Royal Mail deliveries in Snow - Sheffield Area

[yorkiepudd]

I spoke to a postie online last night, regarding the back log clearance and how new mail is getting out but back log appears not to be this was the explanation:

 

"If you deliver 8 bags a day (about average) that fills your working day - a week backlog is therefore 48 bags. So delivering say 2 extra bags a day (after finishing your normal delivery) will take three and a half weeks. There is no extra staff to do it.

 

If I say that my office has a pile of packets about the size of a semi-detached house, in no order; can you then understand how a packet that arrived yesterday may well arrive before one that arrived a week ago?

Also, we missed 5 days delivery, do you know why? Because the terrific Sheffield City Council wouldn't grit the access road to the office. So all the mail never reached us. We would have missed very little if wasn't for Scrivens Skivers."

 

We can't blame the posties on the ground but the system seems very much to be flawed.

 

A good description in typical circumstances. But then add on the fact that this all happened on the week when the post quadruples overnight due to the christmas rush, and it wasn't just deliveries that were affected, but collections from the firms also suffered for 3/4 days, which meant that most commercial post all came through on 1 day (last Monday) and you might begin to see the size of the problem RM were (are still) facing.

[yorkiepudd]

Apologies for asking this question if it's already been asked but this thread is too big to go all the way through now.

 

Anyway... are we able to go to the local delivery/ sorting office and ask if there are parcels there which we can pick up? I know that I have two in the system somewhere which were posted Nov and Dec and I've had later posted parcels since.

 

Our poor postie is already choc-a-block with letters and cards let alone parcels. If I can collect (and others do the same) with ID etc, surely that might help clear some of the backlog?

 

Unlikely, as they will probably have no idea where the parcels are - they may not even be at the local office yet.

[yorkiepudd]

That's what's bonkers about their deliveries. Order something now and it comes without delay, yet the dozen or so items I ordered two weeks ago don't arrive. All of which I know are small enough to go through the letterbox. The postie just came ten minutes ago and delivered one xmas card. How is that an effective use of resources when they've obviously got more post than that waiting to be delivered here? We'll probably go another three or four days with nothing. Certainly seems some sorting offices are better organised than others. Luck of the draw I guess.

 

So do the forum members think it would be a better idea to delay EVERYTHING whilst the backlog is sorted? Or better to send out things that are immediately ready and work through the rest ASAP?

[V.Rossi]

Anyone know the closing time of the central office on pond street tonight?

[yorkiepudd]

That doesn't explain parcels that are van delivered really. Nor why it seems woodseats office is so far worse than the other offices in the area. I've not seen a royal mail van in the past 4 days on my road, which is a major road. Usually see 2 or 3 before all this rubbish.

 

Parcels that are van delivered still go through the delivery office (where they are sorted into delivery routes) so why does it not explain it? There are some offices that are doing better than others, which is down to several factors. 1 is the volume of mail that goes through the office (Woodseats covers a large area), and the room that they have to store any backlog in the office. Also, access to the office was also a major factor at the time, as well as how badly a particular delivery area was affected.

[nibbitts]

does anyone know which sorting office receives post destined for swallownest/aston please and if so their tel number? Thanks

[Sheff2006]

I called into my local Royal Mail sorting office (Holbrook) yesterday to ask how the backlog was as I am expecting a few packages, I was told yesterday they had thousands to sort apparently. Whether this is still the case today or not I dont know.

 

However...today I received a Christmas card with a 2nd class stamp on from Barnsley and the postmark date is either the 13th or 16th of December!

 

If there is a backlog of items to be cleared why does a 2nd class item arrive overnight?

 

Sh2006.

[em23]

So do the forum members think it would be a better idea to delay EVERYTHING whilst the backlog is sorted? Or better to send out things that are immediately ready and work through the rest ASAP?

 

It seems more like "all that post has missed the delivery target, let's just ignore it an focus on the post that can still be delivered on target."

 

Personally, I would feel happier if they focused on the backlog. It was posted first, after all. I work in a target driven environment though, so I appreciate the difficulties.

[em23]

I called into my local Royal Mail sorting office (Holbrook) yesterday to ask how the backlog was as I am expecting a few packages, I was told yesterday they had thousands to sort apparently. Whether this is still the case today or not I dont know.

 

However...today I received a Christmas card with a 2nd class stamp on from Barnsley and the postmark date is either the 13th or 16th of December!

 

If there is a backlog of items to be cleared why does a 2nd class item arrive overnight?

 

Sh2006.

 

December 16th would be interesting, certainly... lol

[Rob_1]

I appreciate individual workers are doing all they can but something is seriously wrong with the system when parcels have been delayed so long.

 

I know, and I can't answer why older mail isn't processed first - it would obviously make sense to do it that way, but then I don't get paid hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to make decisions like that.

 

However, I hope everyone claiming refunds for missing items is going to be honest enough to repay the money again when the parcels do arrive - somehow I doubt it though.