Sheffield Postal Delivery Problems

[Thirsty Relic 215]

Spoke to my regular postie and they are being hit by Covid with some off sick and social distancing in the sorting offices meaning not all areas get their normal daily deliveries at times.  I've noticed delivery times varying as those posties working are trying to fill in for absences.  All in all, I think they are "key workers" doing a great job in difficult circumstances, and deserve our patience and support.

[Sweetcheeks 15]

Agree with OP, my area of Handsworth does not see postie 6 days a week. Our usual guy, who is an absolute gem, is off sick-not Covid related, and deliveries have suffered as a result with stand-ins not being anywhere as efficient. 3 items have now gone missing since March and paypal disputes are the order of the day. Yet Amazon have been terrific and much more reliable in these current times. 

[francypants 441]

I think our posties have done a very good job in very difficult circumstances and deserve praise rather than

criticism.

[Annie Bynnol 612]

5 hours ago, Sweetcheeks said:

Agree with OP, my area of Handsworth does not see postie 6 days a week. Our usual guy, who is an absolute gem, is off sick-not Covid related, and deliveries have suffered as a result with stand-ins not being anywhere as efficient. 3 items have now gone missing since March and paypal disputes are the order of the day. Yet Amazon have been terrific and much more reliable in these current times. 

Amazon are very much the extreme at the moment.

A few deliveries within 12 hours and deliveries arriving months early.

But some drivers are still taking sat nav literally and getting stuck in the lane at the back, which is closer to the house but not on our road.

Can this be changed?

[levisage 10]

Royal Mail still aren't allowing 2 posties to share a van. There's a lack of spare vans for those posties who can drive, and those who can't drive are restricted to walks close to the delivery office. If you live a distance from the delivery office then this may be your answer.

 

RM aren't allowing offices to splash out on overtime either. That combined with a high sick absence means that lots aren't getting their post. Don't blame the posties, blame the fat cat share holders who are more interested in their dividends than standards.

[creweblade 10]

Hospital appointment letter posted 22 July received today 31 July for appointment 29 July- sorry but that is unacceptable fortunately I knew because took hospital phone call - it may well be just certain areas and indeed south east Sheffield Inc handsworth has job adverts out for new posties 

[Guest busdriver1]

13 hours ago, creweblade said:

Hospital appointment letter posted 22 July received today 31 July for appointment 29 July- sorry but that is unacceptable fortunately I knew because took hospital phone call - it may well be just certain areas and indeed south east Sheffield Inc handsworth has job adverts out for new posties 

Surely you have answered yourself there. It would appear that certain areas have been hot and Royal Mail are doing something about it. It would also appear the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals are aware there are issues in some areas and are putting calls out as a back up. Well done to both organisations then EH?

[Rollypolly 51]

3 hours ago, busdriver1 said:

Surely you have answered yourself there. It would appear that certain areas have been hot and Royal Mail are doing something about it. It would also appear the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals are aware there are issues in some areas and are putting calls out as a back up. Well done to both organisations then EH?

Well said. It's so easy to criticise when things aren't going as we expect they should. But as we're all well aware everything has changed and unfortunately some services will suffer. Hopefully we'll be back on track soon 🤞😃

[Muddergoose 10]

It’s a combination of factors. All across the country Royal Mail are dealing with higher than usual staff absences on the front line due to Covid related sick absences and staff who are shielding in addition to usual absences such as non-Covid related sick and holidays. An item of post has to pass through several points on its way from A to B each of which will be impacted by the absences. Throw into that restrictions such as one postie per van, additional costs to the business of PPE, additional cleaning costs, overtime and temp staff to keep things ticking over plus a huge decrease in letters being sent that isn’t offset enough by the extra volume of packets and parcels brought about by the increase in internet shopping as a result of lockdown. There is no stakeholder dividend and no fat cat bonuses. The posties are doing their best under difficult circumstances and I for one wouldn’t swap places with them.

[Thirsty Relic 215]

Something I have experienced that may be of interest is that letters or packages I have posted to local destinations (Sheffield, Rotherham, Chesterfield) seem to take longer to arrive than those sent alongside them to destinations much further afield.  In a couple of extreme cases, 1st class letters have reached there the next day when sent a hundred or so miles away, whereas similar letters sent locally have taken a full week to arrive  To me that points to localised shortages at the distribution end of the postal chain.  It just means I will be sending time-sensitive letters out much earlier than I would normally do - a minor inconvenience.

 

Again, given the pandemic, I think Royal Mail are doing a great job, as are other Key Workers.

[foxydebs 36]

12 hours ago, Thirsty Relic said:

Something I have experienced that may be of interest is that letters or packages I have posted to local destinations (Sheffield, Rotherham, Chesterfield) seem to take longer to arrive than those sent alongside them to destinations much further afield.  In a couple of extreme cases, 1st class letters have reached there the next day when sent a hundred or so miles away, whereas similar letters sent locally have taken a full week to arrive  To me that points to localised shortages at the distribution end of the postal chain.  It just means I will be sending time-sensitive letters out much earlier than I would normally do - a minor inconvenience.

 

Again, given the pandemic, I think Royal Mail are doing a great job, as are other Key Workers.

I've noticed the same too, we sent something to devon on the same day as we sent something somewhere else in south yorkshire.  The letter got to devon first before the one got to rotherham.