This is a service?

[Michael Rolls]

Apparently the Royal Mail are going to stop delivering second class mail on Saturdays and will reduce the frequency of deliveries during the week

[klondike]

The Royal Mail have been going downhill for a long time. They can't compete partly because of the universal service obligation. Their competitors are allowed to charge extra for some postcodes but they can't. Mostly though I'm guessing it is because of inefficiencies.

[Scrumpy]

Royal Mail..!!  I have been waiting two weeks for my sample kit (bowel) to be delivered..

[Mups]

I agree about Royal Mail been going downhill for a long time.

I believe I saw somewhere, that not only Saturdays we won't get a delivery,  there was talk about only getting second class mail delivered on 3 days a week soon.
It's to make us all pay for their 1st class stamps I reckon - and the increased the price of them three times last year too.


Here you are.   Just found this:

Ofcom said Royal Mail should continue to deliver first-class letters six days a week but second class will be limited to alternate weekdays. There would be no changes to parcel deliveries under the new proposals.

[JBR]

I agree about Royal Mail been going downhill for a long time.

Yes, it has.  However, there are clear reasons why it would.  

Many letters and forms, etc., are being replaced by online messages, which are faster (immediate in fact) and perhaps more reliable, as more and more people have access to t'internet and online communications.

Another thing that I have noticed is that parcels (which of course can't be delivered online!) from Royal Snail seem to take longer to arrive than those sent through couriers.  Amazon, for example, usually delivers orders by the next day in my experience, and if you are a regular user of Amazon delivery is usually free.

In a way, I feel sorry for Royal Mail as they are unable to fully compete on price and speed of delivery, so fewer and fewer people are likely to rely on them.

[Mups]

Yes, it has.  However, there are clear reasons why it would. 

Many letters and forms, etc., are being replaced by online messages, which are faster (immediate in fact) and perhaps more reliable, as more and more people have access to t'internet and online communications.

Another thing that I have noticed is that parcels (which of course can't be delivered online!) from Royal Snail seem to take longer to arrive than those sent through couriers.  Amazon, for example, usually delivers orders by the next day in my experience, and if you are a regular user of Amazon delivery is usually free.

In a way, I feel sorry for Royal Mail as they are unable to fully compete on price and speed of delivery, so fewer and fewer people are likely to rely on them.

Yes,  but   if they increase their prices several times a year,  then that is hardly likely to encourage more custom, is it.     
Lots of people said last year that they would not be sending Christmas cards any more for a start.

[muddy]

It's a shame I like Christmas cards .
E cards are alright but go off into the ether at some point .
It's the physicality that makes cards , the postman coming to deliver and the actual holding of a card .

[Mups]

It's a shame I like Christmas cards .
E cards are alright but go off into the ether at some point .
It's the physicality that makes cards , the postman coming to deliver and the actual holding of a card .

Yes, I agree with you about the physicality of cards.
E.cards can be nice,  but you can't put them on the mantlepiece, or have the special ones on show.
It's just if you have a lot of cards to send, the stamp prices can mount up.

[muddy]

Very true my Christmas card list is much depleted now anyway .

[JBR]

Yes, I agree with you about the phusicality of cards.
E.cards can be nice,  but you can't put them on the mantlepiece, or have the special ones on show.
It's just if you have a lot of cards to send, the stamp prices can mount up.

I suppose you could print them out, preferably on card.

[Ashy]

It means our postmen will have to deliver the same number of letters in three days instead of six, just as our dustmen have to collect the same refuse every two weeks instead of weekly. But it also means more mail order stuff will be taken by Yodel and Hermes if they give better service.

[Michael Rolls]

when I started work in 1954 the first post arrived by 0700, there was a parcel post mid-morning, and an evening post around 1700. How things have changed!

[Scrumpy]

54 !! That was many years ago Michael..

Back then no mobile phones..
No home computers 
We don't need to write Aunt Polly a letter thanking her for our present. We send her a text.. email.. 

I sent around six Christmas cards. Way back I sent many, many more... 
Our family have agreed not to send greetings cards by post..
Far too expensive..

[klondike]

Yodel and Hermes

They used to be dire but both get used for the UK leg by AliExpress which I use for cheap Chinese stuff at knockdown prices and IME have both become very good.

The ones I've had issues with enough to bother moaning about here have been DX DHL and Royal Mail. I decided to pay for Amazon Prime as I get a lot of stuff from them and the main reason for that is their reliable delivery service and use of their lockers for many things. I use an automated locker rather than the misery guts Post Office which is nearer and open late too now.

I back pedalled a lot on eBay as you have no idea when stuff is going to arrive or which carrier it is likely to be.

I reckon the most reliable traditional carrier is DPD.