[simon32]

It is probably patchy. We get five day delivery and on Saturdays if there is a Colissimo parcel. Our postman is very fit and runs to the door. Going to a post office used to be an ordeal, but is now a pleasure. The local postmistress seemed rather grumpy, but over a period became more pleasant and helpful. Maybe she found the love of her life, but I like to think she received some customer service training from the restructured organisation and started to be nice to the customers who reciprocated and she became more fulfilled in her job.
Simon

[kanga]

<courier services>

ISTR from '80s, when we were in US and FedEx was starting to boom within US, especially business centres on East Coast. All packages were flown to a central hub (Memphis ?) at end of working day, sorted overnight, and flown on to arrive at dawn. Within cities collection and delivery service could be for any address, and within multi-tenant office building for any tenant, and for a premium for any desk within that tenant's office space.

There was an interview with a FedEx Sales senior in the business pages of Washington Post or Baltimore Sun. He said that quite a lot of business came from offices in tower blocks in New York City, paying the premium. Often those offices had an internal (within the tenant's space, or within the block) messenger service. But employees authorised to have a FedEx 'out' tray would use the FedEx service to send an envelope overnight to a colleague who might be only a few desks away. It would go to the 'hub' and back, but still reach the destination desk in the morning more reliably than the internal messenger service. It was rare for the employers' beancounters to query the cost

</>

[johnm]

A cynical friend who acted as agent for some couriers on a small island offered the following:

DHL Drop it Hide it Lose It
UPS Undelivered Parcel Store
DPD Damaged Parcel Depot



On the other hand a paperback from Waterstones was despatched on Friday and delivered by the village postie on Saturday.....

[rikur_]

I wonder if this thread is a good example of confirmation bias

[Miscellaneous]

My thoughts exactly, @rikur_. They are rumoured to be substandard, so let's use the impact of the pandemic to put the boot in whilst accepting it as a legitimate reason for substandard service from other businesses.

[Nick]

Rather unfairly in my opinion.

Nick

[seanxair]

Our brilliant and super helpful post lady retired. An absolutely charming woman.

We now have Fag Ash Lil who will drop the neighbours post off here if she can get away with it. If we have a dry summer it's a worry as she chucks her fag ends into the wheat as she drives through.