Royal Mail is adding photos on delivery to a growing number of products providing, they say, additional peace of mind for customers… at least while their employees aren’t on strike. And in all honesty while there haven’t been any official strike days in 2023, everyone I speak to that can see volumes of delivery data suggests that Royal Mail deliveries are constantly running late and delivery promises aren’t being kept.
Royal Mail already captures photos on delivery for Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48 parcels where a signature isn’t required. These enhancements extend photo capture to a number of premium services where a signature is also captured and will be rolled out nationwide over the next few weeks. The additional products being added to the list are Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48 signature items (including age verification) and Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am or by 1pm.
The move will give both Royal Mail sending and receiving customers greater visibility of how and where mail is delivered offering greater peace of mind. Business customers will be able to verify safe delivery as part of their service commitment while household customers will be able to check their parcel has arrived even when they are not at home.
Photo on delivery expansion good, but should go further
While it’s appreciated that the photo on delivery expansion has been extended, there are many more products where it would be welcomed. If you have a signature on delivery and record a corresponding name, you have confirmation of delivery and there is little that a photo can add. Where we’d really like to see more photo on delivery capture is the areas that Royal Mail are failing the most and that’s letter and large letter deliveries. There’s no real need for standard letters, but if it’s obviously an ecommerce delivery in a large letter (often a padded envelope or poly bag), then this is when delivery is much more likely to be contested and where a photo would being confidence that items were delivered to the correct address.
Photo on delivery procedure
Under the plans, posties will use their PDA to capture an image of the item safely delivered as well as capturing the customer’s signature. The image is then uploaded to the Royal Mail website and app, where customers will be able to input their tracking number details to view the image and confirm that their item has been safely delivered.
An image can also be uploaded to the system if a parcel is delivered to a neighbour. The system also enables customers to view parcels which have been safely delivered by clicking on a link in the email delivery notifications sent by Royal Mail.
Both businesses and consumers want more transparency in understanding how and where their parcels are delivered. By adding photo on delivery to even more products we are continuing to deliver on our commitment to offer even more trust on the doorstep. This is another example of how we are constantly evolving our service to keep pace with the needs of our customers.
– Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer, Royal Mail
3 Responses
Hope its better than
Evris effort
Their photo delivery confirmation
Is usually of a package that could be anywhere
It may be proof of delivery, BUT WHERE to.
My postie told me that they are not allowed to photograph the house number / name and they aren’t allowed to photograph the person.
So, if a customer looks at the tracking and sees “Delivered” looks at the photo and doesn’t recognise the front door, they are stuffed.
The GPS may identify things better but what happens when the post scans at their van.
The customer says “That’s not my house”
You ask Royal Mail and they say tough.
Last year, when you could speak to customer services about tracking, they admitted that a postie had misdelivered as the GPS showed the wrong road. They supposedly raised an investigation and the delivery office manager told the postie to go and get the packet and redeliver. The recipient at the misdelivered address denied receiving it. I asked about compensation due to RM and they said no. As a business, you forfeit your right to compo in exchange for delivery confirmation.
I managed to claim as the RECIPIENT. A little-known clause in the T&Cs says that the recipient CAN claim.
It’s an absolute joke
Perhaps they can try fixing their UTTERLY USELESS WEBSITE because once again it is not functioning properly – can’t log in, can’t even create a postage label as a guest. Absolutely useless – sort it out Royal Mail – you only get Large Letters out of me these days but anymore f***ups I’d rather swallow the cost and send them by courier…the hassle and frustration is NOT WORTH IT ANYMORE