"kim" wrote
It's not just the Post Office - the courier firm which we use have increased their prices to the point that they are not worth considering for anything under 2Kg. I suspect the whole transport cost structure has been screwed by the increase in fuel prices.
John.
Do you expect the post office to work for nothing?!...
It's mostly down to fuel surcharges imposed by courier firms, typically a small user will be subjected to that surcharge in full, while larger customers have the leverage to kick and scream their way to being discounted out of it to some degree.
The only advantages of using a courier firm are the time definite services available and the track & trace facilities you get as standard, which are premium services at the Post Office.
However, the end customer is unlikely to choose to pay the additional cost of a courier delivery, unless perhaps they have previous bad experiences of the postal service.
Ian.
Yeah, definitely the time whan the recipient is out and they refuse to leave anything with a neighbour, in the garage, etc., without prior written instructions.
I think those who moan about the post office the most, are the ones who use it the least and have little experience of the fantastic service we get.
MBQ
wrote
I think you mean Royal Mail - the Post Office operated, err Post Offices. I use Royal Mail (not Parcel Farce) for 95% of our postal needs. Their first class letter mail service [for parcels] is generally excellent and cheaper than Parcel Farce, and only occasionally indifferent. Overall I'm reasonably happy with their service and costs, and though the latter have increased recently so has the cost of moving everything around the country - including people.
If Royal Mail would just go back to having regular post men doing a regular round then I'm certain their service would be unbeatable.
John.
Free all-bran?
No I expect it to provide a "public service", something it is not doing at present.
(kim)
Annoying perhaps, but such instructions can be easily given when sending, and most firms will attempt delivery on a second day. I doubt that such instruction as leave with neighbour / secure location without signature has to be *written*, but for obvious reasons *does* have to come from the sender and not the consignee.
Also, the guy doing the final delivery is quite often self employed, and will be personally liable for the claim if he leaves the consignment unsigned without authorization.
Come again? I've run an import agency and mail order business for the last
12years so I have more experience than most. In that time they've stopped delivering charged items to my door, closed every sub post office in the area and even stopped accepting mail at the sorting office. The only day on which customers didn't have to queue for an average of 40 mins to get served at the main post office counter was when opinion pollsters took a survey. On that day only they cancelled all staff days off and drafted in extra staff to shorten the queue. Even then the pollsters made a point of only questioning customers who looked as if they rarely used the place and deliberately avoided people like me. I'm not blaming the staff for any of this, they are as disgusted with the level of service they are expected to provide as I am. Not long back I dumped a load of items in the bin that would otherwise have been of interest to model railway enthusiasts because it simply wasn't worth the hassle of posting them.(kim)
No, the *recipient* has to provide signed instructions to the courier company before they will leave it. That's true of at least two national courier companies that have tried to deliver items to me.
I should also add the other gripes which are the inability to time a re-delivery attempt for when I'll be in, totally useless opening hours at the depot so I cannot get there without getting time off work and the "helpline" which is now centralised and never answered.
MBQ
wrote
That's about my only real grip with Royal Mail. If they need a signature for *Recorded * or *Special Delivery* and they can't deliver to suit them, or they need to collect import duty on stuff from abroad, then I've got to pick up from their sorting office which is badly situated and requires me to cross from one side of the city to the other. Even worse, they often can't find the item I'm supposed to be collecting.
Seems they all p#ss in the same pot.
John.
"kim" wrote
I expect it to offer exactly the same as any other carrier, but am grateful to the Post Office for being competitive on price and being willing to deliver anywhere in the UK for the same flat rate charge.
If you're shipping large quantities of stuff Kim, then you could contract with Royal Mail to collect from you.
John.
Can only speak for the firm I work for, but for us a call from the sender to the sending depot is sufficient. The recipient cannot alter the delivery address at all. It's the sender who will give us grief if we deliver incorrectly.
Unfortunately this is not always possible - timed delivery is a premium service, and "next day" is just that - an unspecified time that day. A driver will typically have a large geographical area to cover, and its not always possible to be a certain area at a certain time. and past 4pm they usually occupied with collection rather than delivery. Upgrade to a timed delivery AM/PM/10:30/9AM/Saturday is always possible, but will almost double the price for every step up the service level required.
We are open 3:30am to 9:30 pm - covers most needs, though it is still a pain if you live at the extremity of our area, a 30 mile each way trip is never welcome! And calls are always taken at the relevant depot for UK services, we only use a call centre for international shipments.
I guess like anything else, you get what you pay for. We do a top-notch service, but it certainly isn't cheap. The post-office however does a good cheap and cheerful service, and if fine if you are prepared to accept it's failings. For me it would depend how critical a shipment was - for some things the post office is fine, for others I'm happy to pay the premium for a definite service. You pays your money and takes your choice!
HRA.......HRA......HRA..... very funny......
With respect that is a 'business service' rather than a 'public service'. Since for me it is only a sideline and not a full time occupation they are understandably not interested.
(kim)
I lost my second biggest customer this time last year for that very reason. Unknown to me she was very ill and the last thing she wanted to hear about was my problems with the staff at the local sorting office.
My other gripe is that I used to dispose of a lot of cheaper, unwanted items on eBay and prided myself on fast turnaround and 100% feedback rating. Sunday was my best day for auctions but since I can no longer get served at the Post Office counter on a Monday I can no longer offer 'next day' delivery to successful bidders. Even in mid-week the wait to get served isn't justified by the amount I would get for the item so unless it's something like a Class 57 in Porterbrook purple going for £100 I'm just not interested any more.
(kim)
I tried the central helpline recently when I couldn't get anyone to answer the phone at the local delivery depot. It didn't take me long to get through, but I was somewhat surprised to be told that - unlike the local office - they couldn't arrange a next day redelivery because the request had to be sent to the local office by email!
"kim" wrote
And neither would other couriers.
I hear what you say about having to queue for long periods at your local Post Office, we have the same problem here on a Monday too. However, as it's not one of our normal working days we do not offer to ship eBay or mail order sales on a Monday but make that clear in our listings. If something is urgent we can use one of the small Post Offices in a village 'out in the sticks' where we generally go for a pub lunch anyway. There are ways around everything.
We often visit our local Post Office two or three times a day during the rest of the week without too many problems.
John.
Canada Post, unfortunately, doesn't have a domestic "small package" rate. Anything that is more than 2cm thick, regardless of its weight, is classed as a parcel and costs $6 / £3 minimum to post. It can be cheaper to post a lightweight item to UK or Australia than to the next town. Go figure!
A VHS tape weighs over 200g without packaging and (significantly in Canada) is over 2cm thick. A DVD or CD in a slim jewel case weighs only
60g (< 100g with packaging) and can go as lettermail - big difference!PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.