Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-26534175

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-26534175

Will that be a variation of the Post Office taking everyone for a ride
with the guarantee that 1st Class Post will arrive by 10AM the next day?

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On Tue, 11 Mar 2014 23:19:23 -0000, "gareth"
wrote:

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-26534175

Will that be a variation of the Post Office taking everyone for a ride
with the guarantee that 1st Class Post will arrive by 10AM the next day?

Where does it guarantee that First class mail will be delivered by
10am? On the Royal Mail Web site, it just says, "Aims to deliver the
next working day including Saturdays".

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On Wed, 12 Mar 2014 12:38:51 +0000, Recliner
wrote:

On Tue, 11 Mar 2014 23:19:23 -0000, "gareth"
wrote:

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-26534175

Will that be a variation of the Post Office taking everyone for a ride
with the guarantee that 1st Class Post will arrive by 10AM the next day?

Where does it guarantee that First class mail will be delivered by
10am? On the Royal Mail Web site, it just says, "Aims to deliver the
next working day including Saturdays".

It looks like confusion with e.g. "Special Delivery" which has two
options of "guaranteed by 1pm" and "guaranteed by 9am".

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In message , at 17:36:23 on
Wed, 12 Mar 2014, Charles Ellson remarked:
Will that be a variation of the Post Office taking everyone for a ride
with the guarantee that 1st Class Post will arrive by 10AM the next day?

Where does it guarantee that First class mail will be delivered by
10am? On the Royal Mail Web site, it just says, "Aims to deliver the
next working day including Saturdays".

It looks like confusion with e.g. "Special Delivery" which has two
options of "guaranteed by 1pm" and "guaranteed by 9am".

SD also seems to have an informal "not before 7am", just so they don't
wake people up too early!

As for the rest of the deliveries, they do seem to have crept from
7.30am to noon over the last 20yrs (my anecdata).

--
Roland Perry

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On 12/03/2014 19:49, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 17:36:23 on
Wed, 12 Mar 2014, Charles Ellson remarked:
Will that be a variation of the Post Office taking everyone for a ride
with the guarantee that 1st Class Post will arrive by 10AM the next day?

Where does it guarantee that First class mail will be delivered by
10am? On the Royal Mail Web site, it just says, "Aims to deliver the
next working day including Saturdays".

It looks like confusion with e.g. "Special Delivery" which has two
options of "guaranteed by 1pm" and "guaranteed by 9am".

SD also seems to have an informal "not before 7am", just so they don't
wake people up too early!

It has to get to the office and be processed before it can be issued
to the driver.

As for the rest of the deliveries, they do seem to have crept from
7.30am to noon over the last 20yrs (my anecdata).

Royal Mail went to first and second deliveries to just one some time
ago. The last letter is in theory about 14.00, which counts as
lunchtime. The first may be something like 10.30, but it will depend
where you are on the round. You may get post earlier or later than
this if the postie is covering for a colleague.
--
Phil Cook

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In message , at 20:14:29 on Wed, 12
Mar 2014, Phil Cook remarked:
SD also seems to have an informal "not before 7am", just so they don't
wake people up too early!

It has to get to the office and be processed before it can be issued to
the driver.

But even if they get it earlier, the drivers I talked to (in my PJs)
said they didn't try to deliver before 7am.

As for the rest of the deliveries, they do seem to have crept from
7.30am to noon over the last 20yrs (my anecdata).

Royal Mail went to first and second deliveries to just one some time
ago. The last letter is in theory about 14.00, which counts as
lunchtime. The first may be something like 10.30, but it will depend
where you are on the round.

So they have half the number of deliveries, and the first is a minimum
of around three hours later than before. This is why people think they
aren't getting as good a service any more.
--
Roland Perry

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

"Phil Cook" wrote

Royal Mail went to first and second deliveries to just one some time ago.
The last letter is in theory about 14.00, which counts as lunchtime. The
first may be something like 10.30, but it will depend where you are on the
round. You may get post earlier or later than this if the postie is
covering for a colleague.

How it used to be:
When my grandparents were courting, before WW1, my grandfather was in the
Army, and didn't know until during the morning whether he'd be free to meet
my grandmother that evening - so he'd send her a postcard which would be
delivered during the afternoon. This was in Cork.

Peter

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In message , at 20:36:47 on
Wed, 12 Mar 2014, Peter Masson
remarked:
How it used to be:
When my grandparents were courting, before WW1, my grandfather was in
the Army, and didn't know until during the morning whether he'd be free
to meet my grandmother that evening - so he'd send her a postcard which
would be delivered during the afternoon. This was in Cork.

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still
post a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be
delivered to someone in another town by 8am.
--
Roland Perry

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

"Roland Perry" wrote

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still post
a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be delivered to
someone in another town by 8am.

In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

Peter

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

"Peter Masson" wrote:
"Roland Perry" wrote

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still
post a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be
delivered to someone in another town by 8am.

In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

And now you can send an email, text, tweet, IM, DM, usenet post, etc,
usually for little or no charge, and have it delivered anywhere in the
world in seconds. With that sort of competition, no-one's going to pay for
the huge network of people, sorting offices and vans that would be needed
to maintain the old style of physical mail services, that delivered locally
in hours, from a previous era.

Just be grateful that we still have deliveries to everyone's front door,
six days a week, across the whole country, at a standard price. In years to
come, we'll look back in amazement at that level of service. Most other
countries no longer offer it.

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In article ,
Peter Masson wrote:


"Roland Perry" wrote

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still post
a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be delivered to
someone in another town by 8am.

In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

obrail I could put a letter in the posting box on the side of any TPO
well after midnight, provided it was going in the right direction :-)
/obrail

Nick
--
"The Internet, a sort of ersatz counterfeit of real life"
-- Janet Street-Porter, BBC2, 19th March 1996

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On 12/03/2014 21:23, Recliner wrote:
"Peter Masson" wrote:
"Roland Perry" wrote

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still
post a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be
delivered to someone in another town by 8am.

In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

And now you can send an email, text, tweet, IM, DM, usenet post, etc,
usually for little or no charge, and have it delivered anywhere in the
world in seconds. With that sort of competition, no-one's going to pay for
the huge network of people, sorting offices and vans that would be needed
to maintain the old style of physical mail services, that delivered locally
in hours, from a previous era.

Just be grateful that we still have deliveries to everyone's front door,
six days a week, across the whole country, at a standard price. In years to
come, we'll look back in amazement at that level of service. Most other
countries no longer offer it.


On-line sales and junk mail has bee the saviour of the postal service
apparently.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On 12/03/2014 21:32, Nick Leverton wrote:
In article ,
Peter Masson wrote:


"Roland Perry" wrote

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still post
a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be delivered to
someone in another town by 8am.

In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

obrail I could put a letter in the posting box on the side of any TPO
well after midnight, provided it was going in the right direction :-)
/obrail


It was hanging on the hook waiting for the scoop that was the drag…


--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On 12/03/2014 20:51, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 20:36:47 on
Wed, 12 Mar 2014, Peter Masson
remarked:
How it used to be:
When my grandparents were courting, before WW1, my grandfather was in
the Army, and didn't know until during the morning whether he'd be
free to meet my grandmother that evening - so he'd send her a postcard
which would be delivered during the afternoon. This was in Cork.

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea.

Although to be fair, why would anyone want to do that nowadays? It's a
bit like the demise of passenger services on canals when the railways
came along.

People from before WWI would no doubt have spent all day sending each
other cat videos instead of postcards had the technology existed.


--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 20:14:29 on Wed, 12
Mar 2014, Phil Cook remarked:
SD also seems to have an informal "not before 7am", just so they don't
wake people up too early!

It has to get to the office and be processed before it can be issued to
the driver.

But even if they get it earlier, the drivers I talked to (in my PJs)
said they didn't try to deliver before 7am.

As for the rest of the deliveries, they do seem to have crept from
7.30am to noon over the last 20yrs (my anecdata).

Royal Mail went to first and second deliveries to just one some time
ago. The last letter is in theory about 14.00, which counts as
lunchtime. The first may be something like 10.30, but it will depend
where you are on the round.

So they have half the number of deliveries, and the first is a
minimum of around three hours later than before. This is why people
think they aren't getting as good a service any more.

Because technology has overtaken them. Get real!

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On Wed, 12 Mar 2014 16:23:21 -0500, Recliner wrote:

"Peter Masson" wrote:
"Roland Perry" wrote

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still
post a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be
delivered to someone in another town by 8am.

In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

And now you can send an email, text, tweet, IM, DM, usenet post, etc,
usually for little or no charge, and have it delivered anywhere in the
world in seconds. With that sort of competition, no-one's going to pay for
the huge network of people, sorting offices and vans that would be needed
to maintain the old style of physical mail services, that delivered locally
in hours, from a previous era.

Just be grateful that we still have deliveries to everyone's front door,
six days a week, across the whole country, at a standard price. In years to
come, we'll look back in amazement at that level of service. Most other
countries no longer offer it.

I'd rather cut deliveries down to three or even two a week if it would cut the cost of postage.

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On Wed, 12 Mar 2014 20:35:22 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 20:14:29 on Wed, 12
Mar 2014, Phil Cook remarked:
SD also seems to have an informal "not before 7am", just so they don't
wake people up too early!

It has to get to the office and be processed before it can be issued to
the driver.

But even if they get it earlier, the drivers I talked to (in my PJs)
said they didn't try to deliver before 7am.

As for the rest of the deliveries, they do seem to have crept from
7.30am to noon over the last 20yrs (my anecdata).

Royal Mail went to first and second deliveries to just one some time
ago. The last letter is in theory about 14.00, which counts as
lunchtime. The first may be something like 10.30, but it will depend
where you are on the round.

So they have half the number of deliveries, and the first is a minimum
of around three hours later than before. This is why people think they
aren't getting as good a service any more.

It can depend on which end of the round the postman starts at. When
one delivery a day came in it was evident in some places that the
round was being reversed every few weeks with the result that half the
round was getting the post earlier and the other half later. For some
time now (at least with mine) the delivery time seems to be mostly
unchanging.
The apparently delayed start time possibly also gets out of paying for
working unsocial hours.

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

Optimist wrote:

Just be grateful that we still have deliveries to everyone's front door,
six days a week, across the whole country, at a standard price. In years
to
come, we'll look back in amazement at that level of service. Most other
countries no longer offer it.

I'd rather cut deliveries down to three or even two a week if it would cut
the
cost of postage.

Sadly it probably wouldn't. And with online shopping such a key part of the
Royal Mail's business there'd be fierce opposition to reducing the speed of
delivery or else a decamp to incompetent couriers.

--
My blog: http://adf.ly/4hi4c

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On 13/03/2014 00:21, Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:
Optimist wrote:

Just be grateful that we still have deliveries to everyone's front door,
six days a week, across the whole country, at a standard price. In years
to
come, we'll look back in amazement at that level of service. Most other
countries no longer offer it.

I'd rather cut deliveries down to three or even two a week if it would cut
the
cost of postage.

Sadly it probably wouldn't. And with online shopping such a key part of the
Royal Mail's business there'd be fierce opposition to reducing the speed of
delivery or else a decamp to incompetent couriers.


Why use incompetent couriers when there are plenty of competent ones
available.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

"Nick Leverton" wrote

obrail I could put a letter in the posting box on the side of any TPO
well after midnight, provided it was going in the right direction :-)
/obrail

and you'd get it postmarked with the date a day before you actually posted
it, as TPOs set their date stamps on the date when the journey began, and
didn't change them at midnight. There were occasions when a new stamp issue
came out - some people would buy the new stamps as soon as they came out at
the 24 hour post office that used to exist at Trafalgar Square, drive to
Rugby (this was soon after the M1 opened) and post letters with the new
stamps in a London-bound TPO. They would be rewarded with a 'day before
first day cover'.

Peter

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On Thu, 13 Mar 2014 07:36:52 +0000, Graeme Wall wrote:

On 13/03/2014 00:21, Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:
Optimist wrote:

Just be grateful that we still have deliveries to everyone's front door,
six days a week, across the whole country, at a standard price. In years
to
come, we'll look back in amazement at that level of service. Most other
countries no longer offer it.

I'd rather cut deliveries down to three or even two a week if it would cut
the
cost of postage.

Sadly it probably wouldn't. And with online shopping such a key part of the
Royal Mail's business there'd be fierce opposition to reducing the speed of
delivery or else a decamp to incompetent couriers.


Why use incompetent couriers when there are plenty of competent ones
available.

I find the courier firms are far superior to RM for customer service. They actually answer the
phone when you ring the number on the card to say they have a package for you but you were out. They
will leave in the porch or elsewhere if you wish.

RM put a card through the door instead of trying to deliver the package, when you ring they don't
answer, they won't leave items to be collected at the local post office but at an inconvenient depot
on an industrial estate.

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In message

, at 16:23:21 on Wed, 12 Mar 2014, Recliner
remarked:
In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

And now you can send an email, text, tweet, IM, DM, usenet post, etc,
usually for little or no charge, and have it delivered anywhere in the
world in seconds. With that sort of competition, no-one's going to pay for
the huge network of people, sorting offices and vans that would be needed
to maintain the old style of physical mail services, that delivered locally
in hours, from a previous era.

Vans? It was all bikes and Shank's pony. Even today a lot of postmen buy
their own cars and use those to get to their delivery patch earlier,
Royal Mail doesn't buy them vans. (Let's not get confused with
Parcelforce).
--
Roland Perry

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In message , at 17:28:01
on Wed, 12 Mar 2014, remarked:
Royal Mail went to first and second deliveries to just one some time
ago. The last letter is in theory about 14.00, which counts as
lunchtime. The first may be something like 10.30, but it will depend
where you are on the round.

So they have half the number of deliveries, and the first is a
minimum of around three hours later than before. This is why people
think they aren't getting as good a service any more.

Because technology has overtaken them. Get real!

Technology helps Royal Mail - mots recently by mapping out all the
delivery points so that rounds can be balanced. Then there's the
postcodes and automatic sorting. None of this, however, is an excuse to
deliver so late in the day.
--
Roland Perry

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 17:28:01
on Wed, 12 Mar 2014, remarked:
Royal Mail went to first and second deliveries to just one some time
ago. The last letter is in theory about 14.00, which counts as
lunchtime. The first may be something like 10.30, but it will depend
where you are on the round.

So they have half the number of deliveries, and the first is a
minimum of around three hours later than before. This is why people
think they aren't getting as good a service any more.

Because technology has overtaken them. Get real!

Technology helps Royal Mail - mots recently by mapping out all the
delivery points so that rounds can be balanced. Then there's the
postcodes and automatic sorting. None of this, however, is an excuse to
deliver so late in the day.

Doesn't it have something to with potties now being full-time workers? In
the past, they finished their postal rounds as early as possible so they
could go on to their day jobs. Now, they come back and do another round (or
have another consignment delivered to them).

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In message

, at 04:32:07 on Thu, 13 Mar 2014, Recliner
remarked:
Royal Mail went to first and second deliveries to just one some time
ago. The last letter is in theory about 14.00, which counts as
lunchtime. The first may be something like 10.30, but it will depend
where you are on the round.

So they have half the number of deliveries, and the first is a
minimum of around three hours later than before. This is why people
think they aren't getting as good a service any more.

Because technology has overtaken them. Get real!

Technology helps Royal Mail - mots recently by mapping out all the
delivery points so that rounds can be balanced. Then there's the
postcodes and automatic sorting. None of this, however, is an excuse to
deliver so late in the day.

Doesn't it have something to with potties now being full-time workers? In
the past, they finished their postal rounds as early as possible so they
could go on to their day jobs. Now, they come back and do another round (or
have another consignment delivered to them).

They still finish by about 2pm though (unless they have overtime doing a
second round for an absentee).
--
Roland Perry

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at 04:32:07 on Thu, 13 Mar 2014, Recliner remarked:
Royal Mail went to first and second deliveries to just one some time
ago. The last letter is in theory about 14.00, which counts as
lunchtime. The first may be something like 10.30, but it will depend
where you are on the round.

So they have half the number of deliveries, and the first is a
minimum of around three hours later than before. This is why people
think they aren't getting as good a service any more.

Because technology has overtaken them. Get real!

Technology helps Royal Mail - mots recently by mapping out all the
delivery points so that rounds can be balanced. Then there's the
postcodes and automatic sorting. None of this, however, is an excuse to
deliver so late in the day.

Doesn't it have something to with potties now being full-time workers? In
the past, they finished their postal rounds as early as possible so they
could go on to their day jobs. Now, they come back and do another round (or
have another consignment delivered to them).

They still finish by about 2pm though (unless they have overtime doing a
second round for an absentee).

But it explains why deliveries are much later now than the previous first
post (of two or more). Effectively, they work an eight hour day, starting
at about 6:30am in the local sorting office.

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

Graeme Wall wrote:

I'd rather cut deliveries down to three or even two a week if it would
cut the
cost of postage.

Sadly it probably wouldn't. And with online shopping such a key part of
the
Royal Mail's business there'd be fierce opposition to reducing the speed
of
delivery or else a decamp to incompetent couriers.

Why use incompetent couriers when there are plenty of competent ones
available.

Cost and the buyer rather than the sender is the one who experiences the
problems. For me the main annoyances are the need to put yourself under
virtual house arrest when expecting a delivery and it still doesn't come,
the inability to put together a decent flat delivery service (some of them
don't even know how to buzz the reception or phone the number supplied), the
failure to come at the times stated, the remote depots that are hard to
reach on public transport and have terrible opening hours, the ludicrously
excessive requirements for ID and proof of address when you can get in, the
premium rate phone numbers and the fines sent to senders because the firm is
incompetent.

--
My blog: http://adf.ly/4hi4c

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In message

, at 04:56:13 on Thu, 13 Mar 2014, Recliner
remarked:
Technology helps Royal Mail - mots recently by mapping out all the
delivery points so that rounds can be balanced. Then there's the
postcodes and automatic sorting. None of this, however, is an excuse to
deliver so late in the day.

Doesn't it have something to with potties now being full-time workers? In
the past, they finished their postal rounds as early as possible so they
could go on to their day jobs. Now, they come back and do another round (or
have another consignment delivered to them).

They still finish by about 2pm though (unless they have overtime doing a
second round for an absentee).

But it explains why deliveries are much later now than the previous first
post (of two or more). Effectively, they work an eight hour day, starting
at about 6:30am in the local sorting office.

Are you saying I'm just unlucky in getting my post at noon (consistently
over the last three places I've lived), rather than at perhaps 8am, by
being on the 'wrong end' of the route?
--
Roland Perry

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at 04:56:13 on Thu, 13 Mar 2014, Recliner remarked:
Technology helps Royal Mail - mots recently by mapping out all the
delivery points so that rounds can be balanced. Then there's the
postcodes and automatic sorting. None of this, however, is an excuse to
deliver so late in the day.

Doesn't it have something to with potties now being full-time workers? In
the past, they finished their postal rounds as early as possible so they
could go on to their day jobs. Now, they come back and do another round (or
have another consignment delivered to them).

They still finish by about 2pm though (unless they have overtime doing a
second round for an absentee).

But it explains why deliveries are much later now than the previous first
post (of two or more). Effectively, they work an eight hour day, starting
at about 6:30am in the local sorting office.

Are you saying I'm just unlucky in getting my post at noon (consistently
over the last three places I've lived), rather than at perhaps 8am, by
being on the 'wrong end' of the route?

Probably. My M-F mail typically arrives before 10am, and Saturdays around
9am. But you do get the odd day when it's much later. I'm not near the mail
depot, so I'm sure some people get theirs much earlier.

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In message
,
at 05:49:55 on Thu, 13 Mar 2014, Recliner
remarked:
I'm not near the mail depot, so I'm sure some people get theirs much
earlier.

I'm about half a mile from mine.
--
Roland Perry

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On 12/03/2014 19:49, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 17:36:23 on
Wed, 12 Mar 2014, Charles Ellson remarked:
Will that be a variation of the Post Office taking everyone for a ride
with the guarantee that 1st Class Post will arrive by 10AM the next
day?

Where does it guarantee that First class mail will be delivered by
10am? On the Royal Mail Web site, it just says, "Aims to deliver the
next working day including Saturdays".

It looks like confusion with e.g. "Special Delivery" which has two
options of "guaranteed by 1pm" and "guaranteed by 9am".

SD also seems to have an informal "not before 7am", just so they don't
wake people up too early!

As for the rest of the deliveries, they do seem to have crept from
7.30am to noon over the last 20yrs (my anecdata).

Here in S London it has gone from 7:30am about 30 years ago to now no
earlier than 3pm usually about 3:30.

--
Martin

replies to newsgroup only please.

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

"Martin Smith" wrote in message
...

Here in S London it has gone from 7:30am about 30 years ago to now no
earlier than 3pm usually about 3:30.


No doubt you've heard of the Arab sheikh who upon asking his Son what
he'd like for Christmas (unusually a Christian family in a Muslim area
-) )
and on being answered, "A Cowboy Outfit, Dad!" went out anf bought
the Post Office for him?

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On 13/03/2014 10:21, Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:
For me the main annoyances are the need to put yourself under
virtual house arrest when expecting a delivery and it still doesn't come

Amazon will now deliver to local shops in some areas. I've used that
service amnd found that it works very well. An email is sent to you when
the item is ready for collection, take some ID and sign for it. In my
case the shop is a dawn-to-dusk type place.

Other supply companies are available.

--
Dave,
Frodsham
http://s1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc461/Davy41/

---
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Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On 13/03/14 14:29, Dave Jackson wrote:
On 13/03/2014 10:21, Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:
For me the main annoyances are the need to put yourself under
virtual house arrest when expecting a delivery and it still doesn't come

Amazon will now deliver to local shops in some areas. I've used that
service amnd found that it works very well. An email is sent to you when
the item is ready for collection, take some ID and sign for it. In my
case the shop is a dawn-to-dusk type place.

Other supply companies are available.


Amazon Lockers kick ass too - just need to have more of them -
especially at main London railway stations (bringing the thread back on
topic). Their lack of appearance at places like Charing Cross is very
conspicuous.

It would be extremely convenient to grab your package prior to getting
your homeward bound train as you'll probably have a car or be within
easy walking distance at the other end.

Also be nice to grab smaller items on the way into work too.

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In message , at 14:29:41 on Thu, 13 Mar
2014, Dave Jackson remarked:

Amazon will now deliver to local shops in some areas. I've used that
service amnd found that it works very well. An email is sent to you
when the item is ready for collection, take some ID and sign for it. In
my case the shop is a dawn-to-dusk type place.

In my case the closest Amazon locker is 15 miles away, has no car
parking anywhere nearby, and still claims to be open only "Thur - Sat:
07:00 - 23:00" despite every appearance that the supermarket in question
is open at the very least every day, and quite possibly longer hours
than that.
--
Roland Perry

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On 13/03/2014 14:54, Tim Watts wrote:
[...]
Amazon Lockers kick ass too - just need to have more of them -
especially at main London railway stations (bringing the thread back on
topic). Their lack of appearance at places like Charing Cross is very
conspicuous.

Though you can't use them with the 'free' supersaver delivery option.

(And when I've used one it's always left my posterior alone.)


It would be extremely convenient to grab your package prior to getting
your homeward bound train as you'll probably have a car or be within
easy walking distance at the other end.

Also be nice to grab smaller items on the way into work too.

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On 13/03/2014 08:37, Optimist wrote:

I find the courier firms are far superior to RM for customer
service. They actually answer the phone when you ring the number
on the card to say they have a package for you but you were out.
They will leave in the porch or elsewhere if you wish.

RM usually don't leave items in porches because of the risk of theft.

RM put a card through the door instead of trying to deliver the
package, when you ring they don't answer, they won't leave items to
be collected at the local post office but at an inconvenient depot
on an industrial estate.

Royal Mail is actually three businesses. Post Office counters and
Parcelforce are distinct from the letter delivery business. Letters
(and packets) are held at the delivery office for collection at the
callers office. The local Post Office is a place where you can buy
stamps, though you can have redeliveries made to a local Post Office
for an additional fee.
--
Phil Cook

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

In message , at 16:42:17 on Thu, 13
Mar 2014, Phil Cook remarked:
I find the courier firms are far superior to RM for customer
service. They actually answer the phone when you ring the number
on the card to say they have a package for you but you were out.
They will leave in the porch or elsewhere if you wish.

RM usually don't leave items in porches because of the risk of theft.

Can descend into farce. I had a parcel delivered at my front door last
week by one of the minor couriers, where the chap said I didn't need to
sign for it because he'd already logged it as "left in back garden". It
wasn't clear if this was a one-off error on his behalf, or a widespread
form of expediting delivery without bothering to discover if the
householder was actually at home.
--
Roland Perry

Plans approved to open Mail Rail 'secret Tube' as ride
 

On 13/03/2014 10:21, Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:
Graeme Wall wrote:

I'd rather cut deliveries down to three or even two a week if it would
cut the
cost of postage.

Sadly it probably wouldn't. And with online shopping such a key part of
the
Royal Mail's business there'd be fierce opposition to reducing the speed
of
delivery or else a decamp to incompetent couriers.

Why use incompetent couriers when there are plenty of competent ones
available.

Cost and the buyer rather than the sender is the one who experiences the
problems. For me the main annoyances are the need to put yourself under
virtual house arrest when expecting a delivery and it still doesn't come,
the inability to put together a decent flat delivery service (some of them
don't even know how to buzz the reception or phone the number supplied), the
failure to come at the times stated, the remote depots that are hard to
reach on public transport and have terrible opening hours, the ludicrously
excessive requirements for ID and proof of address when you can get in, the
premium rate phone numbers and the fines sent to senders because the firm is
incompetent.


Fines sent to senders, who by?

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail