Post in Collection point for Royal Mail parcels

Jun 27 10:52 UTC

Thank you Stephanie for comfirming how difficult it is to get through to the
sorting-office. I agree that it is very irritating to ring up and be told in a
voice of pseudo- cheerfulness to go to their website.
 My description of six people waiting outside the sorting-office at 12.30 in
the morning because it was shut for the rest of the day is not a "rant" it is a
"fact" so please classify it correctly. The date was last December.
 I have recently had a message from Royal Mail admitting that they auction off
uncollected items. Could this have anything to do with their attitude? About
six months ago I had one of those cards through my door saying that a "letter"
with inadequate postage was waiting for me at the Sandy Lane sorting-office.
The card, which I still have here, dated 30th January 2008, has no opening
hours at all printed on it.
 I tried to get through to them on the telephone and simply could not. They
never delivered it and, having a busy life, I put the card aside. In my mind it
became confused with all the other countless delivery problems one has with
Royal Mail, DHL, Parcel Force etc etc  I recently threw away a sheaf of red
cards.
  Eventually the sender contacted me and enquired whether I had ever got the
item. The so-called "letter" had actually been a pearl necklace, a late
Christmas present. Unfortunately it had no return address on it. Royal Mail
told me that as I did not collect it within the given time, it would have been
"disposed of" possibly by auction, or thrown away, and they have no idea what
happened to it.
 I complained that the item had been inaccurately described, as it was not
simply a "letter" but they said they can take no responsibility for that.
  Back in 2004, Royal Mail was forced to sack 100,000 staff to meet what our
government called targets of efficiency and profitability. Frustrating for
them, as most of their profits have been taken by e-mail companies or
parcel-delivery services, many of whom are not of course British, so they do
not seem why they should spend those profits on running things like local Post
Offices or local sorting-offices.