Last winter, the postal system ground to a halt following a bitter dispute between Royal Mail and the unions over jobs, pay and working conditions.
Earlier this year, the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) agreed to a three-year pay deal.
However, postal workers have told This is Money that conditions have not improved and it is having a knock-on effect on deliveries.
Posties say they cannot complete rounds because of staffing issues and are told to prioritise packages (Stock image)
Royal Mail is under fire for huge delays to letter deliveries amid claims that it is prioritising packages over letters – a claim that Royal Mail refutes and was backed up by a recent Ofcom probe.
But regardless, This is Money revealed that some households have waited weeks to receive their post, which often arrives in large bundles.
We’ve heard from posties across Britain who say that packages do take precedence – regardless of the official line – and customers buying first class stamps are paying a premium for a service that is far from premium…
‘We are woefully understaffed’
The rise of online shopping and decline in letter volumes has meant the nature of posties’ work has changed dramatically.
Royal Mail’s last annual report showed letter volumes remained 18 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, and 60 per cent since their peak in 2004/5.
At the same time, the number of postal workers has fallen dramatically, adding to their workload.
In 2010, 130,000 postmen and women worked for Royal Mail across 1,371 delivery offices.
Its most recent annual report shows this number fell to 90,000 workers across 1,200 offices.
One postman in the North West said: ‘Morale is at an all time low. I have two children and have to use a food bank to feed them.
‘There are many aspects of my work that I enjoy… [but] blaming the Covid or strikes is affecting our mental health.
‘We are woefully understaffed as new starters leave because of the workload.’
Last week, Royal Mail boss Martin Seidenberg said: ‘I know that quality is key for customer satisfaction and sustainable growth, so we are pulling out all the stops to deliver Christmas for our customers.
‘This includes recruiting 16,000 seasonal workers, opening five temporary sorting centres and launching an incentive scheme for operational employees worth up to £500 each for hitting local and national quality targets.’
A spokesman for Royal Mail added that it had hired 7,000 more permanent employees and recruitment is ‘ongoing’.
‘Loads of people leave without being replaced’
Under the agreement struck by the CWU, Royal Mail staff will receive a 10 per cent pay rise over the next three years and a one-off lump sum of £500.
However, it is well below an annual increase in line with inflation, which the union had initially demanded.
Workers will also see changes to sick pay, attendance standards and revised contracts for new starters.
One postie said: ‘We lost sick pay, new seasonalised start times, Sunday working and a raft of other things…
‘Most importantly the union was broken and with it, any voice to protect the USO and postal deprioritisation.’
Sickness goes hand in hand with 36 posties covering over 50 duties
A heavier workload and staffing issues are piling pressure on posties, and This os Money has heard that many are leaving the company altogether.
A postman in the South West said their office had ‘unbelievable staff turnover… sickness goes hand in hand with 36 posties covering over 50 duties.’
They added that another nine duties were added to existing duties with no additional time allocated, ‘just the demand that we start earlier’.
One postie in the South said: ‘The reason the letters pile up is usually down to a postie being on leave or off ill, and there not being enough staff to cover all the duties.
‘For the past 18 months we’ve had loads of people leave without being replaced. This, coupled with rounds being increased in size makes the job impossible to do in the time, even if a postie is available.’
The USO requires Royal Mail to deliver letters to every address in the UK, six days a week, at a uniform price, and parcels five days a week.
Last week, Ofcom handed Royal Mail a £5.6million fine for missing these delivery targets.
Under its rules, Royal Mail is required to deliver 93 per cent of first class mail within a working day and 98.5 per cent of second class mail within three working days.
In 2022/23, Royal Mail delivered just 73.7 per cent of first-class mail on time, and 90.7 per cent of second class mail on time.
There are no signs that the service is improving either. Figures show that in the second quarter of 2023/24, it delivered 74.1 per cent of first-class and 91.3 per cent of second class post.
Another postman said: ‘Don’t buy first class stamps. You are paying for a premium service you are unlikely to receive. Buy second class stamps and send early.’
Letters are being overlooked in favour of packages at local delivery offices, say posties
‘We ARE being told to prioritise packages’
Royal Mail has come under fire for prioritising packages over letters, something it has continually denied.
Ofcom said it too had found no evidence of this happening, but posties up and down the country have told This is Money they are told to focus on parcels every day.
I was asked to do the parcels and not worry about letters, [even] after we’d been fined by Ofcom
A postie in the South said: ‘Just this week, I was asked one day to do the parcels for two rounds and not worry about letters.
‘This is after we’d been fined by Ofcom.
‘The managers still don’t care about letters.’
A postman in the North West told This is Money he and his colleagues are ‘told 100 per cent to prioritise tracked parcels over mail.
‘I have been ordered on many occasions to take the mail from my frame, so it looks like it has been delivered and numbers look good for management.
‘But if it gets in the way of completing tracked parcels, then bring the mail back.’
He said it has had a knock-on effect on the rest of his rounds, as he has to untie and put back the undelivered mail, meaning he has less time for the next day’s delivery.
‘It means it will take me longer to complete my walk, so I won’t be able to complete [it] and have to bring even more and more mail back every day.
‘Thus, the build-up increases day after day.’
The same postman said he was ordered to leave all mail but tracked items.
A postie in the South West said managers ‘can only be targeted and bonus paid on tracked parcels… it’s all they care about’
‘We take the post out of the frame for where we are delivering parcels.
‘It can be days and days before the public receive any post.
‘When I arrived at work, we are told to leave the mail, strip out all the tracked and large parcels, and take whatever mail time is left.’
Commenters on a Royal Mail online forum, who claim to work for the company, have slammed Ofcom’s investigation into Royal Mail and say posties across the country are directed to prioritise packages.
Ofcom said Royal Mail had ‘insufficient’ control and oversight over decision-making at some delivery offices where high absence and vacancies may have led to managers ‘making on the day decisions about what to deliver.’
One postman said management puts pressure on posties who bring tracked items back without attempting delivery.
‘One of my female colleagues was reduced to tears by management pressure just this week.
‘They tried it on me once a few weeks ago saying tracked take priority. I asked the manager to put it in writing, of course they wouldn’t do that.’
And the issues don’t stop there.
One postie said: ‘When we eventually do take the mail, we are carrying such heavy loads over long distances and under immense pressure to finish the round, no matter what time we finish.’
A spokesman for Royal Mail said: ‘We do not operate a policy of prioritising parcels and we treat every item of mail with equal importance.
‘We regularly remind colleagues that the delivery, collection and processing of letters and parcels should be treated in this way.’
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