Royal Mail
10 July, 2007
Is it too much to ask that if someone sends us something with the correct address on it that we actually receive it? Apparently it is.
Good old Royal Mail. In the past 6 weeks we have been sent (but not received) 6 important pieces of mail, including a set of drumsticks. Luckily we know where the drumsticks are because they were returned to the sender with ‘address unknown’ on them. Now, as far as we are aware the building hasn’t moved (otherwise I’d be typing this from the office in the cheese factory next door), nor have our neighbours renumbered their homes and businesses ‘for a bit of a wheeze’. We can only assume that someone somewhere has been on the stupid pills again.
As for compensation – well – for a start you have to prove that you’ve posted the item – which means you have to send it Special Delivery. ‘Special’ apparently because your mail stands a slightly higher chance of arriving at its destination, as opposed to ‘ordinary’ which appears to be something of a lottery. So the consumer is faced with a choice (well they’re not actually) because if you use ‘ordinary’ and your post goes missing you’ve had it, all you can do is cancel your cheque. These days the only way to make sure that your item of post is taken from one place and delivered to another is to pay more. More time (filling in the form and queuing at the post office) and more money. And if they lose your ‘Special Delivery’ you can claim compensation (more time) after you’ve cancelled the cheque (more time, more money). If however you are the intended recipient, you get no compensation for the fact that some of your cashflow is probably kicking round the floor of a sorting office.
Royal Mail are squeezing small businesses in order to shore up their own failing service. They’ve done this two ways, firstly by charging by size of letter. Their website states ‘in short it costs less to send smaller lighter items than it does to send bulky ones’ which although technically correct actually means ‘it costs the same to send the smaller stuff you used to send but it’s now much more expensive to send bigger things’. Secondly, they are now so incompetent at their core service (taking something from one place and delivering it to another) that small businesses are forced to pay more for peace of mind and the opportunity to claim compensation when their post is lost. Last year the Royal Mail received a subsidy of £150M.
And remember, although not having the foggiest idea where our mail is, Royal Mail don’t consider an item to be lost until it’s been missing for 15 days. No one knows where it is, but it’s not lost. Consider that next time you don’t know where your car keys are.
Rachael posted this in We Don't Like, Business
Comments
There are no comments for this entry yet.
