UK Postal problems

[rubber_jonnie]

Just as an example of the sort of delays caused by the ongoing postal strikes, I received 3 items yesterday that had been delayed by about 2 weeks, one of the items was an important, though luckily not time sensitive, letter.

I suspect these delays are variable depending on how the local postal services are handling things, but not great for people who are waiting on hospital appointments etc.

If I've had to order anything lately (on ebay mainly for xmas presents etc) I've been messaging the seller to ask if the postage can be upgraded to special delivery, which is usually only a few pounds more, and offer to pay the difference. Three times now each seller has upgraded me for free and wished me a merry xmas, quite happy about humanity at the moment :) But yeah, the moral is, if you don't ask you don't get :D

Some of the stuff that came was from eBay and gave me no option to upgrade postage, so not a lot to be done there. For most things I need these days I use Prime. They have their own delivery network and almost everything comes next day.

In terms of the letter I got relating to probate for my parents, it was sent as part of their process, so I have no say over what postage they use. I'm thinking of asking them to send any future paperwork by email and I'll print and fill it in here and cut out at least one leg of the postal journey.

[stephen_usher]

I have some parcels sent via Royal Mail at the beginning of the month with the same "accepted" status and they've not arrived yet.

At the end of last week there was a drone photo in the newspapers showing parcels stacked up in a large area outside of the main Bristol sorting office.

The strikes (and previous management issues) have made the Royal Mail unusable at the moment.

The current dispute is about the management trying to cut pay and conditions to make the business look better to private equity investors to whom the directors want to sell the company.

[Steve]

@rubber_jonnie I know you don't get the option, but like I say, I spoke to the seller and they upgraded the postage for free (they do that when they generate the postage label, it's easy for them to just select a better option on your behalf)

[exxos]

Last time I used next day delivery it took 2 weeks longer than 1st class :roll:

[rubber_jonnie]

Last time I used next day delivery it took 2 weeks longer than 1st class :roll:

Sounds about right.

[rubber_jonnie]

@rubber_jonnie I know you don't get the option, but like I say, I spoke to the seller and they upgraded the postage for free (they do that when they generate the postage label, it's easy for them to just select a better option on your behalf)

It honestly wouldn't make any difference round where I live. If we're lucky and there are no strikes on, we see the postie about twice a week anyway, and by see I mean they are actually out and delivering on our road not necessarily coming to our house, just in the locale.

Now with the strikes we are lucky to see them once a fortnight with all the mail they saved up over the period they weren't delivering. It doesn't matter if the seller will opt for a better postal option (I have tried, many won't due to the already low margins on the stuff I'm buying), if there are no staff to deliver things, they don't get delivered.

We seem to be very short of posties round here now the weather has got worse...

[exxos]

We seem to be very short of posties round here now the weather has got worse...

Same here. Do feel sorry for them walking around in the cold and rain etc. But there are other workers fitting LED lights and fixing the barriers and pot-holes etc on the dual carriageway most nights. IMHO teachers should go do some of those jobs and see how hard done to they are then!

[sporniket]

IMHO teachers should go do some of those jobs and see how hard done to they are then!

On the other hands, teachers have to deal with around 30 kids or teenagers, that in itself is quite the feat.

[PhilC]

So it's not just Royal Mail. I had 4 parcels going through the EVRI network. Onres sent on the 9th went missing on the 12th, 1 posted on the 12th went missing on the 14th and then unbelievably one sent from JLC in China posted last week just arrived today.

[rubber_jonnie]

So it's not just Royal Mail. I had 4 parcels going through the EVRI network. Onres sent on the 9th went missing on the 12th, 1 posted on the 12th went missing on the 14th and then unbelievably one sent from JLC in China posted last week just arrived today.

I had an order I hadn't expected from AliExpress today, some FEP16CT rectifiers, not due until 3rd Jan...

My other AE order was due delivery 3rd Jan as well, it is in the UK, so I'm expecting to see it sometime late 2023 if current conditions continue...