Dear Sir or Madam,

I live in a block of flats on a housing estate operated by a social
housing association. I work full time but do not leave for work in
the mornings until 10:45. I order items online that are clearly too
bulky to fit through a letterbox. I am interested in why, far more
often than not, an attempt is made to deliver items when I am out
at work - which means there is no one in to receive the delivery.
Therefore a note is put through my door telling me where I can
collect my parcel, between which hours, or where I can ring to
arrange re-delivery.

What I find strange is that common sense makes it obvious that to
deliver a bulky parcel to a flat it would be advantageous for the
recipient to be in. Why then, is delivery not attempted at an hour
when I am more likely to be in - indeed, my normal post (i.e.
letters that will fit through the letter box at any time of the
day) usually arrives before I leave for work; it is only parcels
that do not.

The sender has paid for delivery of the item but in effect it is
not actually delivered - I end up collecting it. This takes me out
of my way - it is a waste of my time and also a waste of the
postman's/postwoman's time to repeatedly attempt delivery when no
one is in.

Is this practice of delivering parcels during normal working
people's hours the Royal Mail's policy in general or is it, as I
fear, because I live on a social housing estate and an assumption
is made that people in social housing do not work and will be in
all day?

Yours faithfully,

J Jones

Dear Sir or Madam

I refer to the email dated 19 November 2008, from J Jones regarding
delivery times. I would like to assure you that Royal Mail is not
complacent about the level of service we provide and we are continuously
looking at ways to improve the service that our customers expect from us.

Delivering a universal service means that we have to take this into account
and cannot judge the likelihood of the recipient being able to accept mail
items at any given time. Hence we have arrangements which advise customers
of undeliverable items and offer a number of options to arrange redelivery
or to collect elsewhere if this option is more convenient.

If I may explain that the Universal Service Obligation, agreed with the
Regulator, requires Royal Mail to provide one delivery each day, six days a
week, without stipulation of the time of that delivery. All our delivery
staff are committed to ensuring their customers receive an acceptable level
of service and deliveries are made as early as is practical each day. For
addresses in urban areas Royal Mail endeavours to make a delivery every
working day by 2pm and does not relate to the type of housing in a
particular area. As for rural areas Royal Mail endeavours to make a
delivery every working day by 3pm. Rural areas are subject to exceptions
for remote areas with limited transport infrastructure such as the Scottish
Highlands & Islands.

I trust I have now addressed your issues.

Gillian Drury

Royal Mail Chairman’s Office

5th Floor, 148 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HQ

Tel:  0207 250 2888  P/L: 5425 2008

Fax: 0207 250 2030

[email address]

show quoted sections