@*!%@*** Royal Mail

[Thomzo]

I'm gutted. For the second time this year a hand-made bespoke gift has gone missing in the post. What are Royal Mail playing at!

Zoe

[diggernotdreamer]

I use the postal system quite a bit, I buy a lot of stuff off Ebay because the OH restores British bikes, we are always buying parts. I always pay the extra to register small items, at least if it is tracked you have some idea of where it may be and the heavier things are now all parcelforce 48 which is a tracked and signed for service. A lot of people are starting to use My Hermes, which seems very reasonable and they have pick up points. TNT are being used for a lot of stuff and they lose quite a bit, but saying that, nothing I have bought this year or sold has got lost and it is a considerable amount of parcels, did you get it tracked and signed for? not that is can compensate you for something you have made

[doofaloofa]

The sooner you guys get rid of the monarchy the better!!

PEOPLES MAIL!

[Lochside Yogi]

Well said, at the risk of upsetting a few people I think a referendum on keeping the monarchy would be interesting!

[snapdragon]

I doubt if Her Maj QE has anything to do with the postal system, that (the post) is currently in the throws of change and run by idiots

If the monarchy stopped we'd have to give back all their land and the money it brings in(currently used by the british govt with an allowance given back to the royals as living expenses) and then the crap we're in would be even deeper

HOWEVER
yes I'd send anything tracked, special, or signed for if it was not a basic birthday card these days.

[Thomzo]

Sadly neither was tracked. One was a present that I'd made and the other was a hand made birthday card. I've learned my lesson now. Presents will be sent with tracking in future. It costs a bit more but worth it.

Zoe

[snapdragon]

what a rotten shame Zo, did you make complaints at your local sorting office? (never sure if it works, but if they have a bad apple in there it may encourage them to check them out)

[diggernotdreamer]

Unfortunately, everything now goes to a central hub, like Manchester, Coventry, Swindon etc and all the mail from every place goes there, not like the old days, and Royal Mail and Parcelforce are going to be split up and sold off, so they now have 'partners' like TNT who lose everything, no-one knows where anything is going any more, which is the reason why you should pay the extra money to get it tracked, they have temporary staff who nick stuff and then disappear (I know this as our local postman in England told me all sorts about what was going on with temporarys) all very frustrating and annoying, which happens with a larger population, unlike Ireland where a friend sent me a card with completely the wrong address, but it got here amazingly, they just seem to know you

[doofaloofa]

Unfortunately, everything now goes to a central hub, like Manchester, Coventry, Swindon etc and all the mail from every place goes there, not like the old days, and Royal Mail and Parcelforce are going to be split up and sold off, so they now have 'partners' like TNT who lose everything, no-one knows where anything is going any more, which is the reason why you should pay the extra money to get it tracked, they have temporary staff who nick stuff and then disappear (I know this as our local postman in England told me all sorts about what was going on with temporarys) all very frustrating and annoying, which happens with a larger population, unlike Ireland where a friend sent me a card with completely the wrong address, but it got here amazingly, they just seem to know you

We got a letter adressed to

My and my wifes first name
By the Gravel Quarry
Drimoleague [my local village]

[Thomzo]

We got a letter adressed to

My and my wifes first name
By the Gravel Quarry
Drimoleague [my local village]

An update on my poor little lost birthday card....

Suspecting it was too big or too heavy for a standard stamp, I'd taken it in to be weighed and measured and was told that it would be fine on a standard second class stamp.

Somehow, during the journey, it put on weight and my poor friend had to collect it and pay the excess charge. Grrrrr. If I was a conspiracy theorist, I'd wonder if this was a deliberate ploy by the post office to get more revenue. Or perhaps it just had one too many snacks on the way.

[diggernotdreamer]

My and my wifes first name
By the Gravel Quarry
Drimoleague [my local village)

Oh that's you, I know where you now

Thomzo, glad the card rocked up, perhaps it had a lil cake on the way, but at least they got your special gift

[clare]

I had that recently with an eBay package,it was a light book and had it weighed and measured in the post office under the new rules went large letter,but it seems not all postoffice staff know about the new charges cause the poor lady who bought it had to pay £1:45 to get it and waited 10 days to get it.we thought it was lost,but i always get a proof of posting so I can get some sort of compensation.the po did give me £3:60 worth of stamps after I complained.I had to refund the lady for the extra postage.hope your gift arrives in the end too you never know,I waited over 2 weeks once and a birthday card took 5 weeks to arrive in Norfolk from Kent!!

[diggernotdreamer]

[qt i always get a proof of posting so I can get some sort of compensation.the po did give me £3:60 worth of stamps after I complained.I had to refund the lady for the extra postage.hope your gift arrives in the end too you never know,I waited over 2 weeks once and a birthday card took 5 weeks to arrive in Norfolk from Kent!![/quote]

Clare did you know that anything you sell on Ebay needs to be sent by signed for service, you need to build this cost into your postage charges. A certificate of posting is not proof that the item was sent. If you have a dispute with a buyer and a case is launched you will have to provide tracking information to comply with Ebay rules, if you cannot supply this, then Ebay will find in favour of the buyer and a chargeback will be applied, ie they will take the money back off you and can even freeze your paypal account. We had this problem, we sold a high value item, I offered the buyer the option of recorded, they did not take it up, they said the item did not arrive, but because I only had proof of posting, a chargeback applied and we lost 300 quid. So please protect yourself properly and use a signed for service in accordance with Ebay seller rules or you could end up out of pocket as we have found out stuff goes awol on a regular basis. Also check out My Hermes for very competitive rates. Would hate for you to fall foul of these rules and end up out of pocket.

[Odsox]

We got a letter adressed to

My and my wifes first name
By the Gravel Quarry
Drimoleague [my local village]

Yep, here too.
I got a letter once addressed to ..

The house with the aerials, sheeps head.

No name, just that.

Edit > for those that don't know, I'm a radio amateur.

[doofaloofa]

I'm a radio amateur.

Is that a vegitarian radio ham?