Following on from a number of enquiries from residents and via the eForum, I have received the following comments from the regional External Relations Executive that I though I would share with you. Please hit the comments button to register your views.
1. Inaccessibility to Ledgers’ Lane by public transport from Headington to
collect undelivered parcels.
I fully understand that for customers who do not have access to a car they
may find it difficult to travel to the new location. However, our
understanding is that there are bus stops (for the number 1, 5 & 5a bus
services) in the locale of Ledgers Close.
Perhaps it would help if I explained that there are various options
available to customers to avoid the need to travel to our East Oxford
Delivery Office to collect their undeliverable mail.
The options that are then available to the customer are:
Have the item re-delivered to their address or any other local address
free of charge at a mutually convenient date & time.
Local Collect Service – for 50p the item can be taken to their local
Post Office branch for collection.
Another person can collect the item on their behalf from the delivery
office upon producing the card and suitable ID for the named addressee.
The first two options can be arranged by telephone or via the Royal Mail
website.
Also some mail order companies will allow customers, at the point of
purchase, to nominate an alternative delivery address.
2. Concerns over the resourcing and management of the Delivery Office at
Ledgers’ Lane as there are often queues. Someone has been informed that
there is a shortfall of 17 staff there.
Following the move of Headington to East Oxford the weekday opening hours
of the Callers Office were extended to cope with the increase in customer
numbers, the opening hours are now: 07:00 – 17:00 Monday – Friday and 07:00
– 12:30 Saturdays. These extended hours have helped to spread the workload
on the staff working in the office and enabled them to offer a far improved
service to customers who have a need to visit or make contact with them.
We would like to apologise to our customers for the length of the queues on
occasions that is due to the extremely high number of packages at certain
times of the year e.g. Easter, Valentines day, Christmas etc. Our staff
always working very hard to serve people as quickly as possible. Again it
is worth referring to the other options available to customers that I
detailed in my response to point 1.
There are a number of vacancies in the office, however, the callers office
is always fully manned.
3. The popular suggestion that undelivered parcels could be collected from
Headington Post Office (I believe that this service used to be available in
Headington before a building was disposed of, so expectations are still
high that this service can be replaced).
There are several Post Office branches in the area, which we believe
includes the Headington branch, where customers can request for their item
to be taken to their local Post Office branch for collection for a nominal
charge of for 50p (Local Collect Service).
4. There are also concerns that there isn’t always a daily postal delivery
service to homes in the area – it would be useful if you could provide some
statistics on this!
As part of The Licence issued by the Postal Services Commission (Postcomm)
Royal Mail is obliged to provide a delivery service to all addresses within
the UK Monday to Saturdays, unless the receiving address has been
classified as a Universal Service Obligation (USO) exception. Any failures
have to be reported to Postcomm on a monthly basis.
The Delivery sector Manager has confirmed that deliveries are being made
daily to every house in Headington that receives mail that day.
I trust I have allayed your concerns regarding the issues above and we are
confident that East Oxford Delivery Office will continue to strive to
provide an exceptional service to all their customers.
However, if you feel it would still be beneficial for you to meet with both
the Delivery Sector Manager and local Delivery Manager please let me know.
1. Applying on-line for re-delivery of a non-barcoded item apparently does not get through to
the office.
2. If you phone the number on the card it often rings out before being answered.
3. The option on the card for a convenient re-delivery day/time has been removed.
4. How are you meant to be able to contact the office to arrange re-delivery if you cannot
apply on-line, get through by phone, and do not have the option to return the card?
It is almost impossible to get through by telephone to Ledger’s Close, and therefore it is almost impossible to arrange redelivery.
And many people who work cannot manage to collect between 9am and 5.30pm, the hours that Headington Post Office is open. The fact that Ledger’s Close opens at 7am shows that the Royal Mail recognize this.
We don’t get our “early morning delivery” until well into the afternoon, and just very occasionally it is obvious we don’t get it at all. I imagine the afternoon deliveries are the ones most likely to get missed when people are on holiday.