The mail regulator OfCom announced this time last year that a major reform to the Universal Service Obligation (USO) would be take place which would allow Royal Mail (RM) to reduce the frequency of 2nd class letter delivery.
After small area trials, RM said that this process would be rolled out across the country and that they would deliver 2nd class letters on alternate days only, Monday to Friday, with no 2nd class letter delivery on Saturdays. First class mail will continue six days a week and parcels seven days a week.
Several people have sent me copies of the door-drop leaflet which explains this to households (thank you!). As these seem to be spreading across the country I didn't give it a high priority while I had other things to write about and it was very hot.
But here, especially for international readers, is the leaflet.
That isn't specific, and you have to visit the website to see it explained. But the 3-day promise might mean delivery on Day 7.
The Royal Mail website has the to be expected "why we're doing this" and this will enable us to "deliver a more reliable and sustainable service for you in the future".
The 'deliver in three days' aim will produce this, which clearly shows that there are some days when it makes no sense to send 2nd class.
I'm not sure how this works. If a letter is posted to be on Monday then I might get it on Thursday. But if this is the week (Week A) when I get three 2nd class deliveries, I won't get it until Friday - unless by some error it is delivered on Wednesday. And if it's posted on Tuesday on a B Week, then I won't get it until the following Monday.
That is probably acceptable for most incoming mail, but the charts they show on their website are not accurate.
UPDATE 7 July.
A postman I spoke to said that the new system is not yet fully implemented at their Delivery Office but that so far there is no 2nd class delivery on Saturday. When implemented they will use Week A in the diagram above, ie everyone will get mail on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week. This may change as the system beds in.
More interestingly the delivery pyramid is now
Special Delivery & Parcels*
1st class stamped
Tracked24/48 & 1st class
2nd class per the plan
The prioritisation of 1st class stamped mail reflects that it will generally be social mail (with most business mail being 2nd class and/or postage paid impression/meter). So small (stamp dealer) businesses using stamps on their mail should be an improvement in delivery times to their customers.
* Most local delivery offices were built decades ago and laid out for mass letter volumes and fewer parcels so delivery of parcels on day 1 is essential to avoid congestion now that there is so much mail order business.
The bulk of letter post is 2nd class. By switching that to alternate days each delivery person will be expected to do the normal round and then half of another round.
Australia Post did it differently when they made the change, but I'm not sure their leaflet is any easier to understand, and they certainly should have corrected a few typos here.
Some 2nd class mail doesn't have a clear date on which it was posted, so we can never be sure how well the service is performing.
But I doubt it will persuade many of us to pay twice as much for 1st class.
And the problem is not just with what we post. I have just been stuffed for £40+ because I did not pay my credit card off in time - but the bill arrived the day after its deadline. The bank clerk told me that several Hold Second Back Constantly customers had complained of tardy bill arrivals.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed longer delays in receiving bills, but not missed a deadline yet.
DeleteAustralia Post now sends postmen around on electric carts with parcels and letters. Parcels now seem to make up more of the mail. I know Post Office Box deliveries are still delivered daily.
ReplyDeleteI received the PMSC's 50th Anniversary cover from Manchester today, 1 July in my PO Box. It was posted two days ago, 29 June, 2nd class.
ReplyDeleteI received my leaflet in Welsh!
ReplyDeletePostie came today, with 3 from the US (18th, 23rd, 26th June), and one from England posted 2nd class postmarked 29th June.
Royal Mail should have been delivering Second, and First, Class mail six days a week but haven't.
ReplyDeleteNow they'll have a go at delivering Second Class mail two or three days a week and have the audacity to call it "a better all-round service"!
It's another example of Hutber's Law. In short: "improvement means deterioration". Patrick Hutber was a financial journalist back in the day. Whenever a company says that it is "improving" something, it usually means that what the customer gets will be worse than before.
DeleteI remember him; Financial Times or Sunday Times (or both!)
DeleteMy poor postman admitted that he is confused. He said that on some days they will only deliver First Class, and I asked if that included mail from abroad. He said "no as they don't have First Class stamps on them" and then suggested I send my correspondents UK First Class stamps to put on the letters! Bless him. I am waiting to catch him again and see what happened when he spoke to his supervisor at the sorting office ... which was the only way I could respond to that rather bonkers idea!
ReplyDeleteInternational mail is treated as first class in both directions. Returned as Undeliverable international mail will get to you when they want it to.
DeleteAm I right in thinking that if you use a combination of stamps for 2nd class it will almost always be treated as 1st due to the automatic sorting limitations?
DeleteI don't think that works now, although post seems to be random at present, so anything's possible.
DeleteVery true!
DeleteAn update: my postie says that the whole system is confusing all the staff, but at least I'm continuing to getting mail from abroad in the same way as first class.
DeleteI send 2nd class 'Signed For' when appropriate paid for with a combination of values most of which arrive next day. Don't tell RM!
ReplyDeleteI have exactly the same experience. Multiple stamps = next day delivery.
DeleteA Tracked 48 item posted yesterday was delivered today Saturday!
ReplyDeleteSat 4th July I received 6 items of mail today which I was expecting during the week. I was surprised I got them today as they were all 2nd class which according to RM is not delivered on Saturdays Oh dear
ReplyDeleteA package of stamps posted first-class last Sunday reached me today (Saturday) along with two second-class packages posted on Thursday and Friday, so perhaps the system is already so chaotic that the new rules won't make it any worse. The front of the first-class package was covered in low-value commemoratives, including a plate block!
ReplyDeleteI've made a comment to a few people that it's really become a 2nd and 3rd class service with an extra day's delay across much (most? all?) of the country with last year's withdrawal of an evening collection around 5-6pm (replaced by 7am Saturday and 9am weekdays) except for a few exceptions outside post offices and some occasional odd locations. I found one locally that still collects at 4:30pm (the Postie happened to turn up when passing) but then refused to pass on the comment from me to a supervisor that the rest of the schedule on said box needed revising due to the earlier collection at the village PO - claiming he was only paid the minimum wage....
ReplyDeleteYou can check last collection times on the RM website - in my area all the boxes at railway stations still have a 5pm collection!
DeleteVirtually all collections from boxes outside post office branches will be between 4.30 and 5.30 because the driver also collects the sacks from the branch, including all Special Delivery items (and tracked24/48) which must be processed on the day of posting if dropped off 'Before the last Collection' (see receipts and certificates of posting).
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