Royal Mail

[CaptainQuintero]

Just got back from the local office where the gremlins had taken time out of their busy schedule of kicking parcels around the office to sort me out a package that needed sending back to an eBay seller. All they had to do was arrange for Parcel Force to pick up the item and give me a tracking number. After a few grunts and stumpy fingered mashes against a keyboard they managed to hand me over a receipt with the tracking number, nice one! Only took them 20 minutes and a three person conversation consisting of gutteral noises and frantic pointing to extra large print guide sheets but I was eventually given my tracking number!

Only to find when I get home that Royal Mail use the same font for their 0's and Os on their printouts. So now I have a 14 digit number with six zeros which actually may be Os or a combination of the two. There being absolutely zero (no pun intended) way of finding out which are numbers and which are letters. I have to provide eBay with the correct tracking number and have only one chance to input it, no second chances, no ability to edit the number.

Words cannot describe how I feel at the moment, but I sure am glad that this heavily government-subsidised company gets a huge amount of tax money and provides a first class, efficient and pleasent service.

*edit, oh and I can't sit down for hours and check the different combinations to try and find out the actual tracking number, as their website is down.

[khomeinist]

Are you Ken in disguise?

[gigabyte056]

Royal mail has the worst service on the planet.

I lived in London for 3 years, whenever anything had to be delivered I had to be extra specially sedated before going to the post office.

Worst thing was, I had to ship things on a monthly basis, guess I am lucky I didn't develop a drug problem, can't afford that and a cigar collection issue...

[Cohiba Stevie]

God this is a major coincidence!

I have ordered a replacement fan for my aristocrat humidor from bob and it was sent the day it was ordered, that was two and a half weeks ago!

This is the latest in a string of bad experiences with these people, royal mail are scum and i know that that is a strong word but they simply are a bunch of gormless idiots,

Once i sat in my living room and watched a postman approach my door with a "sorry you weren't in" slip and put it through my letter box without even rapping the door or ringing the bell or attempting to deliver my package. I ran out in my boxer shorts and had to stop myself from breaking his jaw i was that furious, he retrieved the parcel from the back of the van and his words were "im sorry mate but it looked too heavy"

That company is not long away from collapse and the uks mail service will be privatised, DHL and parcelforce must be rubbing their hands,

Good riddance i say, they are arseholes.

[CaptainQuintero]

Last summer I was sat outside a pub next to one of my local offices and I watched the postman park 100 yards away and go in to collect the end of the days parcels. He came out and was actually dragging the plastic sack of packages along the concrete all the way to the van, including up and down two curbs. he had two small packages under his other arm. When he got to the back of his van he threw, and I don't mean lightly popped them in, but threw the two boxes into the van and then swung the sack backwards to get momentum then launched that into the van of the van, slammed the doors then got in and drove off.

Beggers belief.

Last year I had also ordered a book during a week off and I heard the postman's van arive outside, then I heard this strange crunching noise coming from downstairs, it lasted about a minute. I got up as I heard the van pulling away and discovered my book hanging halfway in my side of the letterbox. Low and behold I opened the envelope and the entire spine was ripped away and the bottom half of the book was crumpled like it had been in a front end car crash.

Not even mentioning that post now arrives only once a day and sometimes up till 7pm. I was talking to my Uncle at Christmas and he was recalling how when he was little and would go to the coast for the day, he would send a postcard when he got there saying what time he would be back that night for tea! They had up to 8 deliveries a day and the postcard was going 200 miles!

[capnshazam]

Here in the US the mail guy by me won't come to our house for days at a time...then there will be stacks of stuff piled through the mail slot. I don't have any explanation I could see maybe 1 day or even 2 because my wife and I don't get a lot of mail in general, but not 3 or 4 days.

[Cohiba Stevie]

I know how you feel mate, its got to the point where i have gotten a reputation with my postmen as being a bollocker, but i couldnt give a toss.

The replacement fan ive ordered is just a little 40mm model and quite delicate, if they damage it during transit and deliver it late i will go berzerk!

Scoundrels!

[mazolaman]

I have to say, through the nature of my work, I get loads of stuff delivered.

I must be lucky, as in 15 years, not one thing has gone missing.

Possibly late, but in fairness, many different companies deliver stuff.

Anyway, Royal Mail is being put up for sale, as the government is separating their 9 billion pound pension black hole from the company, to make it more appealing to buyers.

Currently the UK pays half the price of France and Germany to send a letter.

When it is sold, how much will we pay?

Privatisation will sort it out, like it did the trains, and the hospitals....etc!!!???

The same **** heads will still work there......

[CaptainQuintero]

lol I won't complain, think of the state my stuff will arive in if I complained!!

[Murri]

It's not just your mail system.

My wife had a little problem with one of our companies UPS , Purolator or Loomis.

Don't remember which one.

She was home and saw the truck pull away from the driveway.

Opened the front door and the driver simply stuck a "You were not home" tag there.

She immediately called the company, the dispatcher radioed the driver who said he was running late and was in a hurry.

Not good enough for my wife, said she was home and would like the package today.

Driver had to come back and complete the delivery.

Justice can be had sometimes.

[CaptainQuintero]

It's not just your mail system.

My wife had a little problem with one of our companies UPS , Purolator or Loomis.

Don't remember which one.

She was home and saw the truck pull away from the driveway.

Opened the front door and the driver simply stuck a "You were not home" tag there.

She immediately called the company, the dispatcher radioed the driver who said he was running late and was in a hurry.

Not good enough for my wife, said she was home and would like the package today.

Driver had to come back and complete the delivery.

Justice can be had sometimes.

lol no way in a million years would I dare do that with Royal Mail! Guarenteed 'lost' packages and 'damaged in transit' parcels for life!

To be fair the other courier services in the UK I've never had an issue with and they encourage you to contact them if you have any issues and they happily work to solve any issues you have

[Trevor2118]

I have had a few hassles with Australis Post regarding damaged contents in insured parcels.

When I put a claim in, the state they are not liable because of inadequate packaging.

Asked to justify.....they have stated (on several occasions) that if the packaging was adequate, the contents would not have been damaged.

It's Monty Python and Catch 22 with them.

[CaptainQuintero]

Is Australia Post a Nationalised Company/ subsidised by the government too?

[Trevor2118]

Is Australia Post a Nationalised Company/ subsidised by the government too?

Government......says it all!

However a huge part is "contracted or sub-contracted out" including most post offices and parcel delivery services

[CaptainQuintero]

lol sounds about right!

Here the Royal Mail is ran about as effectively as our local councils!

[capnshazam]

Well if you want to talk private companies...FedEx always leaves the you were not home stickers on my door even when I am home. I ask retailers that I order from to use ups the guy who has my route is a decent guy and I've never had a problem.

[CaptainQuintero]

You know I order a lot of stuff from both the UK and US into Australia and find The Royal Mail to be extremely Good! I can order something from Amazon UK on a Monday (by normal "Air Mail") and get it the following Monday sometimes. Yet with the bloody US Mail I pay for an above standard form of delivery and still takes 3 to 5 WEEKS to get here!!!!!

Ah that's expected, they pull out all the stops for foreigners!

Well if you want to talk private companies...FedEx always leaves the you were not home stickers on my door even when I am home. I ask retailers that I order from to use ups the guy who has my route is a decent guy and I've never had a problem.

Fed Ex, at least near me doesn't seem to have a large footprint. UPS seems by far the biggest courier, never had an issue with them either, great service!

[ramon_cojones]

I must say I'm quite happy with royal mail myself. I get some of my cigars from there, shaving supplies and clothes and couldn't be happier. Shipping is cheap, reliable and fast...they hand off to our US postal service once it arrives and both my mailman and ups guy both drop my packages over my side gate. The only notes I get from ups are the "package delivered at side door". I think even my fedex guy does the same.

[peanutpete]

use royal mail all the time sending parcels and letters never had any problem i think for the price they are hard to beat,if you consider how many letters and parcels that get sent some will get damaged,they are an easy target sure but like has been said prices are about double in europe

[tdlfoto]

I don't mind Canada Post. Always delivered by the service standard delivery date and I haven't had damaged parcels. With FedEx they always leave the "sorry you weren't home" even though my wife is a stay at home mom, so then I have to drive across the city to retrieve my parcel since they don't do second attempts. UPS I'll never use since they charge a fortune and in the past I've had two well-packaged deliveries show up at my door completely destroyed

[frenchkiwi]

if the Royal Mail wasn't being prevented by the Postcomm regulator from fully competing with private companies in parcel deliveries (ie the only profitable section of the business) they'd be doing much better... that and entrenched traditions are fostering bad management.

instead they have to try and make do with less and less money for a shrinking letter postage market which has never been profitable, and is facing a bleak future with lower volumes... and still the government won't let them cut service down from 6 day a week delivery.

same old story, the regulator is brought in to prime the post for privatisation by cutting it off from the profitable part of the business and restrict it to the unprofitable public service of universal delivery, while private companies are given free reign to skim the cream off the profitable sector. And then splits it up (Royal Mail, ParcelForce, Post Office) to create and magnify diseconomies of scale and disorganisation... next thing the MPs in the pockets of lobbyists cry unprofitable! inefficient!

and it gets partially sold off, the profitable sector is privatised (and prices go through the roof) and the public is left to foot the bill for the expensive infrastructure, universal delivery service etc. if that bit gets sold off too then it is asset stripped and the government is forced to buy what's left of it back at a premium or have no mail service at all.

think Rail, Utilities etc ... natural monopolies, all of them, where privatisation fosters inefficiency... i've seen what's happened in NZ and in the UK and it ain't pretty. what they need is a free rein to do the politically unpopular things (decrease their scale and services to match reduced demand) and some new blood in the management.

[Ken Gargett]

Are you Ken in disguise?

i clicked on to this because i thought it was about the royal mail pub in victoria which has one of the great wine lists.

not sure how it is now but a few years back, someone worked out that a letter posted surface mail to australia (as in, boat) from the uk would have been here quicker if captain cook had delivered it than the current system.

[Ken Gargett]

and i should add that i have long been a vocal advocate for the excellent work done by australia post. i tell all wine companies to forget couriers and use aust post as they are streets ahead.

[mazolaman]

not sure how it is now but a few years back, someone worked out that a letter posted surface mail to australia (as in, boat)

I often wondered what surface meant.......

[mazolaman]

if the Royal Mail wasn't being prevented by the Postcomm regulator from fully competing with private companies in parcel deliveries (ie the only profitable section of the business) they'd be doing much better... that and entrenched traditions are fostering bad management.

instead they have to try and make do with less and less money for a shrinking letter postage market which has never been profitable, and is facing a bleak future with lower volumes... and still the government won't let them cut service down from 6 day a week delivery.

same old story, the regulator is brought in to prime the post for privatisation by cutting it off from the profitable part of the business and restrict it to the unprofitable public service of universal delivery, while private companies are given free reign to skim the cream off the profitable sector. And then splits it up (Royal Mail, ParcelForce, Post Office) to create and magnify diseconomies of scale and disorganisation... next thing the MPs in the pockets of lobbyists cry unprofitable! inefficient!

and it gets partially sold off, the profitable sector is privatised (and prices go through the roof) and the public is left to foot the bill for the expensive infrastructure, universal delivery service etc. if that bit gets sold off too then it is asset stripped and the government is forced to buy what's left of it back at a premium or have no mail service at all.

think Rail, Utilities etc ... natural monopolies, all of them, where privatisation fosters inefficiency... i've seen what's happened in NZ and in the UK and it ain't pretty. what they need is a free rein to do the politically unpopular things (decrease their scale and services to match reduced demand) and some new blood in the management.

There's the facts....