Post Code Lottery on Deliveries:

[Tdm]

The vast majority of my model rail purchases are made on-line and sent to me here in Tenerife via Royal Mail AirMail.

It does seem however that the area that the Postal Area that the Supplier is part of affects how soon the item will take to get to me, if at all (efficiency of their Area Sorting Office?).

For example (in alphabetical order)  :-

BR Lines (Cleveland)              -  1 order made 9/6/14 – yet to arrive.
CR Signals (Rotherham)         - 1 order made 12/2/14 – delivered 7 days later.
Gaugemaster (West Sussex)  - 1 order made 24/2/14 – delivered just over a week later.
Hattons (Liverpool)                - 16 orders - all received, average of 7 to 12 days.
Osborns (Bideford)                 - 1 order made 18/2/14 – delivered 7 days later. 
                                             - 1 order made 15/5/14 – not arrived to-date,
                                                "duplicate" order made 9/6/14 – yet to arrive.

My last order from Hattons was made on the 9th of June, the same day as I ordered some replacement bogies from BR Lines, and Osborns despatched the replacement order for the one that never arrived. The Hattons order arrived on the 18th (last Wednesday) but still no sign of the replacement Osborns order or the BR Lines order.

You would think items despatched the same day would arrive more or less together - I can only think it is down to the Sorting Office area where the were sent from, or the the Spanish "Correos" postal system – but how come never (to-date) had any problems with Hattons.
I give the same delivery address to each Supplier?   

I am still awaiting a Fathers Day card & present from my Daughter in Chelmsford, Essex, whereas anything my Son sends from Chester usually arrives pretty quickly.

If the BR Lines & Osborns orders don't arrive by Friday, looks like I will have to call in at Dutfields model railway shop in Chelmsford to get some track and other things I have been waiting for, as flying over this Saturday for 5 days with my Daughter and her family and staying at their house in Chelmsford.

[scotsoft]

I posted, on the same day and in the same postbox, two identical envelopes which had printed addresses complete with postcode and first class stamps to my mate in Dorset.

One arrived the next day, the other took a day longer 

cheers John.

[PLD]

I understand your frustration, but there are so many factors involved it is near impossible to tie difficulties down to one single root cause. From your quoted times even Hattons vary by over 50% so that shows it probably isn't a single cause but the cumulative effect of multiple factors...

Some are Royal mail related e.g. it can make a day's difference if the local collection office for the sender is one of the major distribution hubs (Liverpool is, items from Bideford, I'm not sure where the local centre is but it will most likely forward all non local items to Bristol where they'll be resorted for distribution).

Also the scale of the supplier will make a massive difference. Hattons are a big supplier and will have dedicated collections from their warehouse 2 or 3 times a day. BR lines by contrast is a one man band with a day job, so may only be able to get to his local Post Office (in person) 2 or 3 times a week...

Being overseas of course doesn't help you because it introduces at least two more links the chain which is two more places for things to be delayed or go missing, and it is very hard to pin down exactly where the issue has occurred because it may not be the same one each time.

[Tdm]

When I got in at lunchtime today there was a package waiting for me in Reception and I thought "hooray" it is either the BR Lines order or the Osborns one, but no it was the delayed Fathers day card & presents from my Daughter - so just sent her an email thanking her for them.
One down - two to go.

[DesertHound]

Have to agree 100% with PLD. My dad lives in Spain - I wouldn't trust the postal service out there. Indeed they don't even have a door to door service where he lives - says it all really.

There are also many variable in the Royal Mail service. I've had a number of items not turn up to a UK address.

Living in the Middle East I wouldn't even contemplate normal mail services - they barely exist here! You might get your item in 3 months, if at all. And again, there isn't a door to door service.

I suggest using a courier. Save up all the items you want to buy and make one big order, or get them sent to a family member in the UK and then get them to send one bigger package by courier. I'm not sure of the cost to be honest though so you would have to weigh that one up.

I asked Hattons if I could use my chosen courier (FedEx) to come and collect my item from them. They said no so I just didn't bother buying anything from them.

Dan

[Michael Hendle]

Hi
Having worked in Air Cargo,some of the Items would probably have to go to Heathrow,so say it was from Osbournes it would go from their local post office to the main sorting centre,from there to the mail sorting centre at Heathrow,from there to the Airline Cargo warehouse,then on the next available flight.

Hattons stuff would probably go to Liverpool sorting office from there to the Cargo Centre Livepool Airport or Manchester onto the next available flight.

Royal Mail takes priority over freight and in some cases even passengers,BA is the major UK mail carrier or was when I worked in Air Cargo,and surprisingly a lot of stuff doesn't actually go by air but by road,especially to   Germany, France and the Low Countries.
Mike

[DesertHound]

Tdm

There's a flaw in my reasoning of having everything sent to a UK family member. You would have to pay VAT! 

Dan

[silly moo]

Our bunch are even worse, the only things that seem to get through are bills. If there are any holidays the delays are even worse and they get completely taken by surprise by Christmas every year!

They can also make parcels disappear.

I don't get anything railway related sent here so everything goes to a friend in Luton and I fetch it once a year.

We don't get letters pushed through a letterbox in our area, everything goes to a P O Box at the local shopping centre. This cased quite a problem when renewing my passport as I don't have a piece of paper that has both my residential address and name on to prove residence.

Most correspondence from banks and companies is sent by email. They've given up as well.

When I'm in England I'm always flabbergasted by how quick Royal Mail is compared to our shower.

[DesertHound]

Yup, for all its faults, Royal Mail is still one of the most comprehensive, and IMHO, one of the best postal services in the world. For those less travelled, you'd be amazed at how many countries don't have a postal system as we know it.

My brother's partner is originally from SA, she's given up sending things home to her parents.

I know we knock Royal Mail, but they ain't that bad.

Dan

[silly moo]

I have got a funny story about our lot, a friend who models in 00 took a chance and bought a Merchant Navy loco off eBay in America. The parcel didn't arrive but he did get a letter asking him to visit the local customs department who wanted to question him about the importation of military equipment!

The parcel containing the loco was marked "Merchant Navy Locomotive", there was a lot of confusion when it was found to contain a Hornby loco. I'm not sure what the customs officers were expecting.   

[Wingman mothergoose]

After a break in 2 years ago, and the insurance paying a cash settlement, I bought a brand new Playstation 3 on eBay to replace the one that was stolen. The seller lived not 4 miles from me, but apparently because I had used PayPal to pay for it he had to post it instead of me collecting it in person.
Anyway, he posted the PS3 at his local post office in Arnold in Nottingham, and I used Royal Mail's track and trace system to keep an eye on its progress. It went to the regional hub in Mansfield, then the the uber hub in Birmingham, then to the main sorting office in Nottingham before being loaded onto a van for delivery to my house.
And they wonder why Royal Mail are losing money and customers???

Chris

[woodbury22uk]

Mail services can be a mystery. For years we have subscribed to a DVD rental my mail service based in Peterborough. Day 1 they email me to tell me a DVD  has been despatched. Day 2 it arrives about 2pm with our regular post. In reverse I drop the DVD envelope into our village post box in Suburban Worcestershire and Royal Mail collect at 17.45 h. At about 8am it shows online as being received at destination and logged back into the videos for rent system. Been going on for years with 2 or 3 round trips per week, and only one DVD has gone missing.  Ultrareliable Royal Mail service.

Usually I am one of the first members to receive the AFAN magazine from France, a couple of days after despatch and usually 2 or 3 days before French members receive theirs. The most recent edition has broken the pattern, and nearly 3 weeks after posting mine has not arrived. I have to beleive it has lost its way. Hopefully whoever has it will become another N convert.

I am getting out my prayer mat for a very small packet of very small value sent to,Serbia today, where I understand the service is likely to be

[woodbury22uk]

Mail services can be a mystery. For years we have subscribed to a DVD rental by mail service based in Peterborough. Day 1 they email me to tell me a DVD  has been despatched. Day 2 it arrives about 2pm with our regular post. In reverse I drop the DVD envelope into our village post box in Suburban Worcestershire and Royal Mail collect at 17.45 h. At about 8am the next morning it shows online as being received at destination and logged back into the videos for rent system. Been going on for years with 2 or 3 round trips per week, and only one DVD has gone missing.  Ultrareliable Royal Mail service.

Usually I am one of the first members to receive the AFAN magazine from France, a couple of days after despatch and usually 2 or 3 days before French members receive theirs. The most recent edition has broken the pattern, and nearly 3 weeks after posting mine has not arrived. I have to believe it has lost its way. Hopefully whoever has it will become another N convert.

I am getting out my prayer mat for a very small packet of very small value sent to Serbia today, where I understand the service is likely to be of the "miss and miss" variety!

[Tdm]

Actually when I retired as an I.T. Manager in 1994 I did nothing for a while except finish off all the outstanding jobs that needed doing around the house & garden until I got bored.

So in 1999 I applied for an advertised "Summer only" job as a North Wales Rural Postman, based at the Sorting Office in Colwyn Bay - a job that actually lasted me 5 whole years working throughout the year (not just Summer) right up until I emigrated, and I really enjoyed it, but during those 5 years things changed quite a bit in the Sorting Office.

Second delivery mail was stopped completely, and mail for surrounding Districts instead of being taken to their local Sorting Office had then all to be sent each night to the main Area Sorting Office in Chester, a job I sometimes did driving one of the larger Mail Vans equipped with a "tacho" recorder and an electric tailgate.

The only mail that was treated differently was "Special Delivery" signed for mail (not the cheaper Recorded Mail) which had a guaranteed next morning delivery time.

Parcels (not packets) though were given a lesser priority than letters & packets, and they could sit in a large articulated parcels van trailer for days until it was full enough to be hitched up and moved.

With Hattons they probably have an arrangement with the Post Office to have their packets & parcels picked up each day, and overseas ones driven straight to John Lennon Airport which is only just down the road. That is probably why I get Hattons stuff normally quicker than anyone else's, and have had no trouble with them, and there is a daily Air Mail & Passenger service from Liverpool to Tenerife 365 days a year.   

[DesertHound]

Re Hattons: still miffed at why they won't allow me to have FedEx collect the item. It's not like they even have to deal with FedEx, since all the billing is done my end. All they have to do is fill out a customs form and hand the said goods over.

If I phoned Hattons and asked them to put some bits and bobs aside and my brother would come in and collect them, I'm sure they'd be more than happy. So what's wrong with FedEx then? Apparently they source things from both their warehouse and their shop, so it's not possible to send them all from one location.  Poor excuse in my book.

Ah well, like I said, lost business on their part. I don't seem to have this problem with others.

Dan