When did the Post Office become so Pish?

[Kommando_J]

Was talking to a warlord rep about an order I have been waiting on (replacement mini and some bases) and I find it crazy that despite being dispatched first class last Thursday...has still yet to arrive.

Talking to the rep all he could say was that these days I can expect to wait up to 15 busness days before I can declare it lost and get a new one sent out...when did it get so bad!?

Just last year even I could count on my orders arriving withing a few days, these days a week at least is average and i've noticed even Wargames Foundry are affected and they are the fastest mailers i've ever encountered.

[zemjw]

I got my dispatch notification for zombicide invader yesterday. However,  I got the box on Monday, three days before the notification - I'm assuming they dropped it in a wormhole at some point 

Having said that, it does seem much more hit and miss these days, so hopefully it'll turn up soon, although depending on what's delayed it, it may not be in a usable state 

[Shahbahraz]

When it was sold off from public ownership...

[Inkpaduta]

I have noticed this over here in the states.
When I used to order something from the UK
I got in within 10 days. often only a week. Now
I am often waiting several weeks or longer.
I have been wondering why that is.

[Hitman]

Many times my packages looked as if they were thrown under the delivery truck and dragged to my mailbox instead of actually handled with care. UK parcels seem to be particularly targeted.
Regards
Hitman
 

[dadlamassu]

It is not just the GB post office.  I recently sent a package to my brother in the Republic of Ireland addressed as I have always addressed them for the past 15 years.  The package was returned to me without explanation.  After a day of enquiries the post office were able to trace it to the Delivery Office.  They said that there was insufficient address information.  I am able to find the address on Google, Google Maps, my sat nav (several journeys), my road atlas, AA Route planner and even Wiki!!  It is clear that the postal "service" in Ireland is unable to read or use any form of maps or technology. 

[Ultravanillasmurf]

I assume you have seen this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-49329720

In days of yore if you got up early you could post a letter. It would be delivered to the recipient who could then post a reply and you would be reading it on the same day.

The problem is competition, we have all seen the small car packed full of parcels. Does that look like care and attention? It reduces costs (and hence increases profits), but also drives the standards.

If some self employed person with a car can deliver to a dense urban area, the parcels can be delivered there very cheaply. If you are a company that has to deliver nationwide (mainland only) at a single price, the deliveries to the dense urban area subsidise deliveries to rural areas. The loss of urban deliveries is going to require cost savings.

No idea about the solution.

There is often articles about silly packaging, small items in large boxes. When you think about it, a small padded envelope is far too easy for the delivery person to lose under the seat etc.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

It is not just the GB post office.  I recently sent a package to my brother in the Republic of Ireland addressed as I have always addressed them for the past 15 years.  The package was returned to me without explanation.  After a day of enquiries the post office were able to trace it to the Delivery Office.  They said that there was insufficient address information.  I am able to find the address on Google, Google Maps, my sat nav (several journeys), my road atlas, AA Route planner and even Wiki!!  It is clear that the postal "service" in Ireland is unable to read or use any form of maps or technology.

Was that within Ireland?

See cost cutting above, my suspicion is that the address must contain a road number or house name and a post code or equivalent. Policy is that anything lacking that is not addressed properly and it is declared uneconomic to locate the delivery address by other means.

Gone are the days of post office staff being able to spend the time locating a house with a blue door in a village with a pub called The Red Lion.

[dadlamassu]

Was that within Ireland?

See cost cutting above, my suspicion is that the address must contain a road number or house name and a post code or equivalent. Policy is that anything lacking that is not addressed properly and it is declared uneconomic to locate the delivery address by other means.

Gone are the days of post office staff being able to spend the time locating a house with a blue door in a village with a pub called The Red Lion.

Yes it was within Ireland which is one of the few countries that is not advanced enough to have postcodes.  The address contained, House name (the street has no numbers), the street, the village, the nearest town, the post town, county and country.  Putting that into Google even brings up a picture of the house. 

[westwaller]

When I worked for a Mail and Courier services company at the head office of a former high street store quite few years ago I spent quite a bit of time on the internet trying to pin down the address of a competition winner in the Republic of Ireland. Their parcel had been returned to us as undeliverable due to not having a postcode. We got it to them in the end thanks to the wonders of Google maps and the online Irish phone book (iirc). Only three houses in that location to choose from anyway....😆

[dadlamassu]

My brother has just phoned me - he now has a postcode!  I wonder if it will make any difference?

[Arrigo]

Understaffing, and have you ever walked in a post office, UK, Italy, probably anywhere, and seen booths for everything but mails services?

In Italy now we have staggered deliveries. They deliver Mon-Wed-Fri, then weekend, and next week Tue-Thur. 5 deliveries across 14 days. No more Sat deliveries. And the day they are not delivering the posties are working in office. Basically multitasking of people that cannot really be multitasked. You know that wonderful multirole fighter bomber that can carry bombs or AAM... 

When I came to London in 2007, there were still Sunday delivery! And two deliveries per days. And Amazon Prime UK delivers on Sunday Italian Prime no... and of course having the courier driver calling you for 9 seconds and then stopping before you can reply, or complaining she could not find the place when she has parked the van literally in front of your door! Okay that was a bad experience, and the only time I had bad experience with the new Amazon courier, I hope they fired her... (I complained to Amazon!).

 I think a CEO form Italian Mail once said that with the rise of the internet and new technologies, postal service have to evolve and adapt and deliveries cannot be the 1st priority... but does he know that we use internet and all the new tech, to buy stuff and have it delivered? 

But he was hinting at the issue, with other companies doing the same, and the postal system privatized they need to be profitable. And mail deliver is not high on profit. Now, if only someone can produce a working ST transporter... that will solve a lot of issues... talk about useful new technologies...

[manchesterreg]

Oh My, Italy Post makes me shudder, i had a parcel returned to the UK two times because they couldnt get anyone to answer the door. Not leave a note to the person its for, no lets send it back straightaway !

[Ultravanillasmurf]

My brother has just phoned me - he now has a postcode!  I wonder if it will make any difference?

Interesting read (for a given value of interesting).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_addresses_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland
Arroyo, you have my sympathies, though how long before we join you?

I bet consultants working for Consignia are looking at similar ideas here.

[Arrigo]

Manchester Regt.

Technically they were wrong and liable for suing. The procedure is to leave a slip in the mailbox indicating when the parcel could be obtained by the local post office. In the past we had two posties who did not like to bring parcels with them, and where always leaving the slip. Most ridiculous thing happened. I and my mother are going out together, we are in front of the door with the dog on leash. Postwoman arrives with a parcel in hand. She deliver the slip to my mother and ran away... literally... the my mom and the dog pursued her until she gave the parcel.  The day after my mother got to the office to complain. It was a bad period, basically they were hiring two months posties as trainee and firing them after two months. They knew it, and wonder hos much effort they were putting in their jobs...  faking Shogun Total War voice: Shameful Display! It was the same period when a neighboring village was without mail for one month... because the postie was dumping the mail bags in a canal, too heavy to carry around he told the police... got behind bars for breaking of public service, destruction of government property, theft, and also potential manslaughter. The last charge was because he was dumping also mail from the health service and utilities bills and interruption of services could have caused death and injuries; we are talking of a small village with plenty of elderly people. Funny thing the whole issue  was discovered by the electric company when an employee discovered the whole village was not paying bills for two months and it was unusual. He or she was realyl good because he started the investigation and called the police instead of just cutting power. 

But these were the dark times... now, despite having mail only 10/11 days per month it is more reliable. But the final point is that mail delivery is becoming a secondary component of a Mail Group...