Royal Mail delivery

[Sue]

Bic Basher Wrote:

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> Private Eye arrived normally today for the first

> time since November.

Yes, I got mine today too.

[Lynne]

Just read that Royal Mail has made a massive profit.

I'm sure you'll all be pleased

[Sue]

Somebody in my road posted this from Helen Hayes (I think from her website)

I haven't included the video.

Royal Mail services in Dulwich and West Norwood

Posted by Helen Hayes 27sc on February 09, 2021

Residents across many parts of Dulwich and West Norwood have reported significant problems with postal deliveries since last year. Although there have been problems in the East Dulwich SE22 postcode area since Royal Mail closed the SE22 delivery office on Silvester Road two years ago, these problems have worsened even further since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Since late 2020, residents in SE19 and SE27 have also experienced serious delays, with some problems in other postcode areas too.

I have been in constant communication with Royal Mail about these problems and it is very disappointing that they are still unresolved. I am clear that the problems are not the fault of postal workers, who have been working tirelessly throughout the pandemic, and have been a vital lifeline for many people. It is very concerning to hear that many postal workers have fallen ill with coronavirus and that sickness rates at Royal Mail have been very high. I am grateful to every single postal worker for their vital work at the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic. Notwithstanding the hard work and commitment of postal workers, there are serious problems at Royal Mail.

In recent years, Royal Mail have closed many local delivery offices. In East Dulwich, the Silvester Road delivery office closed in 2018. The local ward councillors and I warned at that time that moving delivery services to Highshore Road in Peckham would create huge problems. Highshore Road is a long way from the furthest parts of SE22 and the topography in this area is challenging. We campaigned vigorously for Royal Mail to open a new fit for purpose delivery office in the SE22 area, but they refused.

There was chaos from the start, with particularly problems around the peak Christmas period in 2018, and at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year, it was clear that cramming two postcode delivery areas into the same office at Highshore Road left Royal Mail with no capacity to adapt to the pressures of the pandemic. It was impossible to keep up the same rate of mail sorting whilst also maintaining social distancing for safe working, and the long distance from Highshore Road to parts of East Dulwich has left postal workers dependent on vans, which cannot be shared safely by two workers during the pandemic.

The consequences of these problems have been very serious. I have been contacted by constituents who have missed urgent hospital appointments ? or turned up for appointments which had been cancelled due to the pandemic, because they haven?t received letters. Other constituents have not received relatives? death certificates or important legal documents, and over Christmas when so many people were isolated from loved ones, cherished cards and gifts were not received on time.

I have raised these issues in the House of Commons. You can watch a recent debate below.

While Royal Mail respond to my individual queries on behalf of residents, they have never acknowledged the seriousness of the problems in SE22, SE27 and SE19, and they have not put in place a plan for recovery. Staff tell me that Royal Mail is refusing to pay overtime to postal workers who are willing to work to help clear backlogs, and they have refused to secure temporary premises to enable more mail to be sorted with safe social distancing in place.

After many months of corresponding with Royal Mail without any resolution, I have now referred these issues to Ofcom the communications service regulator. I have secured a meeting with Ofcom which local ward councillors will also attend. We will be making the case that Ofcom must hold Royal Mail to account for the ways in which they are failing customers in Dulwich and West Norwood and must require them to put in place a recovery plan to restore the reliability of our postal services. In the longer term, I am clear that delivering a profit to shareholders is not compatible with delivering the Universal Service Obligation, and Royal Mail should be brought back into public ownership

[Lynne]

Good for Helen Hayes. Let's hope she ha more success

[Femke]

I've been waiting for three products ordered online for over a month that I know were shipped with RM and am starting to think I will never see them. Job lots of 'missing post' are being auctioned off on Ebay which is apparently happening all the time and I am furious to think that this theft is now common practice. I'm not saying this is what happens in ED but I do wonder what happens to all that undelivered post that must be piling up at the depot and is never taken to the rightful recipient?!

[EDlifechat]

My post service has totally collapsed over the last two weeks. But bizarrely I received loads of old mail from January today (ie on a Sunday..?!)

[Sue]

To the best of my knowledge my mail is back to normal now, and there is nothing I should have received which I haven't had.

However, Femke, are you saying that eBay auctions are actually labelled as "missing post"? Because if so, surely eBay should not be accepting them for sale?

[JessM]

Just checked on eBay. Could not find any post listed!

[KalamityKel]

Bongo Wrote:

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> My post service has totally collapsed over the

> last two weeks. But bizarrely I received loads of

> old mail from January today (ie on a Sunday..?!)

Same here!

Post has been all over the place these last couple of weeks. Some items are arriving sooner than others, some none at all. There doesn't seem to be any pattern or clear system as to what's going on.

It's frustrating.

[Nigello]

I saw two posties on Dunstan's and Goodrich on Sunday, which is good to see. At least the Royal Mail is aware of the problem of backlog and doing something to help clear it with non-standard delivery days. Well done!

[Sue]

JessM Wrote:

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> Just checked on eBay. Could not find any post

> listed!

I think Femke should provide a link or links to back up his/her claim, because accusing Royal Mail staff of the kind of level of theft s/he describes is very serious.

S/he said "Job lots of 'missing post' are being auctioned off on Ebay which is apparently happening all the time and I am furious to think that this theft is now common practice."

All the time? Common practice?? Job lots of "missing post"???

[Siduhe]

I think it's likely to be a reference to recent news articles like this:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9257365/Are-Britains-lost-parcels-really-auctioned-eBay.html

But it's not a new phenomenon - see this from 2007:

[link deleted due to malware concerns]

[johnie]

postandparcel.info seems to be hosting malware.

[Femke]

There was an article on the Mail on 13 Feb that 'uncovered' this alledged fraud: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9257365/Are-Britains-lost-parcels-really-auctioned-eBay.html?ito=email_share_article-top

'... 'A Mail on Sunday investigation found hundreds of items purporting to be ?lost post? being offered online, with bidders apparently determined to cash in on a mail system in crisis.

Some bundles ? said to be parcels from leading courier firms as well as Royal Mail ? are going for more than ?1,000. Using hashtags such as #mysterypackage, the resellers can be found on sites including Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Gumtree.'...'

When I subsequently did a search myself on Ebay for 'missing Royal Mail parcels' I got dozens of results all showing images of piles of labelled parcels similar to the pictures in the article. Can't see much of them now and the link to one particular one that I sent to a friend on WhatsApp has now expired.

Given that a number of my parcels have vanished (all RM) into thin air (one product was even sent out twice about a month ago and neither surfaced) and aside from the Ebay listings scenario I can't help but wonder what actually happens to post that is never delivered;

The article goes on that '...Royal Mail happily admits that, like its rivals, it sends some undeliverable items for auction

One source suggested that, before lockdown, it was dispatching ten lorries a day to auction houses such as Biddle & Webb in Birmingham, Wellers in Guildford, Surrey, and Simon Charles Auctioneers in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

And it?s clear there are times when things go wrong with deliveries. Take the case of St Peter?s Church in Suffolk, which ordered ?8,000 of silverware to celebrate the Eucharist at its family services. Church members were dismayed to learn that one of three precious packages in the care of Royal Mail had ?disappeared?...'

Call it overly suspicious and far fetched but if after weeks/months of sitting at a depot and with insufficient staff to clear back logs it does strike me as an easy option to ship the 'undelivereable' lot off to auftion. I mean, I was told by a postie last week that his colleague who covers my street wasn't working that day and whenever he's off they struggle to cover for him. This suggests to me that they must be forever lagging behind with post. I actually received post today, who items that were ordered well after the three parcels that have gone missing. Does this mean they just haven't got them (anymore?), or that my postie just grabs stuff of a pile but never gets down to the bottom of it?

[Siduhe]

johnie Wrote:

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> postandparcel.info seems to be hosting malware.

Thanks. I've deleted that link.

[Sue]

Femke Wrote:

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> There was an article on the Mail on 13 Feb that

> 'uncovered' this alledged fraud:

> https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9257365/A

> re-Britains-lost-parcels-really-auctioned-eBay.htm

> l?ito=email_share_article-top

>

> '... 'A Mail on Sunday investigation found

> hundreds of items purporting to be ?lost post?

> being offered online, with bidders apparently

> determined to cash in on a mail system in crisis.

>

>

> Some bundles ? said to be parcels from leading

> courier firms as well as Royal Mail ? are going

> for more than ?1,000. Using hashtags such as

> #mysterypackage, the resellers can be found on

> sites including Facebook Marketplace, eBay and

> Gumtree.'...'

>

>

> When I subsequently did a search myself on Ebay

> for 'missing Royal Mail parcels' I got dozens of

> results all showing images of piles of labelled

> parcels similar to the pictures in the article.

> Can't see much of them now and the link to one

> particular one that I sent to a friend on WhatsApp

> has now expired.

>

> Given that a number of my parcels have vanished

> (all RM) into thin air (one product was even sent

> out twice about a month ago and neither surfaced)

> and aside from the Ebay listings scenario I can't

> help but wonder what actually happens to post that

> is never delivered;

>

> The article goes on that '...Royal Mail happily

> admits that, like its rivals, it sends some

> undeliverable items for auction

>

> One source suggested that, before lockdown, it was

> dispatching ten lorries a day to auction houses

> such as Biddle & Webb in Birmingham, Wellers in

> Guildford, Surrey, and Simon Charles Auctioneers

> in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

>

> And it?s clear there are times when things go

> wrong with deliveries. Take the case of St Peter?s

> Church in Suffolk, which ordered ?8,000 of

> silverware to celebrate the Eucharist at its

> family services. Church members were dismayed to

> learn that one of three precious packages in the

> care of Royal Mail had ?disappeared?...'

>

> Call it overly suspicious and far fetched but if

> after weeks/months of sitting at a depot and with

> insufficient staff to clear back logs it does

> strike me as an easy option to ship the

> 'undelivereable' lot off to auftion. I mean, I was

> told by a postie last week that his colleague who

> covers my street wasn't working that day and

> whenever he's off they struggle to cover for him.

> This suggests to me that they must be forever

> lagging behind with post. I actually received post

> today, who items that were ordered well after the

> three parcels that have gone missing. Does this

> mean they just haven't got them (anymore?), or

> that my postie just grabs stuff of a pile but

> never gets down to the bottom of it?

The Daily Mail article which Siduhe linked to above seems to say that the vast majority of these parcels come from China, or are otherwise not actually "Missing Post."

If Royal Mail (or other couriers) genuinely can't deliver mail because of illegible addresses and no return address given, or whatever, then I think it's fine for them to sell the contents.

But it seems to be clear that just because items are sold online as "Missing Post", that does not mean that they are actually "Missing Post" (which by implication has been stolen by posties).

Frankly, I think if people spend hundreds of pounds buying these parcels because they expect to find some incredibly expensive items inside, they deserve everything they get :))

[Cora]

Solicitor sent out 5 first class letters 2 weeks ago. 1 has arrived. Also received a text today saying tried to deliver sign for letter then link to a redelivery site which looked very legitimate - three of us were in all day, no card and I haven?t ordered anything so how would they have my number? Link really didn?t look like a scam..what would a scammer get out of a redelivery link? Tried to check number with customer services no answer - just announced they made huge profits?! How is this allowed - they are charging people for services that are not being fulfilled...still!

[KalamityKel]

How/who/where does one make contact with Royalmail to complain about missing post, apart from the "helpline" that you have to hunt around for?

Say if I wanted to email royalmail... where can I find the appropriate one?

At present there seems to be a week of expected post that was sent between 13th-19th Feb that certainly hasn't arrived.

The type of expected items are raising concerns in our household as to security (not suggesting anything dodgy going on!) of personal data.

Any suggestions?

[Nigello]

You could try the RM accounts on social media. Companies tend to be reasonably quick to reply on these platforms.

Re deliveries, there was for at least the second week running a delivery today. The postie said illness and the knock-on effects of having to isolate were the problem at the sorting office and that Sunday deliveries are being put on to get rid of any backlog as overtime. At least the RM is doing something as it cannot stop people getting ill and others having to stay at home, as per the rules.

[Femke]

I was unable to get through to the RM phone number, eventually I saw my postie and addresses the issue with him. He said there had been yet another backlog of when he'd been off the week prior and that he'd check the pile. The following day he knocked on the door to tell me there was no sign at the depot of any of my 3 parcels. I've given up and raised the issue with the companies I ordered from who will have to make an insurance claim and either refund me or use an alternative courier service. Avoiding RM like the plague is the best thing to do..

[craigyboy71]

Yes I thought the service was returning to normal, but this week I've only received two letters and both of which were dated 2-3 weeks ago!

[kiera]

To add insult to injury, I saw this on the internet today.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-mails-red-letter-day-after-home-deliveries-soar-kh2cnbv5q

"Royal Mail?s red-letter day after home deliveries soar

Royal Mail has seen its letters business grow despite earlier gloomy forecasts

ROYAL MAIL

Robert Lea, Industrial Editor Thursday March 11 2021, 12.01am, The Times

Royal Mail is reaping a big pandemic dividend with the privatised national postal group revealing that it will make more than three times as much profit in the age of Covid than it did before.

In an unscheduled trading update, it upgraded its profit forecasts for the second time in less than a month because of the continuing boom in home deliveries and a return to writing letters and sending mail.

It expects to make ?700 million in operating profits in its financial year that closes at the end of the month.

At its nine-month update in February Royal Mail unexpectedly pleased investors by saying it expected profits of more than ?500 million............."

Perhaps Royal Mail's profits are soaring because the only way to ensure post reaches its destination is to pay the extra for track and trace

[Lynne]

Also it's asking to stop delivering letters on Saturdays. In spite of the profit! The trick would be to put letters into large empty boxes. Perhaps they'd actually get delivered then.

[tomskip]

I did a batch of internet shopping on 1st March, various household/personal items that are difficult to get hold of in supermarkets. I bought 9 items. For 4 of them the delivery service was Royal Mail and I received them all today - 18 days later. Absolutely terrible service and RM crowing about their great new parcel delivery service is infuriating. All were posted from UK companies.

[Bic Basher]

Private Eye is late for the first time in over a month.