postal deliveries

[multisync]

This may have been discussed previously.But do we still get a postal delivery every day? I know i have been expecting important mail which has been sent first class and not arrived.What is happening with royal mail

[Robin Orton]

We are also in upper Sydenham and have wondered similarly. Some days (Fridays?) we often seem to have no post at all. Important medical appointment letters have arrived after the texted reminder!

[Robin Orton]

No, I'm wrong about Fridays. Post has just arrived.

[mosy]

I suppose one way of testing it would be to send yourself six letters, marked inside 1 to 6 and posted one per day consecutively, and see when they arrive, preferably same size and weight but preferably placed into different post boxes.

It certainly won't be definitive and nowhere near enough to conclude a pattern, but at least you know for sure when a letter was posted, whereas with official ones you don't know when posted irrespective of whatever the date on the actual letter is (and assuming sent first class).

All I can think of to do.

[syd-gal]

In Lower Sydenham we don't get a postal delivery every day. I live in flats and I have watched the postman walk right past on some days, and I can't believe that there is no mail for any of the flats.
I know there was no delivery on Wed this week, and on Thur I received a first class letter that had been posted on Tue.
I also think that on Sat postie doesn't deliver, but I'm not certain.
And I've noticed some days I get several items of mail, and nothing on other days.

[MagmaTimes]

We definitely don't get a daily delivery up on Peak Hill Gardens. Tend to get two big batches of post each week. Weird...

[stuart]

We get a great service every day bar Sunday by our great and friendly postman. He like the last always addressed us personally if we met in the street. He really knows his round.

We are lucky. I have overhead conversations at FH Delivery Office confirming some areas get a bad deal. They have a bad staff shortage apparently and some delivery people are not as good. So your service is a bit of pot luck I'm afraid. But then people voted for its objective to make profit for others rather than a service to us.

The pay is not good making home ownership impossible. Social housing has to be nearby because commuting in by public transport at 5am isn't easy or cheap. Its potential workforce is probably dwindling faster than its post.

Stuart

[JRobinson]

There was a time when first class post was delivered before you left for work, and second class post was delivered before mid day. That changed a while ago, so that they could deliver at any time during the day (though usually in the morning), but I was under the impression that this meant that postal delivery workers could start work a lot later in the day, thus making the job less difficult to get to at an early hour of the day, and presumably paying less 'out of sociable hours' wages.
our post doesn't always get delivered every day, but usually does, though often not till lunchtime ish.

[stuart]

Afraid not. Just more work for fewer people. A relative (in Sydenham) is a postie elsewhere in London. Most of the week he catches the first train. On a Saturday it doesn't run so he has to get up much earlier to get a series of night buses.

He finishes early but after carrying ever increasing loads of small parcels he is truly knackered. I won't mention his weekly income. But you can imagine it.

Stuart

[syd-gal]

A year or more ago, my post never arrived till about 2pm. At least now it's always before midday, but only about 4 deliveries a week.

[syd]

When I first moved here I'd get post at 7am and a second at lunchtime every day it seems quite quaint now. Yesterday I got mail at 5pm and it was junk most of my mail is junk.

I must say at Christmas when it matters I got post everyday.

[alywin]

Well, the GP surgery put a prescription in the post, first class, on Wednesday. It arrived today. Even allowing for the fact that they might have missed the post on Wednesday, that's still not impressive. And I'm still waiting for something from Bromley which was allegedly posted at the beginning of the week, though I'm guessing that's second class.

I may start keeping a diary of the days we don't get post, and see if there's a pattern.

[appletree]

We have had to complain repeatedly about post not coming, coming only on clumps, and not being put in the letterbox. The Royal Mail take it seriously and have a record of my previous complaints, but it has not resulted in any improvement.

[sydnami]

Sounds like this is a pretty widespread issue, then. We had no deliveries on Mon, Tue or Weds this past week, and then 12 (!) items delivered across two separate deliveries on Thursday. I asked the postie about it, who mentioned something about "a backlog at the office" and that it wasn't their usual round. Suggests some sort of issue with staff availability - sickness, strikes, etc. Clearly something not right at the ranch, so will raise it as you suggest, appletree

[cidersioux]

Hi I am in Sydenham Park Rd and the week before last the house I live in which is converted into 8 flats did not have any mail from Monday to Friday.. when I went to the sorting office on Monday to complain as I was waiting on two letters and seven parcels I was told that the bloke who delivers to my Rd had been on holiday for two weeks so the mail for that Rd gets designated to other postmen when they have finished their rounds but if they have finished their shifts the mail does not get delivered. Was absolutely furious

[bensonby]

Yesterday I got mail at 5pm and it was junk most of my mail is junk.

Any junk mail delivered by Royal Mail gets scrawled "no addressee: return to sender" on it and put back in the post box by me. I doubt it does any good but it's my own little protest and makes me feel better.

[appletree]

Wow, cidersioux, that is appalling. I suggest you phone Royal Mail complaints and tell them about this problem and what you were told. If enough of us complain maybe something will be done.