For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By Colonel Panic
#1811974
I see the price of a first class stamp is soon to rise by almost 12% to 85p. What planet are they on? :shock:

Not that long ago when they wanted to stop the "2nd post" they half promised to get the first post delivered early. We never get ours until after 11, and more often than not it is after lunch. And I now see they want to ditch Saturday deliveries too.

And whilst I am in whinge mode, have you had the misfortune to need to go to a Post Office recently? Horrendous queues with people sending parcels (not a letter in sight). The Post Office really do need to streamline their work flow, but raising prices so much seems to be the a final hurrah rather than sensible business practise.

Meanwhile, our regular postie(s) are unfailingly happy, smiling and the salt of the earth. Hat Tip to the lot of them.

Ho Hum, #MrAngryFromTunbridgeWells
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1811977
I decided to order Christmas stamps online a couple of weeks ago to avoid the post office.

1 week on and no sign of the stamps, then finally got an email from Royal Mail explaining that due to exceptional demand they had sold out of stamps, and would dispatch my order when new stock arrives

FFS - they sell one thing, and don't manage to foresee Christmas coming. (It's not the first time either, our village post office always ran out of stamps early December, and wouldn't let the postmaster order more, because they capped the order on the number he sold in the previous year, when they failed to supply enough too).

Not to forget the post office IT system that was full of bugs, that accused postmasters of fraud as a result .....

You can't blame this one on semi-privatisation, it's got decades of shambolism baked in.

Our local postie is great too, shame about his employers.
Last edited by rikur_ on Tue Dec 01, 2020 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By romille
#1811979
The sooner Royal Mail succumbs to the inevitable and the competition take over the better.
We are lucky if we get our mail by mid afternoon and quite often do not get a Saturday delivery at all.
Even the posties that deliver seem to feel that it's only a matter of time, because of poor management and organisation.
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By Sooty25
#1811980
romille wrote:The sooner Royal Mail succumbs to the inevitable and the competition take over the better.


Competition? Who else is going to do delivery of an envelope for 85p?
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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1811983
The courier companies rely on the gig economy to screw their employees and contractors which is why DHL stands for Drop it Hide it Lose it. Our village postie is part of the community and our local post office is in a SPAR village store and open from 0700 to 2100 7 days a week.

I’ll give Royal Mail the benefit of the doubt for now.

If you want to know why things are poor think outsourcing and penny wise pound foolish economy.
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By rikur_
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1811984
Sooty25 wrote:Competition? Who else is going to do delivery of an envelope for 85p?

If Hermes can do a small parcel for £2.05 (plus VAT), how much more volume do they need to be able to do a letter for a 85p? On some days it looks like the Hermes lady is delivering to about 1 in 5 houses on our road anyway .... doesn't make much difference to cost whether she delivers one parcel, or 10 letters to each.

Hopefully next year they'll dip their toe in the Christmas post market .... I don't mind a weekly delivery of Christmas cards if they can do it for 50p a card instead of Royal Mail's 85p

nb: I've noticed that for both Hermes and DPD we have regular local deliverers, who are approachable in the manner of a 'traditional postie'.

@johnm rose tinted glasses there .... speak to people who's had the misfortune to be post office franchisee ...... post office might not be screwing gig employees, just screwing their franchisees instead.
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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1811987
@rikur_ glasses are quite clear. I'm not suggesting Royal Mail is good merely that it's a bit better than the other options......The scandal was a disgrace and it's a mark of the state of the UK that it was allowed to happen and that the perpetrators escaped pretty much scot free....
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By JAFO
#1811989
Colonel Panic wrote:I see the price of a first class stamp is soon to rise by almost 12% to 85p. What planet are they on? :shock:


I know, it's a disgrace, all they do is collect my letters from a box situated just around the corner from my house; transport it to the local main office; sort it according to the address; transport it overnight to anywhere in the UK by road, rail or air (to and from 18 UK airports); get it to the local delivery office; and deliver by hand to the front door of the recipient; and they want 85p for that. :roll:

Colonel Panic wrote:Meanwhile, our regular postie(s) are unfailingly happy, smiling and the salt of the earth. Hat Tip to the lot of them.


Sorry, cheerfully deliver it by hand, an outrage. I can see why you're cross.
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By eltonioni
#1811999
Does any home need daily post? One general mail drop a week would be fine here. Couriers can handle anything special or urgent for an appropriate market price.
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By Rob P
#1812006
johnm wrote: Our village postie is part of the community and our local post office is in a SPAR village store and open from 0700 to 2100 7 days a week.


So is ours, and it is an absolute disaster compared with the dedicated sub-Post Office it replaced.

Rob P
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By avtur3
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1812015
Rember that Royal Mail and The Post Office are separate entities, sadly neither are good examples of what they do.

Royal Mail are trying the keep up with their industry but their ability to make the most of new technology often doesn't quite hit the mark. My use of the Royal Mail for sending items is much reduced these days, I no longer make a point of keeping books of stamps 'in stock' just in case. This has meant that I've bought postage 'on line' a number of times, (provides you with a label to attach to the envelope,) to be fair the system has worked well in my experience. The service extends to parcels and there is now the additional offer to collect the parcel from your house for an additional 70p, again this works and the cost is quite reasonable.

I have a couple of friends who have worked as 'posties', talking to them I have gained the impression that Royal Mail has found it difficult to introduce updated working practices that are needed to make the best use of new technology.

The Post Office is a terribly inconsistent organisation in my experience, customer service ranges from excellent to pathetic and it can be pot luck as to which level you receive or even a matter of whether your face fits. Several of the villages around here have post office counters within convenience stores, the staff in the nearest store (a couple of miles away) are shocking, I will happily drive past that to another 5 miles away where the staff are (or have been) much more helpful. Unfortunately, that store has just changed hands and the new owner decided he didn't want the hassle of running a post office counter, so we've lost that one.

I've watched the matter of the Post Office IT system as it has dragged on over the years, it has been truly scandalous to see how the Post Office has dealt with the matter. It involved over 500 people, and resulted in bankruptcies and even imprisonments all based on discredited evidence. The Post Office settled a claim by the former staff to the tune of £58m last year, but no one in the Post Office has ever been made accountable for the matter. An organisation that treats people so badly doesn't deserve to be in business, but as a monopoly supplier they get away with it.

Mind you over in the private parcel/courier sector there have been many issues with the quality of service and very poor treatment of staff. I'm not sure there is one business that stands out as a shining example of best in class.
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By MachFlyer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1812016
romille wrote:The sooner Royal Mail succumbs to the inevitable and the competition take over the better.
We are lucky if we get our mail by mid afternoon and quite often do not get a Saturday delivery at all.
Even the posties that deliver seem to feel that it's only a matter of time, because of poor management and organisation.


As far as I remember TNT tried to the door delivery in certain areas and it didn’t last long, no money in it was its downfall I believe. Other formites will almost certainly remember/know more about it than me :D
By MachFlyer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1812017
MachFlyer wrote:
romille wrote:The sooner Royal Mail succumbs to the inevitable and the competition take over the better.
We are lucky if we get our mail by mid afternoon and quite often do not get a Saturday delivery at all.
Even the posties that deliver seem to feel that it's only a matter of time, because of poor management and organisation.


As far as I remember TNT tried to the door delivery in certain areas and it didn’t last long, no money in it was its downfall I believe. Other formites will almost certainly remember/know more about it than me :D


Edited to add they were under no obligation to deliver to the more remote parts of the country either just to cities they picked.
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