One postal worker said the prioritisation of parcels meant employees used their 'initiative' by skipping houses that only receive letters
Elderly and vulnerable people could miss vital letters as Royal Mail staff delay making visits to certain houses until they have enough to make the trip worthwhile, workers have claimed.
Postal staff said they had seen elderly and vulnerable people miss hospital appointments due to NHS letters not arriving in time.
One said the postal service was in “shambles”, with high staff turnover, shortages in the workforce, low morale and “worn down” employees.
i previously reported that “tracked” parcels were prioritised over first class letters, rendering the costly stamps obsolete.
Workers said they now only brought out letters on delivery rounds in some rural areas when there were enough to make the trip worthwhile.
Customer Laura Grahamage, 41, from Padiham, a market town in Lancashire, claimed she only received post once every seven to 10 days. She said it was mainly letters that were delayed while parcels arrived on time.
Royal Mail has a legal duty to deliver letters every day from Monday to Saturday under the universal service obligation.
But a Royal Mail employee from the outskirts of Edinburgh claimed the prioritisation of parcels during the busy Christmas period when demand soars means postal workers use their “initiative” by skipping houses that only have letters as they know they cannot finish their round on time.
He told i: “Royal Mail will always clear out all the tracked items every single day because they’re the important items as far as [the company] is concerned.
“Postal workers will sometimes use their own initiative. Say house number 15 got a tracked item, they’ll just take the post for number 15.
“You will probably find that customers who are getting a tracked item every single day – because they’re big online shoppers – are probably getting a more consistent letter base than the elderly lady who still puts a first-class stamp on letters and communicates with people like that.”
He said he believed the issue disproportionately impacted older and more vulnerable people who relied on letters for bills and medical appointments.
And he added that letters due to be delivered to rural houses could pile up when there were staff shortages.
“Going to each individual house in an urban climate is a lot easier than houses that are two miles off the beaten path,” he said.
Another postal worker in County Durham said the service was in “shambles” due to staff shortages. He admitted that he delivered letters every other day, rather than fulfilling the daily service requirement, due to limited capacity.
He told i: “Every other day, you do one side of the frame of mail, then you concentrate on the next side of the frame the next day. So you do about half because you’ve got to prioritise parcels.
“In our office, every other day – sometimes three days – you’ll go without mail.”
This includes NHS letters and test kits for medical samples, he said, adding: “If it’s not tracked, it’s not a priority.”
He added that his delivery office had a rural patch and it was harder to get to all the houses in that area in time, compared to houses in cities.
The employee claimed he could not remember a time when his delivery office was completely clear in the past year as “there’s always something that’s been left”.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We would like to reassure residents that throughout the United Kingdom, whether urban or a rural, the vast majority of letters are delivered on time. According to our latest published results, three-quarters of first class letters arrive the following day, and 96 per cent within three days of posting.
“If a temporary delay does impact an area, we have dedicated teams ready to take immediate action. This may include recruitment to address sick absence, or the rotation of deliveries to ensure a consistent service with no homes waiting long periods for mail.”
The spokesperson told i the company does not operate a policy of prioritising parcels and every item is treated with equal importance.
