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Postal Deliveries and Model Shops


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While I was a little concerned at the international route taken by DHL to deliver my item downunder,  it arrived early this morning (15/05/20), taking barely five days to travel across the Atlantic to the U.S.,  from the U.K.,  then across the Pacific onto Sydney.  Given that the option to choose DHL over Royal Mail was just GBP1.50 extra,  it is definitely money well spent.  I am awaiting a Royal Mail large package that was picked seven weeks ago and no sign of it yet.  Several other packages are five weeks and waiting by Royal Mail.

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I've had loads of parcels delivered over the last eight weeks, mostly RM, and everything seems to be working very well. Most items have arrived as quickly as normal. I say well done to the boys and girls of the Royal Mail and other parcel delivery companies but especially the Royal Mail.

 

I'm expecting three parcels today so I hope I haven't spoken too soon! If they don't get here till Monday I will still be happy as the service these people are providing is keeping my railway modelling and other interests going and thus keeping me as sane as I ever was during these difficult times.

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On the delivery side, up to the middle of April the Royal Mail on the delivery side were outstanding when you consider what was happening.

 

I did not buy anything else until the beginning of May, the first week of May despite buying several items the weekend before there were no deliveries, now whilst I have no proof I think most of the delays were probably down to sellers taking their time and no deliveries from the bank holiday Friday to the following Monday. As far as the RM is concerned a well earned rest.

 

This week I have had a mixture of next day deliveries and waiting a few days. On selling  where usually I get messages the next day of receipt of items (I only send 1st class) the majority seem to arrive after 2 days, though some are delivered the next day.

 

Like the vast majority I have no problems waiting a few days for an item, and fully understand the issues some depots may be facing or that a seller may reduce the of days they go out to post, those who have bought from me seem equally pleased whether it takes 1 day or two days to arrive

 

A big shout for my postie, on Wednesday were were out shopping when the post arrived and there was a letter saying the parcel will be at the local post office the next day, a knock on the door at 3;30 and it was the postie, she said as she was passing the road on her way back and thought it was worth a try. I managed to catch her the yesterday and gave her a small gift.

 

 

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I live in Swanage and I ordered a couple of items from Hattons on Monday 11 May that they sent straight away. By Wednesday they had arrived at the Ferndown sorting centre and i got a peculiar message saying parcel was incorrectly addressed and they were forwarding it to the right address. Nothing happened until Sunday and then I got a message saying that it was at the Dorset Royal Mail Centre which is at Poole and about five miles from Ferndown. Finally the parcel arrived at 11:00 this morning and my address was correct. It looks like the Royal Mail is a bit hit and miss at the moment.

 

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On 15/05/2020 at 02:24, GWR-fan said:

While I was a little concerned at the international route taken by DHL to deliver my item downunder,  it arrived early this morning (15/05/20), taking barely five days to travel across the Atlantic to the U.S.,  from the U.K.,  then across the Pacific onto Sydney.  

That was quicker than DHL managed to get a package from Fife to Cornwall! 

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1 hour ago, Robin Brasher said:

I live in Swanage and I ordered a couple of items from Hattons on Monday 11 May that they sent straight away. By Wednesday they had arrived at the Ferndown sorting centre and i got a peculiar message saying parcel was incorrectly addressed and they were forwarding it to the right address. Nothing happened until Sunday and then I got a message saying that it was at the Dorset Royal Mail Centre which is at Poole and about five miles from Ferndown. Finally the parcel arrived at 11:00 this morning and my address was correct. It looks like the Royal Mail is a bit hit and miss at the moment.

 

 

Last week I had a mixed selection of both quick and prolonged deliveries, I guess its only to be expected and understandable, with higher level of business and larger absenteeism occuring at the Royal Mail. Plus different areas at differing stages of the epidemic.

 

  

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For the interest of those downunder,  this afternoon,   I received a package from a well known store in the UK,  posted April 3rd.    Basically 6.5 weeks when the usual transit time is a little over one week.  Hopefully,  other packages are slightly quicker.

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While not model railway items,  I purchased a set of Joysway Focus radio control yacht sails for a project from a seller in Israel with postage cost $5.00 usd.  The seller took about five days before taking to the post office,  with an anticipated delivery date of late June.  My son also purchased  the same from the same seller just the day before I did,  having the items delivered to my address.  The seller was the only source I could find as having the sails available.   Two weeks later both sets of sails,  sent days apart,  were at my door,  delivered on a Saturday morning.  The shipping was so fast that the tracking still showed it as not having been being sent yet from Israel.  Five-star service from both the seller and the international postage community.

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Big shout out to Wicor Models of Porchester. Ordered at 1:15pm yesterday and parcel arrived this morning at 11am. Very impressed.

 

This crisis has hit small businesses hard but some are really going the extra mile.

Edited by bart2day
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4 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

Wow! Just had a delivery from Amazon. Just a book or two.

 

Never had one on a Sunday before.

 

 

 

Jason

I rarely order from Amazon, but when I do I always take the Prime promotion for a month, gives next day delivery inc sat & sun!

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I had a parcel delivered yesterday by Royal Mail, thought they had stopped delivering on Saturdays and it was posted the day before.

 

I posted 4 items on Monday lunchtime 1 st class. one took 2 days, 2 took 3 days and a forth (less than 2o miles away) 4 days. yet I posted an item to Kent on Friday which arrived Saturday. The posties on the ground are doing a great job, I do have doubts about senior managements ability in providing the resources required though.

 

I understand like all businesses they have had issues with staff illness and shielding, however I have a strong suspicion they are not making the most out of the increased in revenue from increased usage 

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Hi folks,

 

The Royal Mail staff around here have been great, with minimal delays to parcels, etc.  They're clearly working flat out, as I've been told that they are heavily understaffed at our local delivery office.  Where I do experience delays is with mail that has to go through one or two specific areas of the UK, where they are struggling even more with being short staffed.  From what I've seen they deserve praise for managing to keep things moving.  Let's hope that is not taken advantage of by senior management when this is all over.

 

As for Amazon, I know that some of our neighbours have received Sunday deliveries for a while.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

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6 minutes ago, hayfield said:

I had a parcel delivered yesterday by Royal Mail, thought they had stopped delivering on Saturdays

Hi again,

 

I understand that it's just letters that aren't being delivered on a Saturday; parcels and packets seem to be okay.

 

Regards,

 

Alex.

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The Royal Mail notified us at work a few days ago that prices to the USA are going up, and going up dramatically from July the 1st.

 

This is partly due to usps withdrawing from the international post charge system as part of their politics with China, and partly to cover the higher costs they are incurring in airfreight due to the pandemic.

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An item I won on Ebay was shipped (to Australia) on the 20th of March (post marked) and finally arrived here on the 5th of June. As a result, I have been loathe to purchase anything else until now. Hopefully things have started to stabilise and will improve.

 

Regards,

 

Craig W

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Things may be looking good on the Royal Mail front internally, but ebay items are taking an age to get to rural France, compared to the usual week-or-so transits. But RM have done ok with the latest item, which was posted on 4th June, and has already left Blighty - fine, thanks. Less pleasing is that the item had been bought and paid for on ebay more than a fortnight before, on 18th May. And this is a commercial seller with 65k+ ebay sales and double-page spreads in the model press. No communication of any sort. Unimpressed.

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15 hours ago, hayfield said:

I had a parcel delivered yesterday by Royal Mail, thought they had stopped delivering on Saturdays and it was posted the day before.

 

I posted 4 items on Monday lunchtime 1 st class. one took 2 days, 2 took 3 days and a forth (less than 2o miles away) 4 days. yet I posted an item to Kent on Friday which arrived Saturday. The posties on the ground are doing a great job, I do have doubts about senior managements ability in providing the resources required though.

 

I understand like all businesses they have had issues with staff illness and shielding, however I have a strong suspicion they are not making the most out of the increased in revenue from increased usage 

 

Another packet arrived today (Monday) sent Friday 2nd class. Either things are getting better or just some areas have been affected more than others

 

Two weeks ago it did seem more widespread  

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