Changes from RM & PO, news of international impact on mail; London 2020

Royal Mail have announced changes to their delivery procedures and practices to prevent infection.

Public Health England (PHE) has advised that people receiving parcels are not at risk of contracting the coronavirus. From experience with other coronaviruses, we know that these types of viruses don’t survive long on objects, such as letters or parcels. This complements the highly publicised guidance from PHE for people to wash their hands more often than usual using soap and hot water. 

We are actively monitoring this rapidly evolving situation. We take the health and safety of our people very seriously. We have provided guidance to our people, our customers and communities in which we operate, to help prevent the spread of any infection. We are doing so in line with preventative guidance from Public Health England.

Signing for and receiving items

In order to protect both our people and customers as much as possible, we will not be handing over our hand-held devices to customers to capture signatures. Postmen and women will instead log the name of the person accepting the item. This will apply to Special Delivery Guaranteed, Tracked 24/48 with Signature and Signed For services.*

Additionally, for all customers (including those who are self-isolating) where we need to deliver any parcel that won’t fit through your letterbox, we will place your item at your door. We will then step aside to a safe distance while you retrieve it. This will ensure your item is delivered securely rather than being left outside. 

If you are unable to come to the door at all we will issue a ‘Something for You’ card, advising of other ways you can arrange to get your item. For example, by getting a friend or family member to collect the parcel from our local Customer Service Point on your behalf.

Contingency plans

In the event we need to close one of our units, this decision would be made in line with Public Health England guidance. Royal Mail has many years’ experience of contingency planning for a number of different scenarios. We will follow the Government’s advice and work closely with the relevant authorities.
We have extensive experience in being able to quickly deploy business contingency plans so we continue to provide customers with access to our services and their mail.

I had to collect a special delivery package today - this is how it appears on Royal Mail's track-and-trace webpage:

The postman writes COV19 on the pad; the customer does not handle it at all.

International Mail

Details of 'international incidents' and current arrangements for each country can be found here.

For example (today)a:

Delays to deliveries in China
As a result of reduced air capacity and emergency delivery procedures being taken to contain the virus on the ground in China, it is inevitable that customers sending items to China are likely to experience delays to delivery.

Impact to items leaving China for delivery in the UK
We are processing items from China for delivery in the UK as usual, though the transit of mail across and through China is affected. A number of international airlines have suspended flights to mainland China, and some border ports in neighbouring countries are also temporarily closed. China Post will temporarily store affected transit mail (air and surface) and will transport it to the destination countries when these transport options are once again available. Delays should be expected in transport and delivery during this period.

Incident: Deliveries to Italy delayed

Italian Post has advised the whole of the country has now become a Yellow Zone, subject to extraordinary measures, which is effective until 3 April or unless a later date is advised. Human movement and social contact are to be minimised. Commercial transport is permitted with precautionary measures aims at preventing/minimising human contact to preserve personal safety, hence a heavy reduction in work force is applied in the logistic chain within Italian Post with impacts to processing and delivery.

As a result Quality of service is affected on all postal products until the end of the Coronavirus epidemic. Precautionary delivery methods continue with signatures not obtainable from the actual addressee during this period.

While I'm happy to have comments please don't ask me for further updates but refer to the website links shown. 

UPDATE 7 April
The situation regarding international mail acceptance and carriage varies from which end of the journey you look at.  This thread on Stampboards.com has a wide international input, while this one on Stamp Collecting Forum has details from the US perspective.  As can be expected, the situation changes frequently.

London2020

The organisers plan to hold the show as scheduled, subject to advice from Public Health England and the Government.  Given that across Europe some countries have banned large gatherings indoors and out, and in the UK many sporting bodies have suspended activities for at least a month it remains possible that the UK may prohibit large indoor gatherings.  Given the demographic of the collecting fraternity, there is greater risk than average for the population.

Update Sunday 15 March: However, the retail booklet that has been issued on 10 March has been issued, so it cannot be withdrawn or unissued.  It is unfortunate that it is probably not in many post offices and that many collectors have not been able to buy it yet.  Obviously there has been nobody at RM to answer questions since this was raised on Friday afternoon, so we will wait until tomorrow, and update you with the answer.

UPDATE: Show now in 2022

UPDATE 7 April - Post Offices.
An anonymous comment elsewhere on the blog:

The List of post offices closures linked to the pandemic is ever growing. Most offices listed on 1 April were closures, with all from 2 April being closures. As usual the Post Office are listing them here (there is some backlog as you might expect)
https://www.postofficeviews.co.uk/consultation_finder/?keyword=&b_start=0&sort_on=iconsultable_startdate&sort_order=descending

This has to be the least useful of identifying any temporary closures due to the pandemic.  

The Branch Finder on the main site, however, does show revised opening times for branches.  
Our non-franchised Post Offices and WH Smiths branches are now open 9am to 3pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 12:30pm Saturday." 

For individual branches, instead of amending the regular information table, a yellow flash shows the revised times.  However, for sub-post offices and even Mains, as the ownership is in the hands of the individual SPM the situation can vary from day to day.

Be safe everybody, take care, and follow health authorities' advice in your country.

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