Royal Mail's battle to clear backlog of post
Royal Mail has said it is working as hard as possible to clear the backlog of mail still piled up at the beleaguered Dundee East delivery depot.
- By Andrew Argo
- Published in the Courier : 16.11.10
- Published online : 16.11.10 @ 12.15pm
The organisation did not deny that its predictions of clearing the mountain of letters and parcels by the middle and then the end of last week have not been met.
The swamped depot has resorted to emergency measures to tackle the problem, including drafting in managers from other depots to sort mail at the West Pitkerro base and sending unsorted mail out to other depots for sorting and return to Dundee East for delivery.
The mail mountain is still there — three weeks into the operation of a new delivery system called the Way Forward which postal workers say makes their job impossible.
They say they are unable to complete new and bigger deliveries of letters and parcels on time, and have been forced to return to the depot with undelivered mail, which mounts up day after day.
The Courier has been inundated with complaints from people throughout the DD4 and DD5 postcode areas angry and frustrated at letters and parcels not arriving on a regular basis and then suddenly appearing in bundles.
Royal Mail is not happy at its Dundee East depot being the focus of criticism and its operations director for Scotland has visited to investigate the problem and find out if enough is being done to solve it.
Apology
The organisation has again apologised, with a spokeswoman saying, "As part of Royal Mail's £2 billion investment in modernising its operations, changes are being made in delivery offices across the country to help it compete in a very competitive market place.
"The operational review at Dundee East is part of this.
"We are working as hard as we can to clear the backlog as quickly as possible and Royal Mail will use any contingencies necessary to deliver the mail to our customers.
"Royal Mail apologises for any inconvenience caused and any customer who is concerned about a particular item of mail should call customer services on 08457 740740."
She added that the modernisation programme has been undertaken on the basis of a national agreement reached earlier this year between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union, endorsed by postmen and women in a national ballot.
Customers are not impressed. Fintry man Jake Reid told of his experience.
"My wife is a social care worker and relies on a letter about her work that is normally delivered on Fridays," he said.
"It didn't come then, nor did it come on Saturday or on Monday.
"I was waiting on one letter posted to me first class in London on Wednesday of last week and another one posted in Barnsley on Monday.
"They haven't come. I waited at home until after 3pm today and when there was no sign of the postman I went down to the Dundee East depot to try to find out what was going on.
"The collection office was closed and I then looked around to see if there was anyone inside the depot who could help me.
"I was able to walk through the vans' entrance and go right inside the depot.
"It was packed with letters and parcels waiting to go out but not a soul was there."
"I must have been there for a good five minutes but no one came near me. I even heard a telephone ring but no one came to answer it.
Security risk
"It didn't create a good impression of the Royal Mail — they can't get letters delivered, leave mail to stack up and allow the public to wander round inside their premises which must be a security risk."
A Douglas woman complained about the irregular deliveries to her home in Balunie Avenue.
"I got a bundle of letters last Wednesday and one on Saturday," she explained, declining to be identified.
"Saturday was my husband's birthday and our daughter sent him a birthday card by recorded delivery from Wales nearly a fortnight ago, but it didn't turn up and still hasn't come."
She continued, "I'm also worried about bills. They're being held up with the delayed mail and what if they become overdue?
"Will I end up being penalised because it's thought that I'm refusing to pay when in fact I haven't had the bills?"
Tayside Fire and Rescue carried out a safety inspection of the West Pitkerro depot after concerns were raised that the mail mountain was posing a fire risk through access to fire exits and hoses being obstructed.
Watch manager Kenny Higgins said, "There were no major issues, only minor ones but we are happy the building is safe.
"Royal Mail will rectify these minor issues and they have a plan in place to do so."
08.08pm - 16.11.2010 Tok'ra - Broughty Ferry, Scotland Report This
No delivery again today (Tues) and still waiting for items sent a fortnight ago.
09.23am - 17.11.2010 Getting it Sorted - Dundee, UK Report This
I read that MP Stewart Hosie wrote to Dundee East Postal Depot with concerns about delayed post in the area however he was meet with silence. He should have emailed the new Canadian CEO of Royal Mail Moya Greene like I did. It was very easy to do. If you want something done go straight to the top
09.34am - 17.11.2010 Derek Arthur - dundee, Angus Report This
And still it continues... I fully appreciate the need to drive efficency but the whole point is still delivering the service using less resources. At this point only one of these objectives has been achieved. <br />How long before it is accepted the new system is not working?
11.11am - 20.11.2010 pazzaTgreat - Dundee, UK Report This
Still waiting for many items - several are known to be in the mail mountain but they don't answer the phone and the automated number given in the article is useless.
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