On Christmas Eve I walked to the sorting office on Highshore Road because, after two weeks, my partner was still waiting for his replacement debit card. On the way I met a postie out delivering - a rare sight indeed! I asked them what was going on and to summarise was told it was chaos at the sorting office. There weren't enough people to sort the post and Royal Mail don't care about delivering letters because it's not profitable for them. The only way to get anything delivered at the moment is to complain - something I've done more times than I can remember. They said they felt ashamed of what Royal Mail has become. When I reached the sorting office, I was handed a single item of post - junk mail from an estate agent. My partner had visited them three days earlier and was given one solitary Christmas card and a letter for me marked 'NHS - Important Documents'. I asked the person on the counter when deliveries were likely to begin again. They shrugged and said maybe in mid January. Over Christmas I had to explain to my uncle that a cheque he had sent me inside a Christmas card hadn't arrived. He was having difficulty understanding that Christmas wasn't being delivered in East Dulwich. This morning I phoned King College Hospital because I had an appointment in the afternoon and hadn't had a reminder which was odd. I was told my appointment had been changed and that a letter had been sent to me. I never received that letter. I have had other hospital letters this year that have arrived too late or not at all. I phoned Royal Mail and made a complaint. Moments later a parcel was delivered, shortly followed by three letters. One was a Christmas card for my partner, another was junk mail for another address and the third was a letter for someone who moved out at least nine years ago. Where was the rest of our Christmas post? Or the calendar I'd ordered in plenty of time. Where was my partner's bank card? He's been paying with cash for the last three weeks which is hardly ideal! I know my phone call had nothing to do with the post we received today. Someone else had complained before me. This just won't do. We shouldn't have to spend time chasing up post that Royal Mail has been paid to deliver. I'm so sick of this, of the appalling service and of the lack of any real will to fix things properly. I'm tired. I'm battling long term poor mental health whilst trying to do an MA. I get tired very easily. Are there any plans to try to make Royal Mail do their job properly? And I'm talking about the bosses and the owners here. Something has to be done about it.
