Customer notice:Amazon serious delays?

[POSTMAN]

A source who works for Amazon's UK distribution service told TelecomTV that the retail giant is backlogged, with many courier service employees urging it to cease taking orders online.

Our source said there are "eight [articulated trucks] outside the depot" waiting to be loaded for delivery and a further one in London. These trucks carry thousands of Amazon's orders from the depot to be dispatched throughout the country and the rest of the world. She said that the delays are due to the snow earlier this month which affected most of Britain.

Customers who ordered goods on Amazon via third-party sellers might find that their items might take even longer to be delivered. Many are finding that their two-week old orders still haven't turned up, whilst last week's orders have.

See the link below for the full story,we will give updates as we get them...
http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_newsD ... 0#comments" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[POSTMAN]

Millions of online presents stranded as snow and ice cause huge backlog... and the weather's getting WORSE

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z18G4xxBr4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[POSTMAN]

Amazon:Your Delivery - Delays Due to Adverse Weather Conditions: Frequently Asked Questions

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/help/custome ... =200430820" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Will I get my order in time for Christmas?
Each product detail page will message - for that specific product - what delivery option you should select to receive the product in time for Christmas. To see our best estimate of when your order will arrive, please refer to the delivery estimate in the checkout.

When will I know about last order dates for other delivery methods?
We are continually monitoring weather conditions across the country and are in regular contact with our carriers to establish the extent of the delivery backlog. As soon as we are able to provide last order deadlines for other delivery methods, we will update our Last Order Dates page.

Where's my stuff?
Weather conditions are affecting both domestic and international deliveries and all of our carriers are working to clear their back logs. If your order is being delivered via a trackable delivery method, you will find a tracking identification number on your order confirmation. You can track your parcel directly with your carrier service.

If I place an order now, when will it be delivered?
Some areas of Scotland are experiencing delays of up to three days, and deliveries to the rest of the UK may take up to two days longer than usual. The delivery date you see on the product detail page and in the checkout is our best estimate of when your order will arrive.

What delivery options do I have?
All of the delivery choices you see in the checkout accurately reflect the options available to you, based on the products you are ordering.

How will orders placed through a third-party seller be affected?
The estimated delivery date of items ordered through third-party sellers may not be accurate and we would advise you to be prepared for these taking longer to be delivered.

How can I keep up-to-date?
Be sure to return to this page, as we will continue to update with the latest information.

How do I return an item?
While our carriers prioritise deliveries, there may be delays with them being able to arrange collection of returns. Visit our Returns Support Centre to arrange a return.

[POSTMAN]

Customer notice:Tracked/Track And Trace mail delays


Please note THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL CUSTOMER NOTICE.

With regards to the 1st bout of bad weather.

If you are having problems with a Royal Mail Tracked/Track and Trace item and it shows that is is either at a RDC(Regional Distribution Centre)or MC (Mail Centre) and it shows that it has been there for some time,then please note that the chances are it is not stuck there and that it has moved on but because of the weather previously,the current backlog and the extra xmas post it has not been updated on Royal Mail systems.

Although this is unofficial we are getting reports from front line posties that because of the huge backlog caused,a lot of the stuff has not been scanned in on parts of it's route which it should be,this is the main reason for the confusion/lack of information on Royal Mail's system.

There 'may' be occasions where the item is in the delivery office and has not been scanned yet as some offices still have a backlog.

Although not much help,most of the mail delayed due to the 1st bout of bad weather is probably ready or near ready to be delivered.
But now unfortunately we have a 2nd bout of bad weather which will slow things down again.
It is just a case of waiting.

Normal packets would be the same apart from the 'scanning' part,but weather permitting extra man hrs are being put in to clear them in some places.

[POSTMAN]

Latest unofficial info.
It seems that we maybe catching up on the backlog.
For some it may not be much help but at least things seem to be moving a bit quicker.

[ChasPost]

Hi, With regard to the comment that " we are catching up ", does sorting new mail over old constitute catching up, is the way Royal Mail makes the figured stack up?, what has happened to movement of mail from the 8th, 13th 14th of December, large portions have failed to arrive by christmas, while 23rd of December's mail was delivered on the 24th.
.Just what kind of system is being used??? or is it all about the Stats???

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Hi, With regard to the comment that " we are catching up ", does sorting new mail over old constitute catching up, is the way Royal Mail makes the figured stack up?, what has happened to movement of mail from the 8th, 13th 14th of December, large portions have failed to arrive by christmas, while 23rd of December's mail was delivered on the 24th.
.Just what kind of system is being used??? or is it all about the Stats???

Yes is the simple answer.

The background is that prior to Liberalisation Postcom at the direction of the Politicians introduced targets for most "streams" of post. 1st class 93% next working day, 2nd Class 98% in 3 working days etc etc. If these targets were not met and the reasons were not acceptable then RM is fined £M with the fine being commensurate to the size of the failure.

When there is a backlog it is cheaper and therefore more financially astute to concentrate on new mail thereby reducing the size of the fine, and then working through the backlog as time permits, as RM cannot be fined twice for the same backlog.

This is why the CWU and myself believe that the Postal Service should not be privatised or liberalised. Without these Targets linked to fines for failures then the mail stuck in the backlog would have been dealt with quicker, of course it may have slowed down the whole system for a few weeks but at least the wait for those in the back log would have been far shorter.

[ChasPost]

Isn't about time that Royal Mail employees of any Rank "Man Up" and publish the real truth regarding the delay in mail. Companies like Amazon ( the only affiliation I have is that I sell through the company ) have good and what appear to be honest intentions, they appear to handle any issues in a generous and customer focussed manner. As employees of Royal Mail you are allowing and sometimes encouraging the heat to go in their direction, of which all should all hold your head's in shame.
The process of sorting new mail over old is an unacceptable practice to everyone except between the management who negotiated the deal with the government and who have somehow lost focus that your business is charging for items that you indicate you will deliver somewhere else at a set time for a set fee.
On the assumption that 2nd class mail takes 2-3 days to get delivered, a 24 hour holdup such as the beginning of the month would push that to 3-4 days etc. Catching up is not delivering isolated mail 14 days later and delivering Mail before Christmas that was posted after deadlines, while mail has been sitting unsorted for 12 days is something you will have to explain to me.
The mail for December or any event such as, Valentines day is predictable by historic and market trends so therefore the volume of mail can be guestimated for any day, staffing and an infrastructure should be planned for the likely volume. The keeling over of the mail system indicates that both the staff and infrastructure was being winged on an "It'll be alright on the Night" basis.
A lot of orders are placed online on the basis of companies offering a "guaranteed" delivery schedule. The system that Royal Mail is operating now is only operating in the shadow of a previous predictable service. As soon as companies look back at this year and realise their reputation is on the line with orders placed after the 1st of December not being guaranteed delivery for Christmas, then they will stop offering a guarantee until a more predictable service is offered by Royal Mail or someone else.
Delays in a linear fashion can be catered for, an unpredictable service cannot. We are a very small company and had last minute marketing planned for Christmas, when the 3rd of December's mail hadn't been delivered by the 15th of December, it was scrapped, so revenue for both us and Royal Mail was lost there.
Any trading company has dreams of a Factory full of undiscounted work, as Royal Mail have, so make the most of it, before it disappears. Man up, accept your responsibilities and good fortune and stop allowing the weather, other large mailing companies or any other passing ship to take the blame for your shortcomings.

[DGP1]

Isn't about time that Royal Mail employees of any Rank "Man Up" and publish the real truth regarding the delay in mail. Companies like Amazon ( the only affiliation I have is that I sell through the company ) have good and what appear to be honest intentions, they appear to handle any issues in a generous and customer focussed manner. As employees of Royal Mail you are allowing and sometimes encouraging the heat to go in their direction, of which all should all hold your head's in shame.
The process of sorting new mail over old is an unacceptable practice to everyone except between the management who negotiated the deal with the government and who have somehow lost focus that your business is charging for items that you indicate you will deliver somewhere else at a set time for a set fee.
On the assumption that 2nd class mail takes 2-3 days to get delivered, a 24 hour holdup such as the beginning of the month would push that to 3-4 days etc. Catching up is not delivering isolated mail 14 days later and delivering Mail before Christmas that was posted after deadlines, while mail has been sitting unsorted for 12 days is something you will have to explain to me.
The mail for December or any event such as, Valentines day is predictable by historic and market trends so therefore the volume of mail can be guestimated for any day, staffing and an infrastructure should be planned for the likely volume. The keeling over of the mail system indicates that both the staff and infrastructure was being winged on an "It'll be alright on the Night" basis.
A lot of orders are placed online on the basis of companies offering a "guaranteed" delivery schedule. The system that Royal Mail is operating now is only operating in the shadow of a previous predictable service. As soon as companies look back at this year and realise their reputation is on the line with orders placed after the 1st of December not being guaranteed delivery for Christmas, then they will stop offering a guarantee until a more predictable service is offered by Royal Mail or someone else.
Delays in a linear fashion can be catered for, an unpredictable service cannot. We are a very small company and had last minute marketing planned for Christmas, when the 3rd of December's mail hadn't been delivered by the 15th of December, it was scrapped, so revenue for both us and Royal Mail was lost there.
Any trading company has dreams of a Factory full of undiscounted work, as Royal Mail have, so make the most of it, before it disappears. Man up, accept your responsibilities and good fortune and stop allowing the weather, other large mailing companies or any other passing ship to take the blame for your shortcomings.

Why should I have to take any blame for the mess RM created? You need to take this up with the management who have cut the workforce to the bone and then are surprised the whole thing falls apart.

[ChasPost]

Anyone that knows the root of the problem, has the ability to report it. Sitting on your hands is not an excuse, there are many messages on this Forum, which has isolated Amazon as seeming to have problems, when you all must know the problem lies elsewhere, but fail to speak up.
That is a responsibility, that you can either accept or not, hence the expression "manning up"

[clashcityrocker]

We should "man up"?
How many picket lines did you come and stand on when we have been striking to protect your services?
How many MPs have you written to, to highlight your concerns about the proposed privatisation of the Royal Mail and the inevitable worsening of the service?
How many meetings have you attended/addressed?
We have been fighting for years to try and protect the RM. All we get is stories about how we are thieving lazy gits.
Try to remember also that we too are customers of Amazon etc. When your mail is being held up, our mail is being held up as well. We don't get any sort of priority treatment because we work for Royal Mail.

[andy2007]

The reason that Amazon is being singled out, is because of the sheer volume of traffic (Mail) from them. As for"manning up". Contrary to the biased reports in the Press, the last 2 Strikes were mostly about trying to prevent exactly these problems.

The simple fact is, that our resources (and hence ability to recover from backlogs) has been cut to the bone. So when we do have problems, they rapidly spiral out of control. We keep trying to fight it, but have serious problems getting any support, because the Press keep claiming that it's all about money! Yes, we do have negotiations about wage increases every year or 2. But quite frankly, the majority know full well, that it would be pointless to Strike over it, as we loose more money than we gain in the long run. Of course it's included in the demands. But it's a low priority. The main concern, is trying to maintain a service for the Customers and the Public.

Many of us argue with Managers about the sheer stupidity, and unfairness, of doing the new work, before touching the backlog. But we always get the same pathetic excuse: It's for operational reasons. And as ludicrous as it sounds (and indeed, IS), if we ignore the Managers, and process the backlog first. And it results in fresh Mail failing (which of course it would), we'd face disciplinaries (and in serious cases, potentially prosecution!) for "willful delay of the Mail". Despite the fact, that the Managers are doing exactly that, to the Mail in the backlog! That's why less and less Posties are futilely attempting to argue with the Managers about it. Although, there's still plenty of us, who still argue anyway.

If you have any ideas about what more we could try to do. Then please tell us. Because we've been trying to do something about this for a few years now, and have achieved nothing. We even take the time to come on here (and when they still existed, other similar sites too), to "blow the whistle" on practices like this. I don't know what else we can try. Particularly, as the Managers are allowed to leave the backlog, if there's a risk of current Mail failing, if they don't.

[fishtank]

Anyone that knows the root of the problem, has the ability to report it. Sitting on your hands is not an excuse, there are many messages on this Forum, which has isolated Amazon as seeming to have problems, when you all must know the problem lies elsewhere, but fail to speak up.
That is a responsibility, that you can either accept or not, hence the expression "manning up"

With all due respect ChasPost that is utter nonsense.
It is not the responsibility of front line staff to report issues of policy to anybody in fact what you are asking them to do is breach the commercial confidentiality clause in their contracts and face the sack.
It is very much up to the customer if he or she feels that they have not received the service they have paid for to "man up" rather than just grumble about it.
Amazon have had issues this year...the most important being a failure to realise that their final mile distribution(Royal Mail) could not cope with the volume of orders received especially with severe weather disruption.

It is Royal Mail's responsibility to fulfil it's obligations to Amazon but it is Amazon's responsibility to fulfil it's obligations to it's customers.

[DGP1]

Anyone that knows the root of the problem, has the ability to report it. Sitting on your hands is not an excuse, there are many messages on this Forum, which has isolated Amazon as seeming to have problems, when you all must know the problem lies elsewhere, but fail to speak up.
That is a responsibility, that you can either accept or not, hence the expression "manning up"

Sorry, but we have reported all these problems............what else are we supposed to do, I could beat my manager to death and tell senior management that every other manager will suffer the same fate if they refuse to properly resource the deliveries..................but then I can't see that working either


OK, here I go, the problems lie with the senior management and you need to take it up with them not us at the bottom who get threatened with the sack if we fall foul of a manager. Management (and the Government) are the problem, they are only interested in their bonuses.

[ChasPost]

To put it into perspective,
All in Royal Mail I am sure have been paid during December for the work done. I have taken in orders at the busiest time of the year with time related products ( Christmas ). We have taken the money in, sent the items in good time, every order has been cleared so it is mailed in the next post. The time for the items to arrive has now timed out, so, I then pay for the postage for the items to be sent back, refund the money and instead of being the busiest time of the year, make a net loss. Customers are disappointed, I have stock that is now unsaleable and to boot I now haven't had a pay day in December although I will have done triple the work. The reason I'm online now is to deal with the problems, as I were on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
All because Royal Mail stick two fingers at my mail.
does that sound like the December you have had. ......no I thought not!