Confusion reigns today as to whether Wiganers are getting their usual Christmas service as far as mail deliveries are concerned.
The number of complaints on social media are increasing that homes in many parts of the borough haven’t been getting many cards and letters in recent days.
And Wigan Today has been contacted by a reader who was told that the town’s sorting office is facing a staffing crisis and that personnel are having to be drafted in from other areas to help with a backlog.
But Royal Mail has given different responses to the two different issues, saying that there may be issues in some offices if there are high sick rates but telling Wigan Today that it is very much “business as usual.”
With the cost of stamps rocketing in recent years, it is not surprising that fewer greetings cards are being sent these days, but social media is abuzz with people complaining that they have not been receiving any mail and it is affecting the WN1 to WN6 post codes.
A Royal Mail statement in response to that reads: “We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week.
"In a small number of local offices this may temporarily not be possible due to high levels of sick absence, resourcing, or other local factors.
"In those cases, we will rotate deliveries to minimise the delay to individual customers.
"We also provide targeted support to those offices to address their challenges and restore our service to the high standard our customers would normally receive.
"We're sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.”
Jason Smith in Aspull-New Springs told the Standish Then and Now Facebook group said his home hadn't received any mail for three weeks.
Meanwhile there has been talk of Wigan sorting office staff issues.
A Wigan Today reader said: “I bumped into a postal worker in Burscough yesterday who told me there’s a staff crisis at Wigan sorting offices.
"They’re having to bring reinforcements from other areas including Burscough but it looks like they could do with a pre-Christmas shout-out for temps.”
However a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We want to reassure customers that deliveries are continuing as normal, and that the overwhelming majority of mail is being delivered on time.
"When a route is affected, we work to prioritise any delayed items the following day.
"Our posties are working incredibly hard during the busy Christmas period to keep deliveries consistent and reliable for customers.”
Another Wigan Today reader said: “According to a relative who works for Royal Mail, the problem of people not getting their letter mail is not only due to sickness, but staff shortages.
"Priority is being given to the delivery of parcels as Royal Mail are in competition with other parcel delivery companies, whereas there is no competition in the letter delivery side and smaller profits.
"He has also told us that unlike in the past, some of the many newly-employed staff pack in the job after being out in adverse weather conditions and say they can get as much money on the benefit system.
"At the moment, we’re only getting one delivery a week with mail which has included a new credit card being 10 to 14 days old.”