Saturday Postal Service May Be Scrapped

[barry1010]

For letters, anyway, the Royal Mail wants to deliver parcels only on Saturdays. That would suit me just fine. Official letters that need dealing with always seem to arrive on a Saturday when the offices are closed, leaving me stew over the weekend.

Would you miss receiving letters on Saturdays? https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/nov/26/royal-mail-closer-to-ending-saturday-letter-deliveries-after-ofcom-review

[dannyk13]

No, I wouldn't miss a Saturday delivery.

[New Judge]

They've been talking about this for ages. I think they knocked the Saturday delivery on the head for two or three weeks where I live at the start of the pandemic. It wouldn't bother me too much. I don't receive much by snail mail and when sending anything (which is mainly confined to birthday cards etc.) I just assume that Saturday is a non working day anyway, so send it to arrive by Friday.

[barry1010]

I wonder if anybody still gets paid their benefits by post, it used to be Giro (Gyro?).

[woofgang]

If they are going to do a delivery round anyway then why not deliver letters?

[gingejbee]

The staffing level at our local delivery office is so bad that we are lucky to have deliveries twice a week anyway...they actually ration deliveries. I've had postpeople arrive as late as 8.45pm.

[aelmpvw]

99% of my royal mail letters are junk, so no, i wouldn't miss it

[jakep]

No we wouldn’t miss it.
My only concern would be that people may have their vaccination letters delayed.

[maggiebee]

I find that emails and texts are being used more and more. I must say most of my "post" seems to be junk mail these days.

[ABSpareEditor]

I have moved this thread into the category "News".

[jno]

good point, jakep.

[New Judge]

//My only concern would be that people may have their vaccination letters delayed.//

Which begs the question why are the invitations being made by post? Apart from the cost, there is no guarantee that the invite will reach the recipient. There are severe problems with the mail in many parts of the country. Very few people have no means of electronic communication. Just about everybody has either a landline or a mobile. Many have both as well as e-mail. My GP has my address, my landline number, my mobile number and my e-mail address. More than that, if an invitation is made electronically the recipient can respond promptly to inform the sender whether or not they will be attending. This could offset some of the problems that London is experiencing with large numbers of "no shows".

[Stickybottle]

I can’t believe Royal Mail has never moved to a 7 day service in light of all the competition they have got these days.
I never use their service if other delivery options are available.

[barry1010]

The vaccination letter invites you to book an appointment so people won't miss appointments if the letter is delayed. Sooner the better, though.

[iluvmargie]

I have had two communications in the post lately, both envelopes marked 'NHS', so I feel that covid vaccination letters will have priority if marked in the same way.

[THECORBYLOON]

NJ, with all the scams in operation, are folk not more likely to trust a letter rather than an e-mail, text or 'phone call?

[jno]

same here, ilm, but there are postal delays in some parts of the country. I suppose if our postie came down with something (not necessarily Covid) we'd have delays too.

[gingejbee]

^well my "NHS"-marked letter sent from a hospital 30 miles away (1st class) was delivered 12 days after posting...some priority!

[iluvmargie]

Bad luck, mine were delivered right away!

[windywillow]

I posted an eBay item 2nd class last night at 4pm. Buyer emailed today at 1pm to say it had arrived in this morning's post.

Of course not everything gets to its destination as quickly as that...but when it's good, it's really good. :0)

[Baldric]

Deliver once a week if they like, no odds to us.