Current Situation with Deliveries

[Ed-farms]

34 minutes ago, Gilbert said:

Well...I'm surprised but our regular postie delivered my package this morning. Posted on 13th in Coleford and delivered here today. I'm happy.

 

My guess is its going to be a last in first out policy to clear the backlog

[Porcy Mane]

I ordered a single tin of Revel enamel from Frome Model Centre via ebay  (free postage) last Monday evening along with an ES1 from Rails of Sheffield. Rails did courier delivery, DPD 24 tracked for £4.00. ES1 turned up on Wednesday morning. I was surprised to find that the 14mm tinlet also arrived in the same DPD van. 

[didcot]

My wife usually likes to give the Postie a card and tip. His tip this year will be "try not to lose our post and deliver it on time"!

They lost our mortgage paperwork back in November!

[Steamport Southport]

Books ordered from eBay on Friday afternoon. Arrived midday today via RM. Second Class Parcel....

 

 

Jason

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, Sjcm said:

I haven't ever lost a parcel with royal mail, or had bad delays to be honest. I always offer 2nd class and if it goes over 20 pounds it gets upgraded at my cost, and likewise 50. I've had delays buying but it's usually down to the seller (claiming they sent it, and obviously haven't bothered for a week) Damage wise, again I package stuff robustly, so never had damage, but again royal mail seem pretty good. I once received an unboxed train wrapped in a sellataped binbag and that got to me unscathed somehow😂

 

My only use of Royal Mail is for large letters and small packages, I cannot remember the last time I wrote a letter. In 20 years as a seller I have claimed twice for undelivered post and one parcel slightly damaged, down to my packing. I just use 1st class posting as the norm. For me the Royal Mail is the best option, I can accept this is not the case for all

 

As a buyer like others have received many items damaged. In most cases it was down to poor packing. I am in to kit built items, so sometimes the odd item becomes unstuck and can be easily repaired. The worst item was 2 whitemetal kit built locos just put into the same Jiffy bag without any other packing. Usually I either just repair the item for minor damage, or negotiate a mutually acceptable resolution.  Returning the item is the last resort, which rarely happens.

[D9020 Nimbus]

Well, I did receive a Christmas card on Saturday, with a 2nd class stamp on it. The only snag was, it wasn’t for me— not for a neighbour either, but for somebody in Chesterfield. Mind you, the house number and the first word of the street name were the same, but everything else was different — I live in Gateshead.

[andyman7]

2 hours ago, didcot said:

My wife usually likes to give the Postie a card and tip. His tip this year will be "try not to lose our post and deliver it on time"!

They lost our mortgage paperwork back in November!

That reminds me of the apoplectic reaction of my dad back in the 1970s when the binmen went round asking for tips after being on strike for what seemed to be most of the year  

[hayfield]

38 minutes ago, andyman7 said:

That reminds me of the apoplectic reaction of my dad back in the 1970s when the binmen went round asking for tips after being on strike for what seemed to be most of the year  

 

Don't tip a public servant these days, it could be seen as bribery !!!!

[Trog]

Ordered a little something from Hattons that was sent to me via Amazon.

 

15th of Dec email reported shipped.

17th of Dec email reported to be out for delivery.

17th of Dec tracking button on delivery email reported parcel had been delivered on 16th Dec.

 

Just as a matter of interest should you spot an Amazon delivery van, could you please report back as to if it is a  DeLorean or one of the old fashioned Police Box conversions.

 

However back in the present there is still no sign of the parcel and no delivery man was seen on my security cameras, also none of my neighbours have seen it.

 

 

One thing my cameras did pick up a couple of weeks ago was an Amazon delivery driver dropping a parcel for a nearby house on my wheelie bin and literally running away. I can only assume that his guide dog had forgotten his reading glasses as the proper delivery address house is right on the road, painted bright orange and has a six foot long name board on its front wall facing the road and set back from the road by just three feet.

 

With that sort of cowboy service,it is no wonder parcels are going missing.

 

 

E-mail from Hattons today 23-12-22 they are going to refund my money, but I won't be getting the coach I ordered. Can only assume that one of the Amazon delivery bloke or his friends children will be getting it for Christmas instead.

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Trog
Sorrow

[d46037]

Post pandemic It’s probably about time to go back to the recipient having to sign for the parcel, too many of the courier drivers  just knock on the door, dump it on the doorstep and run.  By the the time I get to the door they are back in the van driving away. I would say say that Royal Mail are the exception, usually because it’s the local postman who waits and hands it to me. I suppose I should count myself lucky it’s not the Top Gear team delivering parcels!

[melmerby]

6 minutes ago, d46037 said:

I would say say that Royal Mail are the exception

Royal Mail are just the same. Item goes in porch and they leave, this is the normal and has been sice the pandemic. If the bell gets rung it's a bonus.

Pre pandemic, it wasn't unusual for the postie to try again later if I wasn't in on first attempt.

 

 

 

 

[Sjcm]

Just fitted one of those ring doorbells for my mum which sends a video if anyone drops off a parcel and doesn't ring the bell. What she found was because she was in during the day, the couriers put a note on their records to dump most of the road's parcels at hers. She doesn't mind, but still a bit of a cheek

Edited December 20, 2022 by Sjcm

[woodenhead]

Just had a delivery - a bottle of Champagne as a present from my employer.

 

The delivery man was aghast that we had ordered something like this, at this time of year and with all the problems with deliveries.

 

Mrs W had to point out we hadn't ordered it, it is a present to us and we were not expecting it.

 

A deliveryman not wanting to deliver stuff, if he was a turkey he'd be voting for Christmas.

[Phil Parker]

6 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

The delivery man was aghast that we had ordered something like this, at this time of year and with all the problems with deliveries.

 

Was he on RMweb a couple of years ago boasting about how he wasn't ordering anything as frivolous as toy trains because of the presure on delivery services?

 

How very dare people order presents at Christmas!!! 🤪

[6990WitherslackHall]

I've been told from my parents that one of my Christmas presents won't come until after Christmas. 

[Ian Hargrave]

3 hours ago, melmerby said:

Royal Mail are just the same. Item goes in porch and they leave, this is the normal and has been sice the pandemic. If the bell gets rung it's a bonus.

Pre pandemic, it wasn't unusual for the postie to try again later if I wasn't in on first attempt.

 

 

 

 

Or in the case of DPD outside the porch in full view of the surrounding neighbourhood.

[6990WitherslackHall]

I've got two things that I've ordered still to come yet. 

 

 

Gaugemaster Tarmac road sheets from Hattons. 

 

Silver Tay Models Black SLS headboard - ordered off eBay. 

 

Last I heard of the headboard was that it was being posted: and that was 9 days ago. 

 

 

On the plus side, the new etched smokebox numberplate and shedcode plates for 51218 and a new loco for the layout arrived safely yesterday. 

[melmerby]

46 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said:

Or in the case of DPD outside the porch in full view of the surrounding neighbourhood.

The last DPD delivery (from an Amazon stock item purchase) didn't even get to my porch, for some reason it was taken next door, where my neighbour kindly took it in,

The "proof of delivery" was a photo of their house, full frame, taken from the cab of his van, as he left. However I did get an email telling me it was next door.

However the one before a couple of hours earlier, another DPD, from Hattons facilitated by Amazon, was duly left in the porch (as instructed), the bell was rung and the proof was a proper photo of the parcel in my porch.

 

It all depends on how concientous the driver is.

[Porcy Mane]

2 minutes ago, melmerby said:

It all depends on how concientous the driver is.

 

 Or maybe how much pressure is put on him by his boss; and then how much pressure his boss is put under by his line manager ad infinitum until it reaches the end of the line were the computer gets the blame.

 

 

[woodenhead]

1 minute ago, Porcy Mane said:

 

 Or maybe how much pressure is put on him by his boss; and then how much pressure his boss is put under by his line manager ad infinitum until it reaches the end of the line were the computer gets the blame.

 

 

I've been complicit on the 'computer to blame scenario'.  We did it on purpose because a team manager generally wants to be mates with their direct reports, they don't want to deliver the sentence 'your performance is not up to the required standard' unless the employee is an absolute tool and they don't like them.  So what you do is design your performance systems to deliver a breakdown of why someone is not performing to the required standard highlighting where they are falling behind and let the team manager deliver it as 'computer says this'.  It removes pressure on the team manager by relieving them of responsibility and improves performance because the employees get a straight answer on their performance which they can either choose to improve or face the consequences. 

 

Of course it also depends on the targets being set - I believe in setting fair targets and treating employees equitably, but not all people and not all organisations are like that. 

 

Clearly with the ongoing automation of warehousing by the likes of Amazon and Ocado it can be seen that people are the expensive cost that they all feel they can do without even down to delivery with drones and autonomous vehicles being planned or even tested.

[D9020 Nimbus]

I've had two parcels put in my recycling bin—one in February 2020 by UPS (a Fleischmann loco) and they definitely didn't knock because I heard the letter-box flap and went straight to the door only to see the UPS man running back to his van. The flap noise was him putting the card through the door.

 

More recently, Royal Mail did the same. On this occasion I didn't hear the card being put through the door so they might have knocked. I've had no problems with any other courier in this respect—any problems with EVRI have been before the parcel got to the local courier. I think this often depends on where you live, and how easy it is to recruit staff in that area. There don't seem to be any problems recruiting staff here in the urban northeast; it may be different in wealthier areas in the south.

[hayfield]

7 minutes ago, Porcy Mane said:

 

 Or maybe how much pressure is put on him by his boss; and then how much pressure his boss is put under by his line manager ad infinitum until it reaches the end of the line were the computer gets the blame.

 

 

 

 

Every business is dependant on its weakest link, I have found both Amazon and DPD deliveries are far superior to those I have received from Hermes and I assume Evri.  Just had an Amazon delivery a day early (ordered late on Sunday) 

 

 

 

 

[Pannier Tank]

Still waiting for a parcel from Germany, posted over a month ago, not even showing on Royal Mail "Track & Trace" system yet. 😒

[melmerby]

Edinburgh seems to be badly affected.

I have had two orders with a company in Edinburgh.

The first "tracked 48" one took 7 days, they sent the second "tracked 24" in an attempt to get speedier delivery. Waste of time, been sitting in Edinburh Mail Centre for 5 days, so that likely won't be here by Christmas.

 

Locally there seems to be little problem, 2nd class cards are taking 2 days.

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by melmerby

[Bucoops]

I posted a parcel for work on the 15th by Evri - took it to the local collection point.

 

The recipient asked where it was today. The tracking says it's not even been collected from where I dropped it off yet. If I wasn't on annual leave I'd be down there. Have sent a colleague.