What does it say on public support for strike action in those areas affected? I’m sympathetic to them but them but that doesn’t mean I think striking’s a good idea (although seeing as my mail is still being delivered I have the luxury of not being inconvenienced).

I ordered some textbooks from Amazon during the weekend and received email responses yesterday informing of dispatches via Royal Mail and another courier, the mailing decisions made at the discretion of Amazon.

The parcel sent via another courier arrived at just after 8 o’clock this Monday morning and I’m waiting patiently for the parcel sent by Royal Mail to be delivered.

Bob B: conversely, the package that was sent to us from Amazon via another courier was left outside our back door under the recycling box, with a delivery note left on the back doorstep saying where it had been hidden, in the rain. The Royal Mail in similar situations in the past have done such amazing/obvious things as:
– putting the delivery note through the letter box on the front door.
– taking the package back to the depot when they couldn’t deliver it.
Fortunately, Amazon packages are relatively sturdy, and we got to it before too much water damage had been done to the contents, but we’d far rather have had it late than damaged (or stolen, which could have happened, and then of course the couriers would have claimed to have delivered it, and we’d have claimed to never have seen any sign of it).

I’ve had similar experiences in the past, which led me to complain to Amazon, in consequence of which one particular courier company no longer delivers to my address any more. Frankly, the problem in that case developed as the result of a particular driver who was simply a slob.

However, I’ve also had several experiences of packages disappearing in the Royal Mail completely as well as of Royal Mail parcels being left out in the rain.

the offending company wasn’t Home Delivery Network, was it?

I have serious concerns about continuing to use Amazon if they send everything via HDN. I’ve had things not turn up, they have dreadful customer service, and I have no faith at all in the company.

if it’s the model for the ‘modernised, privatised post office’ then god help us all.

organic cheeseboard: Yes, it was HDN. I wasn’t going to name them, but if it’s guessable that easily from the description it clearly isn’t just one bad employee.

well i’ve never had any experiences quite as bad as that one, but my experiences with the customer services have been so utterly awful that the initials immediately sprang to mind. I do think this is the aspect of the dispute that is, to an extent, overlooked.the management model for all-new profit making royal mail is hdn, not dhl. You don’t know what you got til it’s gone.

@5: “the offending company wasn’t Home Delivery Network, was it?”

You’ve got it – but until the management changed the regular drivers in my locality, it was a reasonably good service. For various (unwelcome) personal healthcare factors, I’m often up and about very early. What finally tipped me into calling Amazon to say I really don’t want this courier any more was the experience of a light tap on my front door at 7am one morning. As I reached the door to open it, a card was being pushed through the letter box to say it wasn’t possible to deliver the parcel because no one was at home.

Recently, Amazon have been using another courier, as an alternative to Royal Mail on occasions at their choice – City Link – and I’ve absolutely no complaints. On a few occasions when I’ve been out, the driver has left a card and returned the following day to make the delivery at about the same time.

Royal Mail has a real competitor with this company but the name suggests that its service is probably limited to urban areas. And that is the fundamental problem. Royal Mail has a statutory obligation to provide a universal service but provincial deliveries are costly and often unprofitable – as they would tend to be for any operator in a competitive market place charging the same price for both big city and provincial deliveries. This is not a uniquely British problem and explains why postal services have historically usually been state monopolies.

News update:

My Amazon parcel sent by Royal Mail, arrived almost exactly 24 hours after the one sent via another courier, which isn’t too bad considering the strike an’ all.