If I think it could inconvenience my customer by having to go to the office to pick up the parcel, I always try to leave it with a neighbor first and post a card through their door saying what I did & so & so has got their packet.

I think a major sticking problem for Royal Mail is that when a postman does eventually get out on his round, the postman cannot get rid of the larger items due to a high number of customers being at work . So yes that idea of yours with bigger boxes outside peoples abodes would definitely work & would help everyone in the long run.

I do think one of the things that makes it more difficult is UK letter boxes. Here in France, we have standard mail boxes which all posties have a master key for, and any parcel up to about 40cms in any direction can be left easily even if I’m out. If British houses had something similar, most of the delivery problems you ever get could be avoided IMHO.

No you misunderstand me. Letters with incomplete addresses will still go to their destination, but if the delivery postman does not know where the item of mail goes, he then endorses the item himself by putting a sticker on the letter/packet and ticks the appropriate box. ie

gone away
not known
address inaccessible
incomplete address
uncalled for

Then we put the letters in the dead corner which is picked up & then it is taken to Portsmouth or Belfast.

Remember that most items of mail which is incorrectly addressed is only found to be so, when it gets to the final delivery officer on his round.

I myself know that if this ever happened to me I would be fuming. This should be an automatic sacking without question if a postman was found guilty of doing this.

Maybe on reflection I have been very shortsighted on the things that I feel only happen in my office.

Sorry Bigpoppa if I caused you any offence by saying that you made a stupid remark. I was wrong to do

If it is one can only presume your colleagues are going through the mail for Christmas presnts when no-one is looking?

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400144&mediaId=500140

Its funny these 1780 items that get lost in the post you should mention. But I get at least 30 items per day that are not addressed properly ie

Miss Smith
Flat 2
The high Road
Wherever
EG3 5TL

The fact that the person has not left a house number is why I have to kill off(pouch off) so many items per day.

People may think its our job to find out where these letters go but in fact its not. Once upon a time I used to do as much as possible to find out where this person lived so they can be reacquainted with their delivery item. But alas now I have no longer the time to find out where this item goes as we are constantly being assessed at how many items we are throwing of per minute in fear of the slow working procedure/conduct code.
We have a corner piled up of hundreds of letters with incomplete addreses like these with most having no return of address to send it back too. & this is just in our small 80 workforce office. Maybe just maybe this is one of the main reasons why so many items get lost in the post. Being an ex-postman you should know this.

& no I do not believe that even a small percentage of postman leave packages in dustbins. That is a stupid remark.

I also find it quite hypocritical that you yourself use Royal Mail when your pretty convinced that postman leave items in bins, burn items in their gardens, are a bunch of robbing thieves & store your packages in their attic.

Im sorry that you had a hard time when you were at Royal Mail,I really am. You did not deserve that & it was wrong. But to come out with the comments you are coming out are offensive & slanderous. Especially from someone like myself who has never left items in a bin & has never put a “sorry you was not in” card without attempt of delivery first.

Large letters not so which explains the rises (up to 100gm) from 48p to 52p to 61p.

I anticipate something around 70p from this April.

The number of items would reduce enough to ease the burden on the workers

and the increase in profit could be channelled into making the service better.

it would probably kill the xmas card business though

Who was bullied to go on stike at Royal Mail?

“it” being that it’s not wrong for your boss to ask you to work hard.

“it” being that times change, change with it or get left behind.

“it” being you should expect to get judged by the actions of the monority, that is the way it works right or wrong.

Do the courier firm ever loose goods or fail to deliver? Do they ever have lazy or rude staff or leave parcels in bins?…

…I would imagine yes, but when was the last time a minority of City-Link employees bullied the rest to go on strike?

In my opinion the majority of postman do give Royal Mail value for the pay that they receive. The majority of postman are not thieves and do attempt to deliver the mail when possible. Most parcels are not left in dustbins.

Do the courier firm ever loose goods or fail to deliver? Do they ever have lazy or rude staff or leave parcels in bins?
I am personally not convinced that TNT (or whoever) will offer a better services even if the prices double or treble.

Yes my statement was a general one, but it’s based on my experience of sending over 100 parcels a day for the past 3 years. I think that gives me some experience to call upon.

Of course there are honest postmen/women that goes without saying.

but don’t you dare call me and my colleagues thief’s!!!…

I have no idea if you or the poeple you work with have ever stolen anything but the fact that 1780 items of mail get “lost” each day may suggest that someone is not being completely honest, don’t you think?

But please do tell me how mail gets “lost” in the post, not taking into account all the letters stuffed behind or under your frame?

Do these letters walk off on their own and lose their way, perhaps they are abducted by aliens?

Or perhaps they are dropped into bins, delivered to the wrong houses, burnt in back gardens, stored in peoples attics…Ring any bells?

you have in fact been subjected to bad service from a postman…Yes, you’re right, I have almost every week since the day I started using Royal Mail, am I alone in having experienced such poor levels of service? Well, I would think the answer to that one is obvious.

That might be fine by you, but for the people who live quite far away from the delivery office or if your elderly, well they may find it quite difficult to collect they mail.

& if your saying that most postman do not get they’re recorded’s signed for or that most postman leave packages for their customers in the bin, & that postman steal from Royal Mail then you really are as daft as you sound.

It is very evident from your sweeping generalisation that you have in fact been subjected to bad service from a postman… may I say that you may have an opinion on an individual, but that does NOT give you right to tar all postman with the same brush.

As I stated many times before many postman cannot complete their rounds in the time given to do so. You choose not to believe this & to be honest I don’t give a damn if you do or not, but don’t you dare call me and my colleagues thief’s!!!

did not have to stop to knock on peoples door to delivery packets…When they bother to even take them out on the round.

What’s wrong with giving someone a hards days work, is that illegal now, against some kind of health and safety regulation?

The Royal Mail managers are (in my opinion) working all the dead wood out of the system, the ones that don’t want to change…The ones that have been there for 26 years and think “it’s much harder than it used to be” no $h!t Sherlock.

Until the posties are capable of doing the job properly (leaving cards, not using bins, not stealing mail, stop having allocated sick days, stop striking, forget how “it used to be” they simply don’t have an argument (in my opinion).

The best bit about that show was when TNT said that their intention was to have orange postmen on the streets, starting with the cities etc…Great news, and yes I would be willing to pay more. I think around £1 would be ok for a 1st class letter.

Also, Royal Mail claimed the round was four and a half miles long, when in fact it was six.