postal problems

[Reckless Rat]

If you definitely want something to arrive, then send it by UPS. If you look at statistics Hermes are the worst. Customer service is virtually non existant. DPD aren't much better.

[Charles P]

Read this today. You're not the only one Tony, and I suspect it may get a bit worse before it improves

https://www.theguardian.com/business/202...ondon-post

c

[Tony Betts]

Hi charles,

I watched a program on the post office any years ago, when they had alot of complaints coming in.

They were losing 14 million parcels a year.

Percentage wise that came to something like 0.18 percent.

Which they felt was reasonable for the quantity of post they were handling.

On the other hand, were the hell does 14 million parcels go every year

UPS are having there own problems at the moment, like most delivery is ok. Collection is a nightmare.

I've had no problems with DPD, but they are also having collection problems at the moment.


A slightly lighter note, my parcels were collected this afternoon. I stood on the front to make sure they were collecting as well. 
The supervisor I've spoken to before, explained he was breaking in a new driver. I stood and watch him take 4 attempts to reverse into Duncan avery, wilst the supervisor done two deliveries and my collection  around 8 minits worth.

My thoughts were, are PG having another clear out

Tony.

[Nick Turley]

I suspect a lot of performance variation between different companies in different geographical areas.

We send and receive parcels every day and in our experience the very worst is Hermes and anything through parcels to go (cheapest routes). Cheap they are but we cannot risk using these sort of people.
A delivery form Hermes the other day for example (supposed to be a signed for delivery) was just dumped outside our entrance gate, lucky we saw it !

The best seems to be Post office "special delivery" (well insured) never let us down ever. This must not be confused with Parcel Force who are very average.
 UPS seem pretty good (especially worldwide), although not perfect, you can at least talk to a sensible human who always eventually seems to find the item.

To a certain extent you might get what you pay for.

[Paul N-M]

Having owned a sports equipment on line business for over 20 years operating out of London and Edinburgh and serving the UK and further afield, we had a constant stream of courier companies chasing our business. We made a policy of reviewing eveny 18 months and would invite several to quote for the work. We quickly learned to avoid the cheapest and of course the technology of booking shipments and keeping customers informed by text/email has developed over that time. Customer expectations have moved significantly as well.
Ones that do well for a while fall away and otheres come through. A lot depends on the management of the firm and with so many self employed drivers, some of whom sub contract deliveries, can be a nightmare in certian areas. Funny how problems seemed to be in the same areas all the time.
I would say that for consistency DHL, UPS and FedEx have faired well with collections and deliveries. Parcel Force fell out of favour early on. Would never use Hermes based on the piss poor performance of parcels other people sent to us.

I have no idea how many parcels you ship out on average per day Tony (and other cherished suppliers) but volumes dont need to be high to get good service at a reasonable price. We found that customers were happy to pay at the higher end for post and packaging (not forgetting that packaging materials cost money) for a reliable 24/48 hour trackable service. If they have a good experience in the service they will come back.

Speak to a couple of them and see what they can offer is what I would suggest. Nothing to lose.

Paul

[Peter Naulls]

I had a supplier some years ago who wrapped everything in bright orange paper - he reckoned it reduced the number of lost parcels significantly!

I have now posted over 300 Austin scale models, mainly to customers overseas using Royal Mail International Track & Sign. Not one has been lost. Most impressive performance was (I think) 4 days from the Scottish Highlands to West coast USA.

[Dave Mann]

With this covid thing and seen a photo in a newspaper of the huge pile of mail bags to be sorted in a Bristol sorting office I'm surprised they are managing so well.

[Dennis Nicholas]

The A7s later relative - Reliant - had a model called a Scimitar.  The club - RSSOC (Reliant sabre scimitar owners club) has a section called "the Scimaritans" (See 'the good Simaritan" in  the bible)You can opt into that section with your name, contact, and what help you have available and will do.  Quite often requests are made and answered for a person/s to pick up/deliver items.  Works well especially with persons doing a journey anyway from A to C......can drop off/pick at B and enjoy a brake with a cuppa/fruit cake/meal/interesting chat etc.
Up to the people concerned to arrange details and recompense.....and quite often items pass through 2/3 different hands.
Good if you only have small diversion of journey.  Even engines/ sets of 5 large wheels/tyres.  Area noggin to area noggin proves very doable.

Dennis

[Pearls not a Singer]

A lttle inside information from my friendly postman

Royal ? (Can we complain to the Queen!) mail prioritise guaranteed time delivery mail above all else, as there are penalties if they don't make the time slot. Everything else depends on the numbers of staff available. The company (which they are since privatisation) have reduced staff numbers and hours, and are poor at protecting staff within the sorting centres from covid, so its not surprising that many are off sick.

[Hedd_Jones]

Hi charles,

I watched a program on the post office any years ago, when they had alot of complaints coming in.

They were losing 14 million parcels a year.

Percentage wise that came to something like 0.18 percent.

Which they felt was reasonable for the quantity of post they were handling.

On the other hand, were the hell does 14 million parcels go every year

Theft is a big problem. At the delivery office. This was identified to me by a guy I know who still works for them.

Basically the posties are pretty good at working out what's in the packet, so if they think its something they want, it gets 'filed' somewhere, under a table, on a shelf or whatever as they sort it in the morning for delivery, or simply goes missing when out for delivery. The filed items are 'liberated' as and when time allows.

Unfortunately if they open the packet and find a piece of Austin 7 and not the I phone they were expecting (or whatever), it either gets chucked, or sometimes ends up in the 'damaged post', and gets sent to a central location for processing. This is a particular problem around xmas when the labour is supplemented by temporary staff I'm told.

I bought a 1930's toy steam engine on ebay, for a couple of hundred quid. A Bowman M101 for you saddos like me. And despite it being a toy it was about 15inches square on the baseplate, and about 10 inches tall over the chimney, so not a small thing, and requiring a large box.

Seller let me know it was on its way, after a week I was getting worried. It had not been sent insured (but at sellers risk still at this point). We go through all the forms etc, its not missing until its been missing 15 working days (so nearly a month etc) blah blah blah. So PAYPAL wont give me any money back until resolved etc.

He had contacted the Post Office 'damaged post' people who were very helpful but had not seen it (I was copied in on all emails by a very good seller - he had even double boxed it and was adamant it was very well packaged indeed)

I mentioned it to my mate who suggested the theft problem. So I made myself very unpopular at the local delivery office asking about it, even had photos of the box. They tried to fob me off but I had the e-mails from the damaged post lot on me. And said my only conclusion was that it had been stolen by the Post Office. There was about 5 of them in the room when I made this statement, and I could tell it hit a nerve.

Would you believe the following afternoon on returning from work, there was a delivery attempted card in the door. When I got back to the delivery office on the following Saturday, there was a box about 18inches square waiting for me. Funny that. It was my toy steam engine.

That was nearly a month late. The seller was a day or so from filling the lost post forms.