for 32p. What a rip off!!!

that actually made me laugh. It does sort of put things into perspective!

 

[Skint Gull]

I think that it is a disgrace that someone has to drive to a post box, pick up all the mail in it, take it to its nearest sorting office, where people spend ages sorting and franking it. From there it gets driven to its destinations nearest sorting office, for further sorting, so it can can be picked up by a postman come rain or shine, who then drives it near some houses, to hand deliver it to each and every house that has a letter, and all for 32p. What a rip off!!!

Exactly, if Royal Mail were allowed to charge what it actually cost them I dare say most banks and business would be ensuring they contact their customers by e-mail. Didn't someone say on here before it cost more like double the 32p we currently pay?

 

[Djmiles]

We've been getting our post at 2/3pm lately, which is a joke!

 

[bhaexpress]

We've been getting our post at 2/3pm lately, which is a joke!

The reason for that is a shortage of postmen, it's poorly paid and who wants to be out at this time of year ?

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

I would (and have) put it back in the post with a sarcy note for the postman to deliver to the correct address next time.

 

[Stat Brother]

The reason for that is a shortage of postmen, it's poorly paid and who wants to be out at this time of year ?

I do, I love being a postman.

Sadly though there is a thousand and one things wrong with RM, and the people charged with sorting it out, just can't, again for a thousand and one different reasons.

But the basic problem is institutionalised (sp) slackness.

We are all entitled to make the odd mistake, but if you have been particularly shat upon, on a regular basis, you need to speak to your depot DOM, not call centre. Writing on the letter makes no difference, unless the other person complains.

For those of us who do try, PLEASE make sure you know the EXACT day you have been messed around, as 99% of the time you won't have the same postie for 6 days a week.

 

[Stat Brother]

We've been getting our post at 2/3pm lately, which is a joke!

Please god don't tell me you were one of those who complained, last year, about not getting any post, on strike days.
As us working that late was one of the reasons for striking.

 

[Djmiles]

Please god don't tell me you were one of those who complained, last year, about not getting any post, on strike days.
As us working that late was one of the reasons for striking.

Na not much point in complaining about it, we've just resigned ourselves to getting post at ridiculous times!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Apologes for this rant but i got in from work at 2 oclock ,by the time i had had a shower the postmen had been and surprise surprise none of it was for me.It took me 20 mins to walk around the neighbour hood delivering other peoples mail that the postman had felt lazy enough to dump on me.

Chuck it all back in the postbox.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

I think that it is a disgrace that someone has to drive to a post box, pick up all the mail in it, take it to its nearest sorting office, where people spend ages sorting and franking it. From there it gets driven to its destinations nearest sorting office, for further sorting, so it can can be picked up by a postman come rain or shine, who then drives it near some houses, to hand deliver it to each and every house that has a letter, and all for 32p. What a rip off!!!

Did You realise that the Royal Mail have just Doubled their PROFITS and they are not delivering as much either so 32p is actually ripping us off IMO.

Royal Mail Doubles Profit But Fewer Letters Being Sent | Business | Sky News

 

[Cheshire Cat]

...and you wonder why...

BBC NEWS | Business | Royal Mail profits sharply higher

Royal Mail profits sharply higher

Making money, but Royal Mail is delivering fewer letters
Royal Mail doubled its operating profits to £177m in the first half of 2008/09 from a year ago, helped by cost cuts and greater efficiency.

The average daily postbag is now 79 million items. This is five million fewer letters than two years ago.

The postal group is facing competition from commercial rivals, who handle one in three of every letter posted.

The figure provided does not include exceptional items - such as redundancy costs - which may have reduced profits.

A clearer picture of its profitability will emerge in its annual results.

Royal Mail also said stock market falls had pushed the group's pension deficit from £2.9bn in March this year to £4bn.

Hard times

Chairman Allan Leighton said the results showed that progress was being made in tough economic circumstances.

"This strong performance has been delivered against a backdrop of falling mail volumes, increased competition, an unsatisfactory regulatory regime and the challenge of meeting the heavy demands of our pension scheme," he said.

Cost cuts and improved efficiency have contributed to rising profits and the group will soon have closed nearly 2,500 post offices.

Royal Mail wants "fairer" regulation, arguing that it is difficult to change prices and introduce new products and services in the competitive business mail market.

A government decision on the future of the Post Office Card Account - which is expected soon - is of "critical importance" to its future, it said.

Universal problems

Royal Mail's 350-year monopoly ended at the start of 2006, when other licensed operators were given the right to collect and deliver mail.

While it has lost business in the lucrative bulk mail collection and sorting market, it is still obliged to deliver letters to and from anywhere in the UK at a uniform tariff.

This Universal Service, as it is called, continues to be loss-making, the group said.

It noted that there were "huge challenges to be overcome to secure the future of the Universal Service".

 

[Stat Brother]

That's because the 'bean counters' are only interested in final spend, per week, and not if the job can logistically be done, or is being done properly.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

The reason for that is a shortage of postmen, it's poorly paid and who wants to be out at this time of year ?

It's not that poorly paid and i know several posties on 6 Weeks hols a year i would actually say the only downside to the job is it gets monotonous after a few months and your brain dies and shrivels up!

 

[Frutos]

We received some post this morning which had our full, hand-written address on it, but no stamp whatsoever.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

It's not that poorly paid and i know several posties on 6 Weeks hols a year i would actually say the only downside to the job is it gets monotonous after a few months and your brain dies and shrivels up!

The take home pay is crap now that various allowances have been eliminated due to new ways of working which remove productivity bonuses and shift allowances. The posties who get 6 weeks holidays a year have been in the job for over 20 years and progressed on to the maximum.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

We've been getting our post at 2/3pm lately, which is a joke!

Thats all down to new working practices brought in which means they dont start work until later and the priority after sorting is to get the business mail out and delivered to reach targets. Last Thursday a postman delivered to our street at 4.45pm which is better than some do and chuck it all back in a letterbox as their shift is finishing.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

That's because the 'bean counters' are only interested in final spend, per week, and not if the job can logistically be done, or is being done properly.

Lord Mandelson has just floated the idea of part privatisation of RM which he intended to do back in 1998 but then had to resign. If this goes ahead there will be even more job cuts over and above those forecast taking into account when the sorting equipment is modernised.
The CWU says there is a Government undertaking not to take RM out of public ownership but this agreement maybe worthless in light of another recent decision to outsource thousands of JobCentrePlus work to the private sector.