Christmas Card and general postal deliveries...a query raised.

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Up to today, Wednesday 28th December, I had noticed that a large number of expected Christmas cards had not arrived. However the postman arrived at noon today with a total of 28 Christmas cards all posted in England with 2nd class stamps on them. Checking through the franking marks on the envelopes, the dates ranged from Thursday, 1st December to Tuesday, 6th December which all fell well within the updated posting date for 2nd class stamps. I hope that those cards had not fallen foul of a deliberate attempt to cause annoyance during the current postal dispute.

Have any other website members faced anything similar on items posted to them well before the posting deadline 2022?

 

[Gloster]

It is cock up, rather than conspiracy. Of course it is possible that a few posties are being bl**dy minded or a few managers are deliberately trying to make the posties appear heartless, but mostly it is just that the Royal Mail is in a mess. In particular they didn’t have any slack before the strikes, which have tipped them over the edge in many places. Even before the industrial action my local Delivery Office was short staffed and couldn’t get everything out as soon as it should have, despite many posties working double rounds.

 

[jfollows]

Up to today, Wednesday 28th December, I had noticed that a large number of expected Christmas cards had not arrived. However the postman arrived at noon today with a total of 28 Christmas cards all posted in England with 2nd class stamps on them. Checking through the franking marks on the envelopes, the dates ranged from Thursday, 1st December to Tuesday, 6th December which all fell well within the updated posting date for 2nd class stamps. I hope that those cards had not fallen foul of a deliberate attempt to cause annoyance during the current postal dispute.

Have any other website members faced anything similar on items posted to them well before the posting deadline 2022?

I had cards delivered today franked 14/12 (first class) and 16/12 (second class) and the others I can't read; we may have a sorting office in common. Not as dire as your deliveries, though. I also had two second class "large letter" franked 19/12 and 20/12 posted from a fair distance.

 

[matt]

I believe recently Royal Mail have been prioritising parcel deliveries over cards and letters.

 

[duncombec]

On 21st December, I had my first Christmas Card - postmarked 6th December, along with a weekly periodical's 3rd December issue, and the TV magazine that started on 17th.
Today, I had five more, postmarked between about 15th and 19th December (one was from Germany!), along with said periodical's 10th December issue, and the TV magazine that started on 24th.

I heard a rumour from a relative, who heard it from someone who read it on Facebook (so it's highly likely to be 100% true or 100% false!), that Royal Mail were sorting things received later first and then trying to catch up, rather than sorting things in order of receipt - so not surprising things posted mid-December haven't arrived yet whilst earlier and later things have. Presumably those posted earlier are at the back of the warehouse! Twitter is full of people who posted tracked parcels for delivery abroad in early December which still haven't left the UK.

I also know of people who've received their copies of our local bus enthusiast club newsletter locally, yet mine, which left from the same sorting office and comes through the same delivery office, is yet to arrive.

Royal Mail have all but admitted that their priority is parcels, and have also seemingly remembered there is a reason for first and second class mail in ordering priorities.

If I were a betting man (which I'm not), I'd be asking for odds on having everything from December delivered before twelfth night!

 

[jfollows]

I believe recently Royal Mail have been prioritising parcel deliveries over cards and letters.

I suspect there was an impossible choice to make here; be that as it may I suspect this will cause many people whose only use of the postal service is to send annual Christmas cards to stop doing this in future, given the inability of their on-time delivery this year. Whether Royal Mail will rue their lack of future business or will welcome the reduction in seasonal card posting remains to be seen I guess.

 

[43096]

I suspect there was an impossible choice to make here; be that as it may I suspect this will cause many people whose only use of the postal service is to send annual Christmas cards to stop doing this in future, given the inability of their on-time delivery this year. Whether Royal Mail will rue their lack of future business or will welcome the reduction in seasonal card posting remains to be seen I guess.

The parallels with the railway are rather striking. It’s rather like TOCs such as TPE and Avanti being unable to deliver even their reduced timetable.

Badly run businesses with revenue tanking (in the Royal Mail’s case, permanently), staff revolting because they think they’re entitled to a pay rise in a failing business, and the customer being the last consideration in the whole mess. Frankly such organisations do not deserve to exist.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I heard a rumour from a relative, who heard it from someone who read it on Facebook (so it's highly likely to be 100% true or 100% false!), that Royal Mail were sorting things received later first and then trying to catch up, rather than sorting things in order of receipt - so not surprising things posted mid-December haven't arrived yet whilst earlier and later things have. Presumably those posted earlier are at the back of the warehouse!

A couple of weeks ago someone who works for the Royal Mail said that on here somewhere.

It's something to do with their performance being measured on the number of items delayed, not by how delayed they are.

 

[DelW]

I know of at least a couple of cards posted to me in early - mid December which have yet to arrive (I haven't had a delivery since early last week). I also know that several of the cards that I posted second class on 10th December didn't arrive before Christmas.

Of the cards I did receive, some had apparently taken only 4 - 5 days, others over two weeks, so as suggested above, posting early may not have been a good strategy.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Up to today, Wednesday 28th December, I had noticed that a large number of expected Christmas cards had not arrived. However the postman arrived at noon today with a total of 28 Christmas cards all posted in England with 2nd class stamps on them. Checking through the franking marks on the envelopes, the dates ranged from Thursday, 1st December to Tuesday, 6th December which all fell well within the updated posting date for 2nd class stamps. I hope that those cards had not fallen foul of a deliberate attempt to cause annoyance during the current postal dispute.

Have any other website members faced anything similar on items posted to them well before the posting deadline 2022?

Yes, the mother received just a single card through the post prior to Christmas, plus a few hand delivered. News reports say Royal Mail have been concentrating on parcels / timed packages. My guess would be that cards, generally easily identifiable from other mail, have been deliberately put into the corner by some (but clearly not all) sorting and/or delivery offices. I posted mine to her (first class) on 5th/6th December and it hadn't arrived by the time I did in person. Might as well have saved 95p and delivered it in person.

In contrast she posted hers to me on Saturday 17th (second class) and it arrived on Wednesday 21st - the last delivery before Christmas.

It seems a very mixed bag, or complete pot luck, as to whether you have a delivery of any kind, what they choose to deliver and when - regardless of service paid for. Today nothing. I am aware of up to a dozen items which I have not yet received including two journals (Private Eye posted First Class on Tuesday 13th & Modern Railways also due before Christmas). Some of that dozen may not have been posted if people decided not to bother of course.

 

[Typhoon]

I believe recently Royal Mail have been prioritising parcel deliveries over cards and letters.

I suspect there was an impossible choice to make here; be that as it may I suspect this will cause many people whose only use of the postal service is to send annual Christmas cards to stop doing this in future, given the inability of their on-time delivery this year. Whether Royal Mail will rue their lack of future business or will welcome the reduction in seasonal card posting remains to be seen I guess.

Organisations sending parcels have a choice, people sending letters* don't, I don't suppose they would worry too much about a slight drop off of Christmas mail; I don't know whether they still employ casuals or pay overtime but it might start to level out mailings across the year, if they are looking at staffing reductions.

Also parcels may contain consumables, people will gripe vocally if they have deteriorated (pictures of sad faced recipients and said items in the media; a late Christmas card doesn't have the same effect, especially if, like the one I received today, it is not franked).

I have noticed that I am receiving 'business' letters (statements, news of increased charges) rather more promptly than Christmas Cards!

* - my posted cards went to places like South and West London, Devon, Birmingham - not much chance of delivering them. Locals are delivered by hand and have been for years!

 

[Annetts key]

Our postie says that it’s anticipated that it will take until near the end of January for all the Christmas post to be delivered.

He says that it’s the useless Royal Mail management to thank for for this.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Organisations sending parcels have a choice, people sending letters* don't, I don't suppose they would worry too much about a slight drop off of Christmas mail; I don't know whether they still employ casuals or pay overtime but it might start to level out mailings across the year, if they are looking at staffing reductions.

Also parcels may contain consumables, people will gripe vocally if they have deteriorated (pictures of sad faced recipients and said items in the media; a late Christmas card doesn't have the same effect, especially if, like the one I received today, it is not franked).

I have noticed that I am receiving 'business' letters (statements, news of increased charges) rather more promptly than Christmas Cards!

* - my posted cards went to places like South and West London, Devon, Birmingham - not much chance of delivering them. Locals are delivered by hand and have been for years!

People have the choice not to send things over the course of the year. They also have the choice to not buy things from retailers who insist on using Royal Mail.

 

[PeterC]

I posted all my cards in Oxford on 3 December. At least 1 hasn't arrived yet and 1 was delivered this morning, both to South Wales.

Most my cards arrived before Christmas but 3 expected cards are still outstanding.

 

[Typhoon]

People have the choice not to send things over the course of the year. They also have the choice to not buy things from retailers who insist on using Royal Mail.

That is true. However (and this is drifting) if I have a chose, I prefer Royal Mail simply because our postmen deliver into safe hands (mine or neighbours) rather than thinking a safe place is three quarters of the way down the garden path (without knocking).

 

[Baxenden Bank]

That is true. However (and this is drifting) if I have a chose, I prefer Royal Mail simply because our postmen deliver into safe hands (mine or neighbours) rather than thinking a safe place is three quarters of the way down the garden path (without knocking).

Ah well.

I used to have high regard for the BBC News, I preferred it and recommended it, then I got disappointed.
I used to have similar high regard for Royal Mail and thought the same as you, once avoiding Amazon for quite some time (15 - 20 years ago) because they used Securicor Omega and couldn't promise RM delivery. Today I hope the Universal Service Obligation is instead contracted to Amazon Logistics - their vans are up my street several times per day, seven days per week whereas RM.....

I wish investors who fancied owning a worldwide parcel company would just buy a worldwide parcel company, or build their own, rather than buying and pivoting a different business!

 

[GusB]

Badly run businesses with revenue tanking

There, you've hit the nail right on the head.

A well-run business wouldn't have tanking revenue, striking staff or unhappy customers. It may be acceptable to the shareholders, though.

 

[43096]

There, you've hit the nail right on the head.

A well-run business wouldn't have tanking revenue, striking staff or unhappy customers. It may be acceptable to the shareholders, though.

Shareholders don't usually want those things either, as it tends to reduce the value of their investment (to nil, ultimately).

 

[MotCO]

What are Royal Mails legal obligations? All I can find on their web pages is that for First Class "We aim to deliver the next working day, including Saturdays", and for Second Class "We aim to deliver the next working day, including Saturdays". Is there no come back against Royal Mail for missing these targets by miles?

 

[londonbridge]

I’m missing at least three cards, including one from a friend who messaged thanking me for the one I’d sent her (which she received Thursday 22nd) and asked if I’d got hers. When I said no she said she posted it December 9th. Still not here as I had no delivery today.

 

[Annetts key]

Talking about businesses that are not well run, Evri (formerly Hermes) had a backlog before Christmas. This company also does not have a very good reputation.

 

[High Dyke]

Hopefully my tickets arrive in the post tomorrow (no post delivered today). I need them for Friday.

 

[pdeaves]

Royal Mail providing a rubbish service, while worse this month, is nothing new. I regularly receive a subscription magazine almost at the time the next one should be out, and this has been the case for years. We can go a week or more without post. It looks like I live on the overtime round, and if no one wants to do overtime, no one comes to deliver stuff (it may not really be like that, it's what it looks like).
Part of the problem, I think, is that the people Royal Mail deals with (you, me, the recipients of the post) are generally not the paying customers (the senders). As an example, you complain that such-and-such hasn't arrived, or got damaged, etc., and they want proof of postage, which you as the recipient don't have. There is a disconnect and no incentive to fix it.

 

[crablab]

I have noticed that I am receiving 'business' letters (statements, news of increased charges) rather more promptly than Christmas Cards!

Some cards (read: a fair number) have to be hand sorted because the combination of dark pen on red envelopes makes it really difficult to OCR. Or the addresses are incomplete, wrong, illegible etc.

Royal Mail have all but admitted that their priority is parcels, and have also seemingly remembered there is a reason for first and second class mail in ordering priorities.

There is always a priority in how mail is processed - 1st Class is processed at the Mail Centre the afternoon/evening it comes in, 2nd is processed at the start of the shift the following day.

 

[Gloster]

Some cards (read: a fair number) have to be hand sorted because the combination of dark pen on red envelopes makes it really difficult to OCR. Or the addresses are incomplete, wrong, illegible etc.

When you consider the number of letters they will get that are addressed to Nan and Granpa, Mulry Cottge, Poke Stoges, or have an incomplete address because the writer has partly forgotten it as they haven’t sent a card since last year and can’t find their address book, or is written in crayon by a four year-old, or…it is a wonder that most do arrive. Hand-sorting is, as said above, time consuming.

 

[crablab]

it is a wonder that most do arrive

Haha, spot on.

For those wondering, letter mail is normally sent straight through the ILSM which will sort the letters to the next mail centre (or Delivery Office if it's inward mail) automatically.

This requires that they have the address encoded in those florescent dots, which is done after the mail has been 'sifted' to remove large letters and packages. If the address can't be OCR'd, then it's ejected and has to either be manually encoded or hand sorted.

Hand-sorting is, as said above, time consuming.

Yup. And really boring in my opinion! But at least you get to sit down

 

[Baxenden Bank]

What are Royal Mails legal obligations? All I can find on their web pages is that for First Class "We aim to deliver the next working day, including Saturdays", and for Second Class "We aim to deliver the next working day, including Saturdays". Is there no come back against Royal Mail for missing these targets by miles?

Their legal obligation - the Universal Service Obligation (USO) is to deliver to every address, once per day, six days per week. Ofcom is responsible for enforcing this.

From Ofcom:

As the Designated Universal Service Provider (“DUSP”), Royal Mail is required to provide a universal postal service, including delivery and collection of letters, six days per week, Monday to Saturday. This obligation does not however apply on public holidays, which includes bank holidays and any other date which Ofcom directs. These are known as ‘exceptions.’

I noticed this here:

A Westminster Hall debate has been scheduled for 12 January 2023 at 1.30pm on Royal Mail and the future of the universal service obligation. The debate will be opened by Kate Osborne MP.

Their quality of service targets are those timescales you quote, which are measured (quarterly? and by postal area?) and used to be published online. From Ofcom here:

Under Ofcom rules Royal Mail is required to deliver 93% of First Class mail within one working day of collection, and 98.5% of Second Class mail within three working days of collection.
However, across 2021-22, only 81.8% of First Class mail was delivered within one working day and 95.4% of Second Class mail was delivered within three working days.

In addition, Royal Mail is set a target of completing 99.9% of delivery routes on each day that a delivery is required. However, it completed 94.09% of routes over this period.

Royal Mail is also required to deliver 91.5% of First Class stamped and metered mail products within one working day in 118 postcode areas of the UK – but it didn’t meet this target in any of these postcode areas.

Performance against these targets is measured as an average performance level throughout the year, excluding the Christmas period.

 

[gswindale]

Just a quick note that my in-laws are still waiting for the card and hand painted decoration our little one sent them at the beginning of December 2021. All the others we sent out made it.

I've said this before, but the 6 day a week delivery requirement is not really needed any more in my view.

The one good thing I've noticed is the reduction in the amount of recycling we're doing due to the decrease in unsolicited spam due to the strikes.

 

[Bevan Price]

Local post has been very patchy. Radio Times for week commencing 10 December is the last to arrive; fewer cards than expected and CDs with pre-Christmas delivery dates still not here. In contrast, new driving licence took about 4 days to reach me.

 

[Annetts key]

But would removing the 6 days a week requirement make any significant difference (as in improvement) for customers? We get a lot of mail on Saturdays. So if the Saturday delivery was dropped, I would have to wait until around 12 midday on the following Monday.

The problem here is that other companies can get all the very profitable work (pre sorted business mail), then get the Royal Mail to do the hard work of delivering it to your letter box. This last bit being the labour intensive bit, and hence the most expensive part.

Really, the other delivery companies should be subject to the same Universal Service Obligation or pay more to Royal Mail to do the delivery.