General Chat

Can you remember when the postman delivered your post twice a day? Nowadays it is only once a day. I still love getting post. E-mails are nice, but post is too.

The postal service at work here in London has collapsed. Until last week we used to get first class mail about 9.00 and second class about 11.30. Now it's all over the place with first delivery anything up to 2.30 in the afternoon! Collections which should be at 5.00 but were normally around 5.15 have been made at anything up to 6.30.

Our postal service is appalling too. We get one post a day, if we're lucky, around lunchtime. First class mail takes around 3 to 4 days to deliver. Truly pathetic. Then again, I don't often get letters, just bills and junkmail.

What is all this nonsense about 1st and 2nd class mail? How do they know when to deliver 1st and 1nd? I also want to know how much 1st costs and also 2nd. You see I have to pay my cousin for some postage but cannot see the price, it just says 1st class. Utter ridiculous. If I post something here today then I know it will reach its destination tomorrow (no class distinction). I mean in the Netherlands. If I post a letter to go to Gt Britain then of course it will take longer. Here again, no difference in price.

Years ago they introduced a two tier postal service in the UK. Worst thing they ever did. Basically if you don't want Royal Mail to stick your letter in a pile at the back of the sorting office for a couple of days you have to pay 28p instead of 20p.

Put the blame for a bad delivery service where it belongs- with management! Those who actually do the job of collecting, sorting and delivering our mail do a wonderful job. Too many chiefs and not enough indians !!!!! Viv.

sylvia i have had so many problems with my post and the service.i had to ring up royal mail up four times due to my post not being posted through my letter box properly and the mailbox near where i live was so full on two occasions where no one had come to empty it there were peoples private letters hanging out.it's about time the royal mail got there act together and stop thinking about money and more on the service.

Lisa, I think I should come over and sort them out I still don't know the price of a 1st class and a 2nd stamp for abroad. Can somebody tell me so that I can pay my cousin. She has sent me post several times and I'm trying to add up how much I owe her. Please.....

Hi Sylvia, Don't know if this shows my age,but i can remember when our post in london was delivered 3 times a day!!!! before 7am, 12noon and then just as i was getting home from school at 4pm!!!!! 35 years later and we,re lucky if our post arrives much before 10am!!! John

Sylvia, I think you should be able to check the prices to send within and from the uk on the royalmail web site (remove brackets) www.royalmail(.)com Natalie

My post used to arrive at 7.40am prompt. Over the past year it got later, but still delivered by 9.30am. Over the last month it has arrived later and later. Last week was the worst yet, Thursday the post arrived at 4pm then on Friday 5pm. What is going on? Sue

You should be blaming Postcomm - The Postal Services Commission - set up by the government. Their insistence on PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT means that Royal Mail have been put in the position of having to stop the second daily delivery. Postman used to return to the sorting office after completing their first delivery, have a break, then sort and deliver their second deliveries. Now that the second delivery is no more, each postie has been given a longer round...so fewer rounds mean they need less postmen. If your home happens to be at the end of his round, then you won't get your mail until the afternoon.

Dierdre, Full time postpeople have longer walks as partime postpeople have either lost their jobs or are expected to work longer hours and many walks have been combined. Too many managers were recruited and now they are being made redundant. More money wasted just like the name change to Consignia, and back again! Viv

Mommylonglegs... Are you certain your postbox only gets emptied once a day? A while ago the little metal inserts on pillarboxes which listed all the collection times were removed and a new one put on which only states the time of the last collection. This doesn't mean that it is the only collection per day, usually just the FINAL one.

You are so lucky to get post once a day - we get our post three times a week!!! When they do decide to deliver it is normally about 11am. Second class post takes about a week and first class can be upto 5 days!! We get post from the same company it arrives on the same day but is dated three days apart. Lou

Good job we have Royal Mail in the remote areas - They actualy deliver to the house - I am waiting for a parcel on Securicors 72 hour service sent last Monday night and have to keep going to the pier to see if its been put on the boat - None of the couriers even phone us to say there is anything coming - Wonder if Royal Mail could get away with just dropping mail bags at street corners and letting the customers find out its there and collect their own.