Royal Mail Postal Delays

[jere-nott]

Is it just me or is anyone else experiencing delays in RM post?

I post around 30 items per week always 1st Class. Just recently they are taking up to a week to be delivered. 1st Class Recorded delivery is even worse. RM International Service is appalling. 

[tressygirl]

Well, not many / any reports of this on the forum. 

I cannot comment on international post, but must admit my post I receive, don't sell anymore due to SD, doesn't seem delayed,  parcels arriving on time specified.

You're items are low value so I'm guessing you're not adding the extra cost of tracking ?  Who is letting you know the items are being delivered late the buyers or eBay ?

@jere-nott 

[jere-nott]

Not all are low value. Some I send  UK Recorded Delivery and overseas tracked.

Recorded Delivery 1st Class is taking on average 4 days and a tracked item to France took 3 weeks.

All my overseas items are well packed and have the correct CN22 Customs label securely attached.

Today I received a message from a buyer in Newcastle UK that an item I sent on 14 April had not been received, after 2 weeks! I had no alternative but to refund his purchase.

[tommystrezures]

Personally I find the signed for service a waste of time these days - I know you can put stamps on the letters etc, but for an extra 10p on the service we have reverted to tracked 24 when needed. These appear to arrive on time in general. RM are actively told to get these delivered first. We only also get letter post apx three times a week now. (parcels is different)

International France, can be a bit hit and miss. Was all the IOSS data on transmitted correctly? This can slow things down with customs, and international generally in Europe can be slow just for this. We have stopped selling to Italy as they couldn't organise a Pee up in a brewery at Italiane post. Also depending where in France your item was sent too, may determine how it got there. Royal Mail do use road services sometimes for bits of europe.

[brownbookbear]

I send 2nd Class Signed For and many of my parcels are arriving next day.

However, I think that some areas are not delivering mail every day - our post arrives in big chunks twice a week- so this may be affecting your parcels.

[the-nutwood-collection]

I'm having problems with 2nd Class.  It's taking over seven working days to arrive.  I've had to replace an order today that was despatched on April 14.  Fortunately, it's just a tiny order and the buyer has been very patient.

[wintersdawn1]

Recently the post office were given more time to deliver 2nd class mail, I usually get quite a bit all together now and it's later than usual.

[jere-nott]

All my international post has the correct CN22 label and IOSS number attached. In addition it always shows the correct weight, value and country of origin. One letter posted to Eire took 9 days by RM.

I sold and item to the USA (Maryland)   last week so, as an experiment, I sent it through UPS. Cost a lot more. However, It was collected last Friday 25 April, according to tracking it was delivered today Monday 28 April! (Eat your heart out Evri !!) 

Anyway, today I posted 23 items. 21 x First Class ordinary post  and 2 x 1st Class Recorded Delivery. I will contact a few of my regular buyers and ask them when received. They are okay with this as we regularly chat through eBay messaging.

[leon842]

I use 2nd class, half the price and 90% of items arrive next day

[daro2096]

1st class post is not a guaranteed next day delivery. If you want next day delivery your best bet is Tracked 24 or Special Delivery(Saturday or Sunday delivery is not guaranteed unless an extra fee was paid).

[cncsports]

This last week i have around  a dozen undelivered claims. Mainly 1st class standard post letters and a couple of parcels sent a couple of weeks ago recorded delivery, with no tracking movement. It seems Royal Mail goes through periods of shambolic delivery times every 3 or 4 months or so.  I have had parcels take 4-5 weeks to arrive sometimes, mostly recorded delivery too. You just know that when you have to refund they will receive the item at some point later but they will not tell you. Royal Mail is a shambols for the price we pay for stuff, i'm losing hundreds of pounds because of them. Impossible to claim too when you buy stuff in bulk on one receipt as they will only refund you what you pay for it, not what you sell it for. So they are not interested without individual receipts for each item lost. I'm guessing there are piles of undelivered mailbags around the country that are put to one side and forgotten until levels of post drop a bit. Customers not too bothered with these excuses though, they just want their stuff or a refund, even if they are waiting just an extra few days. And of course Ebay's strict delivery times with claims does not help.

[crn303]

Hello jere-nott …. I had a similar query last week.

Spoke to my local Post Office and was told that there are currently spasmodic delivery times in certain areas of UK. Reason not known.

Royal Mail are aware, so we probably have to live with it.

[lavenderthimblebunny]

I'm lucky to sell one item a week currently, so not a huge sample pool to measure against, but I've always RM Tracked 48 to be consistently more reliable than 2nd Signed for.

If there's national RM delivery delay you'll likely read about it on here before ebay announces it.

[gjalp]

For the most part, my mail is taking 4 working days to arrive. I use 2nd class or tracked 48. Delivery time is consistently 4 working days for either. Occasionally I will get early or later arrivals. For my own incoming mail, despite living ‘just up the road’ from the delivery office, my mail arrives 2-3 times a week in big bundles. Recently we went from Fri to the following Weds with zero mail despite expecting hospital letters confirming appointments made by phone. I would say its a bit hit and miss depending on areas.