Royal Mail

[Jocko]

I don't know why companies continue to use Royal mail to send out parcels to customers. Whenever I get an email that says "your goods will be delivered by Royal Mail" I immediately cringe and think "wonder when I will see that".
My latest escapade is with a delivery from Marks and Spencer. We need the items by the weekend, we have hospital appointments Tuesday through Friday, so I paid extra to have it delivered today (Monday). As soon as I received the email saying "Nominated Day Delivery on Mon 24 February 2020 by Royal Mail" I thought "Sh*t". Then today I get a tracking email from Royal mail saying"Delivery is due: Tuesday, 25 February 2020".
Even when they do deliver they won't leave the parcel in a safe place as couriers do. They won't try to deliver the next day as couriers do. No, you have to go out of your way to collect it.
When you are in they ring the bell and by the time you get the 20 feet to the door there is a card through the letterbox and the postie is halfway down the stair. One time I was at the back of the door putting my jacket on when the card came through the letterbox, then the bell rang. I instantly opened the door catching the postie on the hop. He didn't even have the parcel with him. It was a heavy box and he had left it in the van. I stood at the door while he went down to the van and came back with it!
And don't bother to lodge a complaint. Nothing gets done.

[greengiant]

Although on the other hand, I've seen other couriers (particularly the one which rhymes with Herpes) leave parcels in full view of the road on doorsteps, or in bins. Or amazon leaving their "we have missed you cards" flapping in the breeze jammed between the door and the door frame...   

Anyway, I hope you get your parcel soon! If not, you can arrange a free redelivery https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/redelivery

For sake of clarity, I must mention that I do work as a Postie.  So, I probably shouldn't be commenting 

[culzean]

Never had a problem with Royal Mail / Parcel Force to be honest. But if I have it is that the parcel normally arrives more quickly than the company I got the goods from specified - but normally told the correct day and time by Royal mail via email or text.   The parcel depot is only about a mile away though,  so no hardship if I miss a delivery.  Although I purchased something from a company last week and they didn't give tracking information even though I asked them for it, the company said 'expect delivery 21 / 22 Feb and the parcel arrived on 18th - but the card through door from Parcel Force did say they would re-deliver next day - and they did.

[peteo48]

I don't recall having too many problems with Royal Mail although the having to trek over to the nearest parcel centre when a parcel isn't delivered is a PITA.

I guess, like any large organisation, there will be good areas and bad.

A bit like Honda Dealerships

[Jocko]

After emailing M&S I got an email from the Post Office to say they would deliver today. And they just have.

Placed an order with Amazon Marketplace last night and they said delivery by March 13th. Thought it must be coming from China, but it arrived this morning. Must be their High-Speed Rail.....

[John Ratsey]

It's the randomness of the system which annoys me. Most senders provide tracking info (for bigger / more expensive items) to the purchaser but some don't. Some senders give phone number / email to the courier so updates can be sent out but some don't and some senders say that the item is sent by Royal Mail when it's actually sent with another courier.

We've occasionally had the problem of someone being in and waiting for the delivery and finding a card stuffed through the letter box. Part of the problem may be that a door knocker on a modern well-insulated door doesn't get much noise through (I've now put a label on the door knocker saying "Please use the bell").

Otherwise it's a case of applying probability theory based on the pattern of previous deliveries. eg if it's a smallish item and likely to be delivered by the normal walking postman (who has a push cart) then eta is 10 to 10.30 but if it's that person's day off then it will probably be later. Bigger Royal Mail items tend to come in a van at around lunch time. The courier beginning with H sometimes gives a delivery period of a few hours and the name of the person and sometimes only the name without a time period and sometimes it's says "out for delivery". DPD with it's one hour time slots is the most precise and won't let a package be handed over early - it happened once and they had to wait for the designated time before the scanner would scan the label. There's one company which provides on-line tracking of the vehicle and the facility to see how many more deliveries are being made first.

Many of them add contingency time to the estimated delivery period but if it's Royal Mail 24 it should arrive the day after sending (as long as sent before the end of the collection period, otherwise it's sitting for collection the next day). I've got something on the way from Amazon which has just been sent out and the system says arriving Thursday. It will persist with that until put on the delivery van which, if recent form is followed, will be tomorrow with delivery late afternoon / early evening.

[Jocko]

First time I looked at the Royal Mail Tracking it said 48 hours. Next time it was 24 hours. I prefer DPD. Herpes have given me a lot of problems (in more ways than one  ) with parcels not being delivered but saying they have tried (no card through the door). One time I asked the guy who finally delivered it and he said he was the guy that always delivered to me and this was the first time he had had it on the van.
Best of the lot is Amazon Logistics who always deliver when expected.

[culzean]

First time I looked at the Royal Mail Tracking it said 48 hours. Next time it was 24 hours. I prefer DPD. Herpes have given me a lot of problems (in more ways than one  ) with parcels not being delivered but saying they have tried (no card through the door). One time I asked the guy who finally delivered it and he said he was the guy that always delivered to me and this was the first time he had had it on the van.
Best of the lot is Amazon Logistics who always deliver when expected.

May be just the part of the empire you are living in,  maybe Royal Mail is better down south.  A lot of parcels by all carriers these days are delivered without requiring a signature,  but several of our neighbours are pretty good at accepting parcels because I frequently do it for them if I spot a driver knocking on their door and nobody answering I will go out and take it off them. 

Royal mail tried to introduce a nominated neighbour scheme years ago where you could register to accept parcels for others in the street,  don't know what happened to it because I have not heard about it recently.

[123Drive!]

At least Royal Mail I can collect at my local sorting office...UPS and DHL are really inflexible. Personally DPD seems to be the best.

[JimSh]

May be just the part of the empire you are living in,  maybe Royal Mail is better down south.  A lot of parcels by all carriers these days are delivered without requiring a signature,  but several of our neighbours are pretty good at accepting parcels because I frequently do it for them if I spot a driver knocking on their door and nobody answering I will go out and take it off them. 

Royal mail tried to introduce a nominated neighbour scheme years ago where you could register to accept parcels for others in the street,  don't know what happened to it because I have not heard about it recently.

I think a lot of it comes down to the individual postman.  We  had an excellent postman until  he retired a few years ago who would show initiative with regard to parcel delivery.
One of the things that annoys me although it does not affect me directly however is the injustice of high delivery charges to Highland Region whether by Royal mail or another carrier. Mainland UK only seems to extend as far as the
Great Glen.
https://www.cas.org.uk/publications/postcode-penalty
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-42755009

[Jocko]

Not even as far as the Great Glen. I was ordering items and when I was asked my postcode (Kirkcaldy) I was told postage would be higher for "Highlands and Islands". I declined to pursue my purchase.

[JimSh]

Not even as far as the Great Glen. I was ordering items and when I was asked my postcode (Kirkcaldy) I was told postage would be higher for "Highlands and Islands". I declined to pursue my purchase.

Not even near. I've heard it called a postcode lottery but Fife's really pushing it.

[richardfrost]

Just now there was a knock on the door and before I moved ten feet from my chair the for opened and closed again as the delivery guy put the things through and left. If my dog had been asleep there on the mat he could have given him a nasty bite. Now, who's fault would that have been?

Never before have I heard of them opening the door!

[Jocko]

I have had them put a foot square box under the doormat.

[guest8810]

I have had them put a foot square box under the doormat.

Crikey!! Jocko that  is a very tiny doormat.?