Royal Mail delivery times

[deniser]

Is anyone else experiencing problems with parcels posted on a Monday?

We probably post 50% of our parcels on a Monday and I would guess that many other Ecommerce sites do too.

Whenever I receive a phone call from a customer (invariably on a Friday) asking where their parcel is, it has always been posted on a Monday and it either arrives that day or the next day, Saturday.

Parcels posted on other days of the week do seem to be delivered within a day or two.

I am guessing that because of the extra Monday parcels the RM can't cope so they somehow get stored and delivered as and when they have spare capacity. When I queried this with RM they told me that their licence entitles them to deliver 1st class post within 15 days so a week is fine (although I wonder why I am paying for 1st class). They are all recorded delivery BTW.

I am considering holding Monday parcels back until Tuesday.

Or am I imagining it? Does anyone else have the same problem?

 

[Alex@Iansprint]

That makes for an interesting theory, and one I bet not many of us could answer, unless someone works for RM!

I have heard that RM relies on air transport a lot, so possibly the ash cloud turmoil has had some effect recently?

 

[TheGuru2010]

We used to have the same problems (really let us down) so we switched all our sending to TNT better service & cheaper!!!

 

[deniser]

We used to have the same problems (really let us down) so we switched all our sending to TNT better service & cheaper!!!

Our average Uk parcel cost is £3 with no VAT which we are finding hard to beat.

 

[quikshop]

We used to have the same problems (really let us down) so we switched all our sending to TNT better service & cheaper!!!

Really? What percentage of your packages are less than 2kg in weight?

 

[deniser]

Really? What percentage of your packages are less than 2kg in weight?

Probably 98% - they are light clothing items and accessories

 

[Mister B]

We've experienced no delays at all, not that we know of anyway.

Don;t know if it makes a difference or not but we take our mail bags straight to the sorting office at 19.00 every night.

Do you have collections or drop them at a post office? If so, maybe that's where the delay is.

Mister B

 

[fiona davies]

I have just spent 20 mins on phone trying to track a recorded item I sent on Monday. Been told it has been returned to me, but is actually in Northern Ireland!!!(I'm in london) Can't get in back until JUNE!!!! Do not post on Mondays!!

 

[james1911]

i have ahd a very good experience wirth them

 

[deniser]

We've experienced no delays at all, not that we know of anyway.

Don;t know if it makes a difference or not but we take our mail bags straight to the sorting office at 19.00 every night.

Do you have collections or drop them at a post office? If so, maybe that's where the delay is.

Mister B

They get collected and taken to a post office. Maybe that is it, maybe they are not getting collected from the post office, I will find out.

 

[AndyP]

To be honest I don't think it is something that any individual can really find out about or indeed alter. You/One can "analyse" it to death and next week it will be all different again. There are so many factors involved that nobody can really say "don't post on Mondays", ...if only it was that simple! Royal Mail is Royal Mail, for the most part they are pretty damned good, but as with all things in life, sometimes things don't go to plan. Of course your customer wants his/her purchase quickly and we all try to achieve that, especially if additional express courier services are also offered as an alternative etc...but, keeping it in perspective, its an online purchase and I am guessing that the sun will still come up tomorrow morning even if a parcel gets delayed by a day or so. Please don't think I am being flippant, as I am not. We, like you, bend over backwards to keep our customers happy and give a good service but taking a step back you do sometimes have to think that there are some really important bad things happening in this world...I was just reading about the gay couple in Malawi that has prompted my social conscience I think...

 

[deniser]

To be honest I don't think it is something that any individual can really find out about or indeed alter. You/One can "analyse" it to death and next week it will be all different again. There are so many factors involved that nobody can really say "don't post on Mondays", ...if only it was that simple! Royal Mail is Royal Mail, for the most part they are pretty damned good, but as with all things in life, sometimes things don't go to plan. Of course your customer wants his/her purchase quickly and we all try to achieve that, especially if additional express courier services are also offered as an alternative etc...but, keeping it in perspective, its an online purchase and I am guessing that the sun will still come up tomorrow morning even if a parcel gets delayed by a day or so. Please don't think I am being flippant, as I am not. We, like you, bend over backwards to keep our customers happy and give a good service but taking a step back you do sometimes have to think that there are some really important bad things happening in this world...I was just reading about the gay couple in Malawi that has prompted my social conscience I think...

Of course it's not that important, it's only a discussion as are all the other trivial things on this forum.

 

[paretowasright]

Hi,

I have found Mondays are sometimes a bad day but its also the biggest e-commerce posting day so higher overall volumes. We have been tracking Royal Mail performance and their claims of 94% of 1st class being delivered the next day seem ambitious. There also seems to be certain sorting office areas with high levels of 'missing parcels' mainly within the M25. Has anyone else found this?

 

[deniser]

Hi,

I have found Mondays are sometimes a bad day but its also the biggest e-commerce posting day so higher overall volumes. We have been tracking Royal Mail performance and their claims of 94% of 1st class being delivered the next day seem ambitious. There also seems to be certain sorting office areas with high levels of 'missing parcels' mainly within the M25. Has anyone else found this?

Yes my main problems are with delivery to London addresses.

I have now had a reply from RM. They say:
1. there is no problem with the extra volumes they receive on Mondays and
2. only 8 in 10 packets get delivered the next day - this is way below the published 94% figure for post in general and does show that there is a problem specifically to packets.

 

[bluedreamer]

Mondays has always been a heavy posting day for RM. Normally sorting offices are always fully staffed on mondays but sometimes the sheer volume of mail outstrips capacity. There are numerous factors that affect this:

1. Traffic congestion during collections, resulting in mail arriving at sorting offices too late to be processed.
2. Unexpected 1st class bulk postings from large companies despite agreements for these companies to notify RM in advance
3. Poorly presented mail which can't be effectively machine sorted, results in much slower processing and delays other mail

Yes my main problems are with delivery to London addresses.

I have now had a reply from RM. They say:
1. there is no problem with the extra volumes they receive on Mondays and
2. only 8 in 10 packets get delivered the next day - this is way below the published 94% figure for post in general and does show that there is a problem specifically to packets.

London has always been a problem area for RM, poor industrial relations, staffing problems and the rest of it. There's generally never a problem "receiving" extra volumes but processing and despatching it is another thing altogether

8 out of 10 packets sounds about right for London offices, probably for the above reasons.

 

[paretowasright]

Mondays has always been a heavy posting day for RM. Normally sorting offices are always fully staffed on mondays but sometimes the sheer volume of mail outstrips capacity. There are numerous factors that affect this:

1. Traffic congestion during collections, resulting in mail arriving at sorting offices too late to be processed.
2. Unexpected 1st class bulk postings from large companies despite agreements for these companies to notify RM in advance
3. Poorly presented mail which can't be effectively machine sorted, results in much slower processing and delays other mail



London has always been a problem area for RM, poor industrial relations, staffing problems and the rest of it. There's generally never a problem "receiving" extra volumes but processing and despatching it is another thing altogether

8 out of 10 packets sounds about right for London offices, probably for the above reasons.

Thanks Blue Dreamer you have a great knowledge of RM which is appreciated. We currently have 3 London sorting offices with 'missing parcel' rates at worrying levels- I just hope RM address the issues.
They really don't like these problems being highlighted, it must be very difficult to tackle it internally with such a beauracratic and union led workforce.

 

[Faevilangel]

If I remember right, the NI centre for the PO is for the "lost" mail. If a parcel cannot be delivered e.g. no delivery info on parcel then it's sent to NI to be "processed".

I always send parcels on a Monday and never had any issues. It will depend on where you are really, and whether you take to the PO or they pick it up from you.

I drop mine off at the PO and never had a problem.

TNT isn't a viable solution for a lot of people as the costs are quite high unless sending lots of parcels with weight. Letters / small packages are cheaper via RM.
Tesco moved all their internal mail to TNT and quite a lot of other companies have to.

To combat this, don't offer next day delivery on your site unless the customer pays extra for special delivery. That is the only method that is guaranteed next day, 1st class is supposed to be next day but for only 36p I don't expect it next day (although 99% of mine does).
I would have a small disclaimer written that the package could take 15 days to arrive due to the postal method. If you haven't recieved the parcel after 10 days then we will send another out to you.

It will then let customers know parcels are out of your control and they have an option to speed it up.

 

[deniser]

I would have a small disclaimer written that the package could take 15 days to arrive due to the postal method.
It will then let customers know parcels are out of your control and they have an option to speed it up.

I do that already (saying the delivery period is variable) and many (about 1 in 7) do select special delivery but even that has been failing lately. RM statistics say 1% of special deliveries are not made on time. I would estimate it is slightly higher than that especially in London. Quite often they are not delivered until the afternoon when the cut off time is meant to be 1pm - but better late same day than not at all.

 

[bluedreamer]

Thanks Blue Dreamer you have a great knowledge of RM which is appreciated. We currently have 3 London sorting offices with 'missing parcel' rates at worrying levels- I just hope RM address the issues.

No problem, I know more than you may realise

They really don't like these problems being highlighted, it must be very difficult to tackle it internally with such a beauracratic and union led workforce.

It's not just the unions, bad management has always played a role in this as well, especially at very senior level. Once, RM had a very loyal and conscientious workforce, but when that "football bloke" came in it started going down the pan

 

[oldeagleeye]

Hi

I know that the PO has traditionally had a higher volume of parcels on a Monday but if your local sorting office takes in a big council estate you are doomed due to the sheer unmber of catalogue returns. In fact a whole industry has grown out of the sheer volume.

One of my lady friends for example has a small boutique a few doors up from the post office on a big estate and she is struggling. Why because 100,s of women on the estate are ordering clothes - shoes etc out of club books - wearing them for the party on a friday night or whatever and then back to the agents complaining of some fault or other who all roll up with their huge laundry bags full of parcels on a Monday.

Now bear in mind. These go second classs. So if your parcels get put in the same sack as this clobber it could explain your delay because the sacks are probably stashed away at the depot for some time to encourage ordinary punters to go first class.

Post on a Tues instead.

Rob

 

[deniser]

Hi

I know that the PO has traditionally had a higher volume of parcels on a Monday but if your local sorting office takes in a big council estate you are doomed due to the sheer unmber of catalogue returns. In fact a whole industry has grown out of the sheer volume.

One of my lady friends for example has a small boutique a few doors up from the post office on a big estate and she is struggling. Why because 100,s of women on the estate are ordering clothes - shoes etc out of club books - wearing them for the party on a friday night or whatever and then back to the agents complaining of some fault or other who all roll up with their huge laundry bags full of parcels on a Monday.

Now bear in mind. These go second classs. So if your parcels get put in the same sack as this clobber it could explain your delay because the sacks are probably stashed away at the depot for some time to encourage ordinary punters to go first class.

Post on a Tues instead.

Rob

Funny you should say that as the PO that processes our parcels is on a massive Council Estate. But the reason they do our parcels is because they don't have much actual post; it acts almost solely as as a benefit distribution office.

Unless catalogue returns don't have to posted as such as they have pre-paid post labels on them so maybe they just have to be handed in?

Interesting theory..........

 

[Christiane]

I've not noticed any problems, although customers don't often report delays after one week has gone.

However, since end of April I've had one or two missing parcels a week which I had to resend, as cutomers usually won't want to wait more than two weeks.
I maybe get one missing parcel a month so this is higher than usual.
I started writing a letter to Royal Mail with delivery postcodes, etc, to complain. They may investigate and find the ''problem'', then everything is back to normal.

I find May and Nov/Dec are the worst months for lost parcels.

 

[paretowasright]

I've not noticed any problems, although customers don't often report delays after one week has gone.

However, since end of April I've had one or two missing parcels a week which I had to resend, as cutomers usually won't want to wait more than two weeks.
I maybe get one missing parcel a month so this is higher than usual.
I started writing a letter to Royal Mail with delivery postcodes, etc, to complain. They may investigate and find the ''problem'', then everything is back to normal.

I find May and Nov/Dec are the worst months for lost parcels.

Just.b what volumes do you reckon you are sending a month?
I only ask as 2 of my clients have measured RM loss rates and its about 1 in 300 but tends to go in waves.

 

[deniser]

Just.b what volumes do you reckon you are sending a month?
I only ask as 2 of my clients have measured RM loss rates and its about 1 in 300 but tends to go in waves.

Gosh that's high, ours is still around 1 in 1000. BUT, we have had several instances this year where parcels have taken up to 5 weeks to arrive so we have had to treat them as lost at around the 2 week mark but the customer has then returned the original a few weeks later.

Our biggest problem recently is damaged parcels. We never had a parcel where the contents were damaged until 4 weeks ago and we then had 4 returned where the parcel had been caught in the sorting machinery and the contents damaged. On calling the depot they said that our parcels shouldn't go anywhere near the sorting machinery but someone must be putting parcels in with the letters onto the conveyor belt. Trying to claim compensation is almost impossible without putting in hours of work.

 

[paretowasright]

Gosh that's high, ours is still around 1 in 1000. BUT, we have had several instances this year where parcels have taken up to 5 weeks to arrive so we have had to treat them as lost at around the 2 week mark but the customer has then returned the original a few weeks later.

Our biggest problem recently is damaged parcels. We never had a parcel where the contents were damaged until 4 weeks ago and we then had 4 returned where the parcel had been caught in the sorting machinery and the contents damaged. On calling the depot they said that our parcels shouldn't go anywhere near the sorting machinery but someone must be putting parcels in with the letters onto the conveyor belt. Trying to claim compensation is almost impossible without putting in hours of work.

Totally agree on the paperwork for compensation the time it takes outways the return. The problem is unless RM get to see the problems things just continue. They also investigate with Amazon and Ebay teams where relevant to identify any potentially unscrupulous consumers.

 

[alanc]

The loss rates mentioned here are familiar. We used to see a rate of 1 in 350 when we posted via the PO (paying over the counter). Since switching to PPI, I can't actually remember when I last submitted a loss claim form.

I do get the impression that 1st class parcels slower than they used to be.

 

[Christiane]

Just.b what volumes do you reckon you are sending a month?
I only ask as 2 of my clients have measured RM loss rates and its about 1 in 300 but tends to go in waves.

1 in 300 is in bad months for me! I send around 700 to 800 a month at this time of year, using PPI with a collection.

One of the lost parcels is no longer lost, the customer didn't want to wait and, as she's regular, we resent it after only a week. She received the second parcel the next day and the first parcel today, over a week later (which she is returning).

 

[paretowasright]

1 in 300 is in bad months for me! I send around 700 to 800 a month at this time of year, using PPI with a collection.

One of the lost parcels is no longer lost, the customer didn't want to wait and, as she's regular, we resent it after only a week. She received the second parcel the next day and the first parcel today, over a week later (which she is returning).

Interesting...I will add that was the last 2 months and all but 1 was lost through 1 sorting office postcode in East London who clearly have big problems.