Why is Royal Mail so rubbish

[slowworm]

For me personally, £60 or £70 is a hell of a lot of money and I would expect it to be left with a neighbour not just abandoned for someone to pick up which is exactly what would happen.

I meant the postage element on an order can't be much and covers air fare, customs checks etc.

My post was out of curiosity though, not condoning them. I've had the odd dodgy delivery in the past but most have been fine. Even had a Yodel delivery yesterday without any problems!

I'm not a fan of parcels being left with neighbours as where we've lived in the past people would get parcels left with us without asking and then expect us to deliver them when they came home. But with good neighbours it works well.

 

[Falstaff]

Well I was going to grump about RM but then they actually delivered. But alledgedly left it in my registered "Safe space" - my front doorstep! Which is fine as its not visible from the street, and wasn't just chucked down the side of my bike like someone else.
DPD considerately tucked a big cardboard box delivery under my bike cover to protect it from the pouring rain - full marks that person!

 

[Nice65]

My Evri delivery, outside the door of a block of 9 flats. There is a postbox with a lid on the wall up a bit on the right. Inside is an expensive Bluetooth folding keyboard.



And, I posted the Paramo coat I had on sale here last Monday, neither I or the recipient has received any confirmation of receipt whatsoever and he’s grumbling. And because it’s eBay, things are bound to get complicated. All I have is this pic.

Seriously unimpressed by Evri

 

[TeeDee]

I didn’t, the tracking was a Chinese company which I’d tracked up to when it entered the country, but then it changed to FedEx without informing me, so there was no opportunity to select an alternative pick up point, such as my local Spar, which is what I normally do. I would have expected them to leave it with a neighbour rather than abandon it on the street, which is basically what happened, then to add insult to injury and have the gall to suggest that was a” safe place “ to leave it….. Other courier companies, in the past, have left it with neighbours despite me not saying to do that. I know the couriers gave a time constraint, but they just don’t seem to care, I’ve had previous parcels where they didn’t deliver on three occasions because “there was nobody in” which was utter tosh because I was waiting by the window all day. After the first non-delivery, I put a note on my door saying I was in, it would appear the company didn’t care as the vans have gps which would show they hadn’t even been near.

I agree it can definitely be hit'n'miss when purchasing whom will be delivering and finding out via the online aspect.

I've also had the 'No one in' message before despite being home all day.

 

[Pattree]

My Evri delivery, outside the door of a block of 9 flats. There is a postbox with a lid on the wall up a bit on the right. Inside is an expensive Bluetooth folding keyboard.


And, I posted the Paramo coat I had on sale here last Monday, neither I or the recipient has received any confirmation of receipt whatsoever and he’s grumbling. And because it’s eBay, things are bound to get complicated. All I have is this pic.

Seriously unimpressed by Evri

Don’t mean to be patronising but:

You might want to blur that location map. The road name is unusual.

 

[Falstaff]

Don’t mean to be patronising but:

You might want to blur that location map. The road name is unusual.

Agree but.. he might not live anywhere near it! I've had that happen to me, even the Yodel street map was wrong.

 

[GreyCat]

RM, DPD, DHL pretty good around here, consistent rounds, timings generally as specified, regular staff and they will use the specified safe place (in the barn around the back, where its dry, loads of space and stuff is well out of sight from the road). RM also deliver for parcelforce, a new thing locally but seems to work.

Amazon usually ok but sometimes just leave stuff in the rain on the doorstep, don't always use the specified safe place. Some will put a package into a plastic bag if it's raining. Evri similar, but won't use the safe place, dump on doorstep and I have known them just drop the parcel over the wall into the (wet) long grass......

DX is generally reliable, although their nav app isn't the best, they usually drive past then ring to say they are lost.

Yodel I just won't buy from anywhere that uses them as they are the pits.

But I think it varies a lot depending where you are.

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[gibson 175]

I expect services geberally are either non existent or bad across the board-banking,airlines, utilities like gas and water etc Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed LOL...but seriously...

 

[Nice65]

Don’t mean to be patronising but:

You might want to blur that location map. The road name is unusual.

Done, thanks. Initially I considered cropping the pic but decided I wasn't too bothered.

 

[Chris]

Royal Mail are great around here and have been good pretty much everywhere I've lived in the UK, to be honest.

Amazon are useless. Thankfully I have a video doorbell, because we had a delivery driver put an expensive item in the recycling bin that was out the front on bin collection day, whilst the bin lorry was actually working its way down the road towards us (visibly). Amazon wouldn't have believed it without the video evidence.

We were home at the time and they didn't even ring the bell.

 

[Dan00001]

So I had another parcel due to be delivered by Royal Mail today, the tracking when I checked at 8am this morning said delivery due between 9:35am and 12:35pm. It hasn't arrived, and the tracking has not been updated, it still says due today between 9:35am and 12:35pm.

They really are just the worst around here.

 

[grainweevil]

You see, you think you're complaining there. Whereas I'm reading this and thinking "Wow, the jammy so-and-so gets his post delivered before 1pm".

 

[slowworm]

So I had another parcel due to be delivered by Royal Mail today, the tracking when I checked at 8am this morning said delivery due between 9:35am and 12:35pm.

Does it say that? IIRC my RM tracking says it normally delivers between X and Y, Y often being after 4. I had a delivery by RM on Saturday and it was past the latest estimate time but I was grateful I got it on the day and felt sorry for the postie with all the parcels he has at this time of year.

With all the Black Friday, Cyber Monday, rubbish lately I would expect everyone to be running late. Sort of Dissapoined Tuesday, Woeful Wednesday and Terrible Thursday etc etc.

 

[Dan00001]

Well the exact wording is 'We expect to deliver it on..'

I know and accept that deliveries can be later than expected times but my point is that other couriers consistently deliver withing their expected times while Royal Mail are consistently late.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Oh, delivery companies...
From what I read on various forums, it seems to be very definitely dependent on the "final mile" driver and on the software and in my experience also depends on the depot staff.

Some drivers will make a serious effort to deliver, others a half-hearted effort and others no effort at all.

I ordered an oche (the big mat in front of a dartboard) to be delivered to my mum's house in the UK. The driver took it to the back door of her terraced house, rather than leaving it at the front door right on the street. Now I imagine that the driver has a tablet that allows him to select from a list of options as to where he's abandoned left the parcel: "in your letterbox", "on your doorstep", "with a neighbour" or "in a safe place". The list does not include "in your paper recycling bin", which is where she found it.

I ordered a book from Amazon to be delivered here in France; it didn't arrive. For a long time. Amazon sent me a replacement, which arrived. Then a week later a bloke from a couple of streets away turned up at my door saying "I found this in the bushes in my garden this morning, I don't know how long it's been there".

I ordered a bunch of liquids, greases and waxes for cleaning and protecting metals and leathers from a company in northern France. I at least knew from the merchant that it would be sent by DPD which at the time would only deliver Monday to Friday, so I had it delivered to work. It didn't turn up. When I chased it up with the merchant, it turned out to be that in the depot somebody had badly copied my mobile phone number onto the delivery note, so when the delivery driver tried to call to tell me he was outside and I needed to open the gate, he got "this number is not allocated". So the big parcel got thrown back in the van, back to the depot, thrown out until the next day to repeat the process. After correcting the number, it was delivered in a sorry state, some of the cans of leather grease were dented and leaking... I got a 50% refund.

BBC Radio Sheffield was at one time talking about letters being delivered erratically or not at all; "staff shortages" was the official excuse. People were receiving letters about having missed hospital appointments which the original letter for the appointment was still sitting in the sorting office.

 

[Nice65]

My Evri delivery, outside the door of a block of 9 flats. There is a postbox with a lid on the wall up a bit on the right. Inside is an expensive Bluetooth folding keyboard.

View attachment 99656

And, I posted the Paramo coat I had on sale here last Monday, neither I or the recipient has received any confirmation of receipt whatsoever and he’s grumbling. And because it’s eBay, things are bound to get complicated. All I have is this pic.

Seriously unimpressed by Evri

View attachment 99654

As a follow up to the Evri parcel containing the Paramo coat, I had his from the guy yesterday.

"Classic Evri... just found it in my front garden where it's been sat in the rain since last thursday. No calling card or message at all. Good thing you packed it well, haven't opened it but looks dry!"

 

[Dan00001]

Glad it was a positive outcome for you both

 

[gibson 175]

Does it say that? IIRC my RM tracking says it normally delivers between X and Y, Y often being after 4. I had a delivery by RM on Saturday and it was past the latest estimate time but I was grateful I got it on the day and felt sorry for the postie with all the parcels he has at this time of year.

With all the Black Friday, Cyber Monday, rubbish lately I would expect everyone to be running late. Sort of Dissapoined Tuesday, Woeful Wednesday and Terrible Thursday etc etc.

and..(insert expletive) all Friday

 

[gibson 175]

I worked in a sheltered gousing complex with over 60 properties,endless corridors and fob only access to the communal toilet.
One of the delivery drivers pood in a stairwell-was caught on CCTV and sacked.
We were initially outraged but thinking about it now I feel sorry for him.
I hope you checked your parcel for missing wrapping paper!

 

[GreyCat]

One of the more entertaining deliveries I have had.

An embroidery kit from the USA for an on-line class. Now, this was a few years ago and before all the current malarkey over tariffs, and I'd had a number of successful deliveries from this retailer, USPS to Royal Mail. Tracking was fine, it headed my way, reached Heathrow import customs terminal.... and stopped. No more updates. This was August, and it arrived around the time of the Bank Holiday preceeded by a strike of Border Force staff at Heathrow.

After no movement for over 2 weeks, I assumed it was gone for good, the class tutor emailed me the pattern and I used my stash to put together threads and participated in the class.

Anyhow..... the same Heathrow staff had another strike a few months later, over Christmas. This time the Army were sent in to cover "vital services." And just afterwards, my lost package appeared. I can only surmise that the Army lads and lasses got bored with not much to do over the holidays, so cleared the warehouses of the backlog left by striking (and presumably lazy/working as little as possible afterwards) customs staff, and it then went out for delivery. It was a bit bashed about but OK (well packed).

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