[Pond]

Our 'Royal' Mail used to be the envy of the world.

Not anymore IME.

"Royal Mail 24" (first class or next day) is now officially 1-4 days. They should be forced to drop the 24 as it's misleading.

"Royal Mail 48" (second class or two days) now has no definitive timescale. I sent a small parcel, which cost £6.44 BTW, from mainland England to mainland England and it arrived 7 days later. I make that 168, not 48!

Where I live we no longer have post every day. I know this because most days we get nothing, then every few days we get a bundle. Coincidence? I think not.
We have a different post person each time, if at all.

Our postage costs are bloody ridiculous. I looked and RM is around 30% more for a given parcel than EVRI, DPD, etc. And they will at least get it to where it needs to be on time; not Royal Mail.

The sub-postmaster scandal is becoming more than just a scandal. I wonder whether the RM is going to last the year TBH.

And, for me, the best part is I have many family members who were life-long RM employees. Two of my uncles have been drawing their FS pensions for longer than they were actually employed by the (then) Post Office.
My Wife's uncle and his wife both recently retired (in their 50s) from the RM. They have so much money coming in they don't know what to do with it, so are buying houses left, right and centre.

All four of the above took 'voluntary redundancy' which seems to be a common scam in these public sectors so they get a cash payout as well as their full FS pensions.

This Country is so fucked up we can't even have a decent postal service anymore IMO.

Rant over.

[boba-fett]

I paid £70 to have my mail redirected for 6 months, as I have moved house, and all my mail is still going to my old house and I’ve not had one letter that’s got evidence on it thats states it’s been redirected.

Complained 3 days ago and not had a response back yet.

What else can you do? I’m just fed up with poor service, and I’m fed up with having to take the time and effort to deal with the poor service and issues!

[Allworth]

I've sent a letter to DVLA recently using regular RM 1st class stamp to get an answer from DVLA 3 months later that they 'haven't heard anything from me'.
Had a notice on my letter box to not send any junk mail, RM postman was keen to ignore that, it turned up I had to do fill some paperwork with RM to stop spam into my house, despite polite visual and verbal warning to postman not to behave such.

[TurboWeasel]

I only ever use RM Special Delivery, if I HAVE to use them, and never had any issues with that particular service.

It's the usual three Is where this country is concerned - Incompetence, Indifference and Inconsistency.

I hope the RM do go under, if just for the way they treated their post masters. Companies that charge people for a service and in return receive gross negligence, incompetence and inconvenience should be made an example of, not bailed out or privatised.

[TodmordenLad]

Other than Thames Water, I can't think of a worse run UK business than RM. Incompetent and corrupt. Our local service is a shambles - lost mail, delayed mail, late deliveries. Privatised for a song - and should never have been privatised in the first place, of course. The cr*p we put up with in this country!

[Watsey]

I consciously avoid using RM. Prices are high, and repeatedly increasing at a rate well above inflation, and the service is shit.

I posted a 1st Class letter and it took 7 days to get delivered 70 miles away. At a relaxed 3mph for 8 hours a day, I could have walked it there in 3 days.

[bishbosh]

I've sent and received far fewer xmas cards in the last year or so due to the inflation busting price rises. When it's costing £20/30 to send some xmas cards 2nd class then something's wrong and no wonder why people don't bother anymore.

I did use Parcelforce 48 (separate company?) recently to send a bulky item, will have to see when the buyer receives it.

[DaveA]

Who'd have thought that privatising a universal mail delivery service would end up like this...

Bit like the busses, really... Here, it is a regional mayor who holds the keys to making the bus services better for everybody... But it then rather depends upon whether or not that is their priority (or not)...

[Pond]

Originally Posted by TodmordenLad

Other than Thames Water, I can't think of a worse run UK business than RM.

Oh I don't know...BT and Openreach do their best to be utterly shite aswell.

I have come to the conclusion after many issues that life is too short to deal with BT.

However paying £1 to post a letter; I would expect it to get to where it should in a reasonable time period.
That, in 2024, is asking too much apparently.

[TodmordenLad]

Originally Posted by Pond

Oh I don't know...BT and Openreach do their best to be utterly shite aswell.

I have come to the conclusion after many issues that life is too short to deal with BT.

However paying £1 to post a letter; I would expect it to get to where it should in a reasonable time period.
That, in 2024, is asking too much apparently.

We have had a high turnover of posties delivering in our area. One who I got to know a little told me that there were bags of unsorted mail sitting in the sorting office going back months. One of my neighbours missed an important hospital appointment because a letter never arrived. He wrote to our MP, who promised to look into it, but nothing came of it. Like many privatised utilities, the RM is in terminal decline, thanks to inept and complacent senior management, inefficient working practices and underinvestment. I met a senior guy from the RM at the Cranfield School of Management in the late 90s, long before privatisation, who told me very eloquently that it was f*cked back then.

[isleaiw1]

Originally Posted by TodmordenLad

We have had a high turnover of posties delivering in our area. One who I got to know a little told me that there were bags of unsorted mail sitting in the sorting office going back months. One of my neighbours missed an important hospital appointment because a letter never arrived. He wrote to our MP, who promised to look into it, but nothing came of it. Like many privatised utilities, the RM is in terminal decline, thanks to inept and complacent senior management, inefficient working practices and underinvestment. I met a senior guy from the RM at the Cranfield School of Management in the late 90s, long before privatisation, who told me very eloquently that it was f*cked back then.

apparently now subject to a takeover bid so someone else clearly agrees...

[boba-fett]

It will be gone within 5 years, and it will be something like Amazon in its place.

[agentorange]

The United States Postal Service (USPS) gets similar, regular reamings on forums over here. I show my wife and she just smirks, having been born and raised in Mexico where there is no postal delivery to homes.