Testing Royal Mail Post

Jane315STARX

5 days ago I posted a card to my own address with a first class stamp and it still hasn't arrived.I thought that the mail that I've been receiving thats always delayed by 3 weeks or so could be down to where it's posted from.But this was literally from my local post box so I don't know what the answer is

Littlefatfriend

Have you tried calling the Royal Mail Jane?

I'd suggest that to start:

03456 01 11 10

You might also try adding your own name/address to the RM database, just to ensure that's not the problem:

https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/update-your-addess

Unfortunately RM are struggling much like everything else here.

You might also make a complaint on the phone or interweb here:

https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/307/~/im-a-personal-customer%2C-how-do-i-make-a-complain%3F

Good luck

Luke

Jane315STARX

Thanks Luke I shall try this

russ7

I have used 2nd class stamp & it has arrived in two days,the cost of 1st class is ridiculous & it proves there isn't any difference in postage cost

Jane315STARX

russ7 I would agree but I purposely put a 1st class stamp on this to see if it would arrive and how long it would take.You have just proved my point that there is definitely an issue as even with a 2nd class stamp it should've arrived by now

colejames

Hi Jane,

I worked for the trade union which represents Royal Mail employees up until a few years ago. Unless things have changed a lot then I can tell you what I know.

This will sound ridiculous but if you post a letter in your town, and it is going to someone else in your town, it doesn't get sorted locally. All collections go to a mail centre. These used to be within a county/post code area but a few years back they shut a lot of the mail and consolidated them into new super mail centres. All mail will go to this centre for sorting.

The vast majority of mail will be sorted by machine and the machines sort very fast. Any mail where the address/postcode isn't recognised will generally go to a human team to check and sort. This shouldn't really take any longer than when the mail centres were more local but sometimes really loal knowledge may be lost.

All the mail will then be despatched to the local delivery office (which are generally in larger towns and cover the area around that town) where they will then be sorted into round order by your postie. I believe that your postie now receives the mail for each postcode but they will sort the postcodes into roads and houses and out them into the round order. Your postie will generally do this local sorting at the delivery office and then start their round.

All of this should still be achievable for next day delivery. This should also be the case for mail that is going to another part of the country as the first process at the mail centre is sorting post codes and the system will identify which mail centre the item needs to go to so that it reaches the correct delivery office and postie.

Obviously you know how your letter was sent as you sent it first class. Large companies may send mail second class or use a franking system where the delivery guarantee may be different. With these two groups of mail, then Royal Mail still have a deadline for delivery and that deadline will be monitored. They can only do that from the point that they receive the mail. Some organisations may not send out post every day, for example all mail might be sent on a Friday but the system dates the letter on the day that it is written which means you could have a letter written on Monday 1st April, which might not be posted until Friday the 5th. If it is second class then it make not be delivered until the following week.

That was the basic system when I used to visit mail centres and delivery offices. It is generally reliable but that doesn't sound the case for you. Especially if it is a regular occurance. Have you spoken to your neighbours and seen if they have the same issues? If so it might be worth contacting Royal Mail to ask for an explanation about the delays. if you do it might be worthwhile to have some letters where the date on the letter is more than one day earlier than the date you receive it. I know how frustrating it is when you get a letter dated the 1st and you receive it on the 10th but it was a meeting on the 8th or wanted a response ahead of date that you received it. More so if there are penalties involved. You can query as an individual but if it affects several people locally if might have more weight and it might be worth seeing if there is mail from a sender or set of senders that regularly are delayed, if it is across all your mail then I would suggest having a range of examples where the late receipt has occured.

This doesn't solve your problem but hopefully explains the process so that when or if you contact Royal Mail you have abckground info so that you can't be easily fobbed off. Good luck and I hope you do get some answers.

Jane315STARX

Wow this is incredible thankyou for such interesting and informative stuff.I informed Royal Mail a few months ago actually about issues I was having and they said they were aware as many others had made complaints.They said it was down to staff levels and that they were reliant upon volunteers ( which I found quite concerning).They reassured me that they then had the situation in hand and that I wouldn't have any further issues.However it was my sons birthday a few months ago and 2 of his cards were 10 days late which was a bit disappointing for him.

PaulaandBilly

Are they privatised now? If so, there lies the problem and I doubt anything will change. Sorry, I know that’s not helpful but privatisation never fails to disappoint.