"I've never seen so much volume whilst working for Royal Mail in nearly 20 years."; Readers share their thoughts on pre-Christmas delivery delays

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/opinion/ ... ys-3078733

With an increased reliance on delivery services like the Royal Mail is it possible to keep up with demand?

For the people who work in delivery services, such as the Royal Mail and other courier services, it’s been an incredibly overwhelming year, full stop. And that’s without considering the impact of Covid-19, EU transition issues, reduced staffing, and other issues. For emphasis, you need only take a moment to watch the video that showed how full just one sorting office was. We asked our readers whether they’d experienced any delays in deliveries in the run-up to Christmas.

This is what they had to say:

Rachael Knott said: “Our posties have been fantastic all year . They have taken on so much more than they usually have to and have provided us with an amazing service. I for one would be understanding if my post was a little late at this time (it hasn’t been). All I can say is “thank you” for a much needed great service”, with plenty of love heart emojis.

Richard Michael feels that delivery services had excelled, saying: “Not at all. In fact a lot of things I ordered not expecting or needing them to come before Christmas have already arrived early. It’s possible some of these delays are actually with the companies and sellers struggling to dispatch, and not just the postal service. The postal delivery staff around here couldn’t be better, they work tirelessly to deliver our post and always with a smile!”

Sara Louise Cowley had zero issues and nothing but gratitude.

She said: “Thankfully I managed to get all my Christmas stuff ordered and delivered, last of which came today, all I can say is thank you to royal mail for always striving to make sure everyone has their post/parcels, and if people didn't leave things to be posted so late it might have arrived in time.”

Marc Williams is a postal worker who described the task at hand: “I'm a postie, I'm really sorry if you've been affected by missing parcels and letters. I've never seen so much volume whilst working for royal mail in nearly 20 years. We just cant get through it”

Christine Rowland was adamant things have been great, saying: “Not at all we’ve had some amazing service with some second class parcels arriving in just 2-3 days!”

Janice Bennett put things in perspective with some (much-needed) Christmas spirit: “Our postie has worked day in day out he arrived today soaking wet...we gave him a Christmas present...he was so appreciative...think of the positive Sheffield Star and it's no ones fault except COVID ....keep going all”

There were some who hadn’t had great experiences, claiming delays had impacted their business, but the majority empathised especially in such unprecedented times. Elizabeth Gethin also experienced delays but she doesn’t mind: “I've had stuff delayed but Royal Mail have been inundated with massive workloads and have done their best. Took 3 weeks for a card to arrive in Sheffield from Dorset. We owe our posties a lot.”

Jax Allott puts it in the most succinct way, saying: “I feel so sorry for the posties!! I’m still waiting for things but it is what it is. Merry Christmas to all the posties and delivery people who have done their best.”

[k979aaa]

It is work for us all be glad of it but it is for managers to manage the work load people come on here about not being able to complete they should go to a manager and tell them for that is their job is it not!

[wazer]

our office is a right mess. Managers running round last week, leave post, just parcels, tracked and non tracked. Most fitting s have over 5days mail. Stacks of grey boxes full of letters, redbags of letters which have came back due to not being able to complete. Our temps seemed to disappear on Monday before Xmas. I find it embarrising telling customers no post again due to manament insisting on parcels first.

[SpacePhoenix]

Our temps seemed to disappear on Monday before Xmas.

Apparently the Monday-Thursday weren't classed as Xmas pressure so RM must have axed most of the Xmas casuals in all offices. At the start of the Xmas week we had a noticeable drop in staffing levels

[k979aaa]

Everything in RM is bonus related hence the reduction in staff levels if bonuses were dependant on actual completion of a said unit there would be never be a pay out. Most of management bonuses are earnt by the very staff which they control and of whom most have been under the cosh for sometime. It is with some regret I did not stand up for others in my time as a fellow worker and was not told about these bonuses as I did not know of them at the time. Most of these bonuses pay managers pensions while ours are declining theirs grow off our own backs work!