Royal Mail are to run a pilot of deliveries within the M25 on Sunday starting this weekend, the 7th September. At the same time they will open 100 delivery office across the country between noon and 4pm allowing customers to collect their post on a day when much of the country is off work.
The moves are designed to make life easier for ecommerce shoppers not at home during the day to collect their parcels. The longer opening hours are starting at delivery offices with the highest parcel volumes across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, extending opening times to seven days a week.
Almost half of Royal Mail’s UK network of around 1,400 delivery offices already opens later on a Wednesday evening to enable people to collect items that could not be delivered because no one was at home when delivery was attempted.
Last month, Royal Mail announced it is to make its Local Collect ‘click and collect’ service with Post Offices available to its 20,000 SME contract customers. This will enable many of the UK’s leading small and medium size online businesses to offer shoppers the option of collection from any of 10,500 Post Office branches. By teaming up with Post Office to offer the UK’s largest click and collect service, Royal Mail is enabling shoppers to have greater control over the delivery of their items.
1,600 Post Office branches are also now open on a Sunday, although many have limited services – I can’t actually collect or post parcels at my local branch on a Sunday as it’s a service at the shop’s retail counter, so check before you turn up. However my Post Office is open for longer hours than my local Royal Mail delivery office so is still much more convenient.
Royal Mail has also rolled out its Delivery to Neighbour initiative across the UK. This followed a trial of the initiative which found that customers welcomed the convenience of items being delivered to a neighbouring address if no one was at home to receive them. Customers not at home when delivery is attempted can also arrange a free redelivery to their home or a neighbour via www.royalmail.com/redelivery
These changes are part of an on-going programme by Royal Mail to be more customer responsive and provide more options for people to receive items they have ordered online. In June Parcelforce also launched a Sunday delivery service for online shoppers through participating etailers. The service is available to contract customers across the UK.
Royal Mail Delivery Offices opening on Sundays |
||
|---|---|---|
| Altens | Exeter | Norwich |
| Basildon | Glaisdale Parkway | Nottingham City |
| Bath | Glasgow (G11 & G12) | Nottingham South |
| Battersea | Glasgow (G41, G42 & G5) | Oldham |
| Belfast South & Central | Grays | Orton Southgate |
| Birch Park | Grimsby | Portsmouth |
| Blackburn | Halifax | Preston Central |
| Blackpool | Harrow | Reading |
| Bolton North | Hartlepool | Sheffield South East |
| Bridgend | Hemel Hempstead | Sheffield North |
| Brighton | Hull City | Shirley (SO) |
| Bristol South East | Ilford | Sittingbourne |
| Cambridge | Inverness | St Albans |
| Canterbury | Islington | Stevenage |
| Cardiff | Kingston & Surbiton | Stockport Central |
| Cheltenham | Lancaster | Stockton on Tees |
| Chester | Lincoln | Stoke Hanley |
| Chorley | Londonderry | Stoke Newington |
| Coventry North | Luton | Sunderland |
| Coventry South | Manchester | Tonbridge |
| Croydon | Manchester North West | Uxbridge |
| Dagenham | Manchester South | Walthamstow |
| Darlington | Margate | Warrington |
| Derby Town & Provincial | Mastrick | Watford (WD) |
| Dudley | Middlesbrough | West Park |
| Dundee (DD4 & DD5) | Moseley | Weston Super Mare |
| East Oxford | Newcastle upon Tyne | Whitechapel (E1) |
| Eastbourne | North Tyneside | Wigan |
| Edinburgh West | South Shields | Wolverhampton |
| Enfield | Northampton | Wrexham |
| York Central | ||
Royal Mail are finalising arrangements for further offices to join the pilot. This will take the final number of delivery offices taking part in the pilot to around 100.
5 Responses
Nice to see privatization is leading to some sensible decisions coming out of Royal Mail – indeed the ability to make the decisions.
I think they should run a ‘pilot scheme’ on getting signatures for Signed for products. Its fraudulent to take the money and knowingly not provide the service. And they do know – I must remind them about twice a month.
My local post office was advertised as being open on Sunday until 12pm. I received an email a couple of weeks ago. I went to Londis in Dunston Gateshead this Sunday morning 7/9/14 to be told by the shop keeper “there was no point opening because nobody uses it. There is no collection on a Sunday. Come back on Monday” It has only been in place for one week. Give it a chance! Hopeless service will fall flat on it’s face if that is the attitude of the counters run by shop keepers. NOT IMPRESSED
Finally, I’ve been saying this for years. Why did nobody setup a post office before thats only open in out-of-hours work time, like in the evening so people that have 9-5 jobs can get there posting (amongst other things, like car tax) done without having to rush around on a Saturday?
On a related note, I realised recently that my local post office opens till 6pm in the evening 🙂