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Prog drought!

Started by Leigh S, 11 October, 2020, 03:59:53 PM

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Colin YNWA

Yeah the randomness makes this a little harder to deal with. Somethings seem fine (ish) others seem regularly delayed. Not knowing the inner workings of Royal Mail I don't know if so massive mail outs (so sub copies from printers) go via a different process to mailout of a smaller scale?

I had a nosey at Royal Mails website and they give vague updates, but little specific info. So clearly their service will be impacted by safe working practices and reduced staffing due to isolation and illness. There is however nothing to suggest the more systemic problems we seem to be seeing with subs services. I wonder how wide spread it is?


ChickenStu

2209 and 2210 dropped through the door today. Wasn't expecting that!
Ma Ma's not the law... (you know the rest)

IndigoPrime

2209 and Misty just landed. No Phoenix yet.

chuffsteruk

No mail in 3 weeks, bar parcels, here in Colchester!Meg and Progs missing, plus various other mags, a cheque posted on the 7th and some hospital appts.People have received Christmas cards posted out by me the next day though.Very strange!

Tjm86

Well now 3 weeks without any sign of either prog or meg.  Other mail is getting through but it feels a little like parcel mail is more reliable.  I do wonder if this is the shape of things to come as RM is trying to kill off letter post in favour of parcel post.

On the positive side, having been asked by subs to hang on and give it 3 weeks to see if owt turns up, I find an email from the aforementioned subs department asking if anything had arrived or if they needed to sort a replacement.  In this day and age it is more than a little unusual to find the company chasing the customer rather than the other way round.

Fair dues.

jrdd

Just to chip in from the shire of Cambridge, my 2209 and 2210 both arrived Saturday, but 2205 was seemingly intercepted by thrill-suckers and never showed.  The subs people were very helpful in organising a replacement which arrived about a week later.

Just to put people's minds (slightly) at ease, it's not just the prog.  I started a New Scientist sub back in January, which usually arrived on a Friday (a day after on-sale).  Gradually this has slipped to Saturdays, almost perfectly in sync with the prog shifting to Mondays.  However I'm still waiting for this week's to arrive, and one or two previous issues have been delayed by a week or so.

When I've managed to chat with the postman he's indicated they've had xmas-levels of post for some time now, but not the usual extra staff to handle it.  I guess they have to prioritise and perhaps standard regular bulk mail-outs drop down the queue a bit - might explain why replacements and specials seem to get through.

Leigh S

It's a Misty Special but no 2210 in these here parts!  If it doesnt turn up tomorrow, it's a quick run over the road from work to get it before it goes off sale.....

chuffsteruk

Just had a lady from RM phone regarding no mail for 4 weeks here in Colchester.She said she'd spoken to the manager at the sorting office, who admitted they'd not bothered sorting non-trackable mail and couldn't say when i'd get any deliveries....

Barrington Boots

Good to know it's not just the Prog impacted (well, sort of good - commiserations to those still awaiting other missives).
My copy of 2210 has now arrived but no 2209. Raised with the subs team, had no answer but I suspect they're snowed under somewhat...
You're a dark horse, Boots.

Tjm86

Why is the prog like a London bus?

Because you wait ages for one and then three turn up at once!  (plus the meg).

Interesting to see what happens with the end of year prog now then.

Leigh S

or indeed 2209, as confused Leigh discovered when he went to get 2210 and saw 2209 - did i have it?  Cover looks familiar... took a punt and it is indeed a missing prog!  Hopefully 2210 (and 2209!) will turn up tomorrow

Quote from: Leigh S on 30 November, 2020, 05:55:40 PM
It's a Misty Special but no 2210 in these here parts!  If it doesnt turn up tomorrow, it's a quick run over the road from work to get it before it goes off sale.....

Colin Zeal

As a postie, I've read this topic with great interest. I can only talk about the office I work in with any authority. However if that is anything like other offices around the country any delays in the prog are the fault of Royal Mail and not Rebellion. We have been struggling for months to deal with the extra volume of parcels since covid happened. Management want us to prioritise parcels over mail. Saturday is also seen as a light day for mail and so it can be rolled over until Monday to allow for more parcels to be delivered. It's an unfortunate set of circumstances that all go against the prog.

Dandontdare

I only got 2209 yesterday - but Colin's right. My prog delivery went noticeably worse a few years ago along with our postal deliveries in general. Monday became the norm, maybe later. Many times I called Denise who'd dispatch a replacement, only for the original to show up a few days later (the record was a 3 month old prog delivered).

My mate's been a postie for about a year now and he's encountered so much shit from just trying to do a good job. And his stories don't inspire confidence in the organisational skills of the Royal Mail.

Calling Denise was always an easy fix, but they're still pretty good - Simon was very helpful when my sub lapsed accidentally (he sent me a bundle of missed progs and followed up with an email checking if I was missing any Megs - I know I'd received and read the anniversary special, but I think I may have recycled it by accident. I jokingly mentioned this and he sent me a free digital copy - which was nice)

Colin Zeal

If the change from Royal mail having to deliver letters on a Saturday does happen it will be even worse for subscribers. It would be the end of Saturday delivery.


Colin Zeal