From next Monday, Royal Mail will be delivering Special Delivery letters and parcels later in the day. No longer will a Special Delivery arrive by 1pm, but with the new Special Delivery guarantee delivery times might be as late as 4pm. The 9am service will also see an extended delivery window and the guaranteed delivery time will become by 11am.
We’re not convinced by the wording of Royal Mail’s announcement calling which says this will “be improving our timed guarantees”. It would perhaps be more correct to say Special Delivery guarantee delivery times will become more “realistic”. With the Coronavirus pandemic showing every signs of coming back with a vengeance and the fourth quarter of the year promising to be the biggest ever for online shopping, it’s likely that Royal Mail will be stretched to the max and so enabling Special Delivery parcels and letters to be delivered without overly interrupting Posties’ normal route makes a lot of sense.
Often Special Delivery is used to ensure an item is delivered next day rather than because it’s needed first thing in the morning. If an item is urgent, both retailer and consumers will now need to be aware of the later delivery promise.
“From Monday 28 September we’ll be improving our timed guarantees for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am and 1pm services and will make the following changes:”
- For items posted from Monday 28 September 2020 onwards, our guaranteed delivery for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9.00am the next working day will change to by 11.00am the next working day
- Our guaranteed delivery for Special Delivery Guaranteed by 1.00pm the next working day will change to by 4.00pm the next working day
- This includes items where a Saturday guarantee has been purchased
– Royal Mail
55 Responses
Those times are an improvement, as since the March lockdown until now, Special delivery by 9am was changed to 1pm and special delivery by 1pm was changed to by 9pm. It’s good to see the times getting closer to normal.
Sigh. Have had loads of items delivered late (sometimes 1st class a week later, 2nd class next day) No idea what to rely on. I just wish they would go on TV and announce the problems they have so everyone gets to hear. Not just those online.
Local and National news and newspaper announcements would help.
We have not had any mail delivered to this building for at least ten working day’s, this includes 48 hours delivery which is medication for my wife. I have rang them and all you get is an answer phone and no phone call back
Well I bought two first day covers in June with the war stamps on but I got the miniature sheet one , but the other one I still haven’t received as its got my address on and iam very concerned about this. You try to trust the post office workers that deliver your post not any more.
When ordering an item with next day delivery guaranteed, it just does not happen especially when ordering on a Saturday, which I found out to my cost that the Royal Mail is the only delivery service that doesn’t deliver on a Sunday, WHY.
You pay for next day delivery it might not come for 4days they are not updating the tracking information or else it’s wrong how can this company use the crown as a symbol for their Moto
Many people have a total lack of respect for posties, who are key workers, have worked throughout the crisis.
Do 12 hour shift., no queue jumping for these key workers at your local super market. Just continue as you have abusing staff at the sorting office and having a pop whilst they are on delivery.
Big thanks to the odd customer who has appreciated our work
Posties themselves work really hard. It’s the management of royal mail that is at fault. We have worked all through this pandemic and people still moan
. Get a life and understand the difficulty we are in. As one previous person pointed out people sitting at home and not working but ordering nonsense off the Internet and moan. Well done posties your doing a great job
It is good to see that Royal Mail is addressing the issue. However, given the difficulty of the situation why offer a service that they are not capable of delivering? Used the special delivery service for my passports. When it wasn’t delivered on time, I tried to track it only to find the system frozen for a week. After ten days of chasing the system without any result I was about to declare my passport lost but fortunately on the day HMPO texted saying document received.
I accept and understand that the system is overwhelmed like most but then why not suspend the service till it can be run efficiently?
This is old new special delivery items have been same day not by 1pm for weeks.
The same postperson appears to collect the weekday afternoon mail from most of the posting boxes in our area yet they all appear to have the same, inaccurate, last collection times. This means RM’s Customers burn unnecessary CO2 etc following advise displayed to use the next nearest post box to catch the last post & sometimes passing post boxes awaiting last collections too!
Morning collection times hearaboutes bear little resemblance to the actual times also as evidenced by the information displayed on post boxes awaiting collections.
This is no way to treat Customers of a now privatised set up- unless you’re trying to deter use of Royal Mail’s letter post.
We are approximately 25% down on staff and relying on people to work days off and overtime to provide a service ,it’s not ideal but we are doing our best
More research needed. The SD times have been guaranteed to as late as 9pm for about the last 5 months.
Therefore, 4pm would be a reduction (improvement) of the delivery time.
Royal SNAIL
Wow what idiots on here,im a postie its hard graft and like christmas most days parcels through the roof, we working as normal apart from van share,give us a break we work hard ,
In June I paid over £7 to send a package to my grandson. He still hasn’t received it. So I have had royal mail sorting this. Apparently it was delivered and signed for. I asked to see the signature. Covid 19. Doubt my grandson will ever get his package now. This is awful my grandson is only 3 and got really excited when I told him to expect a present. I think I will send via hermes or yodel next time. At least he will get it. I have tried complaining to royal mail but there’s no where to write much detail.
People ought to think of us Postie’s, who have been slogging through this whole pandemic while they’ve been at home buying more & more stuff online before they whinge & moan about the deliveries.
There’s frequent bullying by managers regarding overtime & if you decline to do it they get snarky & get into a strop. It’s pathetic.
It’s especially hard for us non-driving Postie’s as, because of Covid, I have a 20 min bike ride out (to my start point) & back again 6 days a week as well as all the extra walking between loops on top. After a 10 & half hour shift like yesterday turned out to be, with just 8 min break, it’s physically exhausting.
Did 150,000 steps last week working + overtime on delivery, with the tired “you’re late…” comment from the public towards the end of duty most days.
Our sector has resumed normal times for SDs, we had some special dispensation earlier in the year though.
Volume has picked up again as increased detection rate has people scared of going out. Dread to think what it’s going to be like approaching Christmas.
Im GLS courier in Slovakia ,st januáru DHL parcely quit market here,ať marcu both geis parcely quit AND Corona started we maked EVERY day about 110 successfull deliveries up until june ,if u have to drive 180km AND Deal with 110 live persons talk about risk EVERY day .my depo grow half again and its Still christmas here ,just waiting fór real christmas. And u talk about working hard, and your customers ste complaining about things nôt provider to them ,instead of being glad that something IS actualy working close to its claimef standards in this new situation. Youre so pampered.
I will have my say royal mail sorting office in Birmingham lost my parcel in May and won’t refund my money and I don’t trust them anymore.
OMG
To all customers.
SD times was the article in question .
If you post an item via SD. Then it is insured, if it doesn’t reach it’s destination, then you can claim if you follow the correct procedure.
This is irrelevant to the time it arrives.
To all you frontline workers.
GET A GRIP
lol….
By the way
Any SD failures and complaints are taken very seriously within RM and needs police presence, hence the costs.
I can not believe what I’m reading. We are in a middle of a pandemic people. Royal Mail are functioning as best as they can. We have been out there day after day putting ourselves at rick. We have employees falling and some have paid the ultimatum price. We were once considered the heart of the community,fabric of British life, a friendly face . Today I feel overwhelmed overworked and under appreciated
Take all your rainbow drawings out your windows n stick em where the sun dont shine.go get a job in royal mail instead of moaning about it.
Speaking as an ex postman(35years) retired now because back is knackered I want to say well done to all the postman out on delivery’ cos I know how physically demanding the job is !After35 years service did not even get a thankyou from Royal Mail so that’s. how appreciative the Royal Mail management are towards their staff .so I wouldn’t go the extra mile to help them out in any way whatsoever!
I respect all the royal mail people and feel they have been treated badly through this period and most certainly should be getting a bonus but I’m sure half the moaners will be the ones taking a freeride on behalf of the tax workers. The UK people have always needed a reason to moan about something and i can guarantee 90% of them couldn’t do the same job. I worked as a Christmas casual for many years, it was a great job but it was also hard and super busy job, This year they have had less workers due to furlough etc and they will probably have a large amount of temps who will only slow the pace down and most certainly some will have light fingers if you get my meaning
Having read most of the replies u will say that you all are not completely wrong,apart from the insults and foul language. But Truth be told the problem we are seeing today did not not start today,it started years ago and if the business and postmen are not honest in what they do this will or might get worse am afraid. I can are assure you all that the blame here goes to all parties involved,royal mail management,the employees and customers. Not all but most. We have some manager who do not give a damn,so also some postie’s too, and some customers who may mistakes when buying or sending things either with address or postcode etc and don’t even know it. I have seen it all. We some have bad managers and postmen, and this is the biggest problem here and they don’t care at all. They just dont want to do that extra that makes the difference, caring about the customer and business. It’s about profit and getting their salaries for most. I have also helped so many helped customers who made lots of various mistakes that could have seen them lose or miss their items. So yes the pandemic added to these issues, but it is not because of the pandemic that this is bad. it’s the collective actions of the bad managers,postmen and customers that have made this very bad,thus making the majority of hard working postmen and women, and managers up and down the country look like they are not capable. If this has to change and improve, they management posties need to change and care more about the business and customers and not only about shareholders and profits and salaries. And then customers too should also help by ensuring that they use the right address, the right postcode, the right amount of postage stamp etc,cos it will go along way in reducing some of these issues. If we do not care and have love for something, even our job or business, but rather focus more on monetary value,then there’s bound to be lots of issues. More care, honesty, and little joy and love from all towards the business and customers, from all parties is what will make the good change and difference we all need.thanks
Some bad eggs among the management, posties and customers are to blame for these issues. And these issues have been going on for years now. It’s just that the pandemic have made it a bit more pronounced. We have customers who make various mistakes when they buy or send things,we have some management and posties who don’t care at all about the business and customers except for their profits and salaries. If things need to change then we all need to change by first caring and having a little joy and love for the business, the customer and or job. And they customers also doing same and taking more care when buying and sending stuffs. This will go along way to make things better for all. Thanks
Sorry about any typo errors
I think I have learned more about Royal Mail from the comments than from the article..
It feels like all the pressure is pushed to the shoulders of the RM workers. The management, owner, bosses, higher ups ouht to make decisions to help to make the situation easier, or at least manageable. It is their responsibility. And they obviously failing. Postmen supposed to be treated with respect and point out how important they are. But I also belive promises told, have to be kept(delivery time). The RM as a company should protect their own staff and find a way, instead of overworking and putting the pressure on them. Without them the company won’t be able to function.
Deliveries in the pandemic are crucial. It is everyone’s interest to keep it together. It is important to stay logical. Instead of pointing fingers (and… at least point it to the right direction) let’s find a way.
There are so many people still sitting at home. Emty warehouses and unused vans.
Would it be possible for local companies to lend there vans and warehouses to the Royal Mail? So they could work with more staff safely, maybe hire helpers? Must be a way to get it done…
you get what you pay for
no good whinging about poor service ,while insisting on less cost
though its becoming more frequent you dont actually even get what you pay have for these days
some royal mail workers seem to think delivering a parcel entitles them to a hero status
I became a part time Postie last year at the ripe old age of 57, having previously spent my entire working career employed by Blue Chip corporations in various Sales Management roles. I thought this job would be easy street for me but it is both physically and mentally extremely challenging- and of course the pandemic has meant that the workload since March has been on a par with a typical Christmas period, I’m told by my colleagues.
So……to all you customers out there who think it’s easy to take a pop at you local Postman for the “poor service” I would say to you this:
Would you do this job for just above minimum wage, out in the freezing cold, the baking hot, the torrential downpours the real risk of being attacked by a dog (yes it happens on a regular basis), the broken foot and ankle bones caused by tripping on customers uneven driveways…?? No, you wouldn’t!!
My final comment is: STOP MOANING AND STOP BUYING ONLINE STUFF YOU DO NOT NEED, then the delivery service may get back to pre pandemic levels!!!
Dont worry victor no one cares about promoting our job most have been in for years me nearly 30 we just want the money and to get out believe me any postie with 20+ years service just want payed off.and I mean all of them.