Where's my printer ?

[VCDHunter]

I ordered the thing on Friday and it was despatched that day. Its now Tuesday and the ******* thing still hasn't arrived. If some underpaid postie has nicked it I'm gonna go postal

[Capmaster]

I'm comforted to see that we're not the only country with a hopelessly bloated and incompetent postal system :P

[VCDHunter]

I'm comforted to see that we're not the only country with a hopelessly bloated and incompetent postal system :P

I woudn't get too mad at your service mate - its still one of the best, if not the best, in the world. I've had stuff delivered from Texas in 4 days ! Ours ain't too bad for the price.

Lets have a comparison then folks, post up your price of next day delivery of a letter where you are . . . .

[Capmaster]

1 ounce letter, express priority overnight, from Albuquerque, New Mexico to New York City, NY - $13.65 USD.

[curryman]

If some underpaid postie has nicked it I'm gonna go postal

Wouldn't put it past them, bloody work colleagues

[VCDHunter]

1 ounce letter, express priority overnight, from Albuquerque, New Mexico to New York City, NY - $13.65 USD.

Hmmmm - this is probably an unfair comparison but 1st class (next day delivery) is 28p

Wouldn't put it past them, bloody work colleagues

you refering to me ?

[flaninacupboard]

no, 1st class is no longer next day. i think special is next day, at about a quid.
I live in northamptonshire, and officially have the worst postal service in the country, aren't i lucky. it's mainly because the sorting office in northampton got cooked real good last year and hasn't been rebuilt yet

[Capmaster]

no, 1st class is no longer next day. i think special is next day, at about a quid.
I live in northamptonshire, and officially have the worst postal service in the country, aren't i lucky. it's mainly because the sorting office in northampton got cooked real good last year and hasn't been rebuilt yet

So a quid is about $1.83, and that's also overnight, so we pay almost 7-1/2 times as much

Our first-class postage is 37 cents (20p?) and it takes anywhere from 2 to 5 days to be delivered, depending on where it's going. That's good for up to an ounce in weight.

[flaninacupboard]

what's an ounce in grams?
don't forget, our postal service only has to go a few hundred miles at most, not thousands across america :P

[Capmaster]

1 ounce = 28 grams

True. The distances are farther, and we have some pretty wild rural areas still.

[flaninacupboard]

i would think if you stuff goes interstate it goes on a plane, right? we use trains

[Capmaster]

i would think if you stuff goes interstate it goes on a plane, right? we use trains

Yeah it all goes on planes. In the old days we had special "air mail" envelopes and paper that were especially thin and light. That was because jet air travel was still rather rare, and air mail was only for international mail. All domestic mail went by train or truck.

Now all the mail goes by air except for the local legs that are close or not served by an airport.

It's pretty amazing to think that for the same 37 cents, someone in downtown Miami, Florida can send a letter to Elk Testicles, Alaska, that's buried in the back woods somewhere and 500 miles away from the nearest town On the other hand, it'll cost the same to send a letter to my neighbor across the street :P

[flaninacupboard]

strange system isn't it

[Doramius]

For USPS there is a master sorting Facility in each major city that branch post offices send all received mail to after a rough sort, except for local mail. If the letter is going to the same state then it gets routed back to the proper branch. Going to a different state would depend on the distance and if either post office is near a major airport.

I've locally mailed regular first class early in the morning and had it make it to it's destination either the same day or the next day. Accross country usually takes about 3-4 days depending wether I put it in the mail early in the day or later in the day. The longest was 6 days for a standard first class during the Holidays. You can expect a slow go around then.

FedEx overnight costs a bit more depending on how you send it. I could get something to Europe overnight, but at a cost of like $60-90 USD for just 1 once. And it's already insured and guaranteed with a tracking number and everything. It all depends on what your urgency is and how heavy it is.

now for comparisson, Lets say something is going from NY to ME (hoping that is a good distance to compare for UK) 1oz.> First Class is $0.39 USD, and saying we drop it off early in the morning it arrives at the destination late afternoon the day after the next. Is that a fair comparisson or do you have a different wieght class and shipping method.

[VCDHunter]

no, 1st class is no longer next day. i think special is next day, at about a quid.

1st class is next day. Special delivery is guaranteed next day delivery. The difference being its tough shit if your 1st class goes missing or turns up late.

[Doramius]

Same here. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. The biggest problem is if the letter gets 'Piggy Backed'. Some letters aren't sealed properly and have glue residue that might cause lighter letters to stck to it in hot, humid weather. Then the letter ends up going to the wrong address or falls off in a post office somewhere completely different. This also gets reviewed by some post office audit once the letter is cancelled which may take another day or so. Basically it's because the post office wants to know why and how a cancelled letter ended up in a California sorting facility when it was going from NY to FL. Again, stuff like that is a rarity, but it happens. It's a Federal offense to tamper with mail so any kind of problem in any letter's transit needs to be investigated fully. kind of overkill, but that's what you get when people want government to control everything because the people don't use common sense or are too lazy to do things themselves. And also because people want to send things through the mail system that shouldn't be sent.

[flaninacupboard]

now for comparisson, Lets say something is going from NY to ME (hoping that is a good distance to compare for UK) 1oz.> First Class is $0.39 USD, and saying we drop it off early in the morning it arrives at the destination late afternoon the day after the next. Is that a fair comparisson or do you have a different wieght class and shipping method.

well how far is that? the post box on my street gets picked up from at 5pm, and we get post at 9am. so if i post on monday generally it arrives on wednesday morning. that costs 28p for up to (i believe) 50grams.

1st class is next day. Special delivery is guaranteed next day delivery. The difference being its tough shit if your 1st class goes missing or turns up late.

Fair enough, i just remember a hulabaloo last year when they said 1st is no longer garunteed next day.

[VCDHunter]

now for comparisson, Lets say something is going from NY to ME (hoping that is a good distance to compare for UK) 1oz.> First Class is $0.39 USD, and saying we drop it off early in the morning it arrives at the destination late afternoon the day after the next. Is that a fair comparisson or do you have a different wieght class and shipping method.

well how far is that? the post box on my street gets picked up from at 5pm, and we get post at 9am. so if i post on monday generally it arrives on wednesday morning. that costs 28p for up to (i believe) 50grams.

1st class is next day. Special delivery is guaranteed next day delivery. The difference being its tough shit if your 1st class goes missing or turns up late.

Fair enough, i just remember a hulabaloo last year when they said 1st is no longer garunteed next day.

1st class is upto 60g and most of it will get there the next day. The services is and will continue to get worse for one very simple reason - they are no longer in the business of delivering mail, there now in the business of making money. Trust me we will begin to see price rises every year on first class postage - I would imagine the next day delivery of 1st class will eventually stop and become within 2 days or something.

[flaninacupboard]

if they're going for a new business approach, maybe they should change the name back to consignia....?

[VCDHunter]

if they're going for a new business approach, maybe they should change the name back to consignia....?

I think pretty much the whole country said "Eh ?" when they announced that name

[curryman]

curryman wrote:
Wouldn't put it past them, bloody work colleagues


you refering to me ?

No, me, - I'm a postman.

[VCDHunter]

curryman wrote:
Wouldn't put it past them, bloody work colleagues


you refering to me ?

No, me, - I'm a postman.

heheheheh - I'm in an APC/MLO near you

[curryman]

Which Office?

[VCDHunter]

Which Office?

CF11 8TA !! 3rd Floor

[curryman]

oh! 220 - 228.nice burger king there, i believe.

[VCDHunter]

oh! 220 - 228.nice burger king there, i believe.

I've never been that hungry there's a MacD across the road too

No curryhouses around here though

[Doramius]

When you get your mail here depends which route you're on and where. If you're at the end of the route you probably won't get mail until 5-6PM. The odd thing is they set the routes up so the houses that are the farthest away from the post office are the first one's on the route. So the post will arrive at the office at the end of their route. It sucks because I live near the post office and we don't get our mail until about 6PM. I drop all my post off early in the morning, regardless.

[curryman]

The odd thing is they set the routes up so the houses that are the farthest away from the post office are the first one's on the route

That is a standard way of planning walks/duties/drives so the postman is finishing near the depot.
it would be a waste of time for a postman to start near the office and work his way out only to pass all the houses he delivered to on his way walking back to the office at the end of the duty.

[VCDHunter]

The odd thing is they set the routes up so the houses that are the farthest away from the post office are the first one's on the route

That is a standard way of planning walks/duties/drives so the postman is finishing near the depot.
it would be a waste of time for a postman to start near the office and work his way out only to pass all the houses he delivered to on his way walking back to the office at the end of the duty.

True.

Just emailed the firm about the printer - aparently the courier service (not RM) had attempted to deliver it Monday but got no answer so they left a card. Well I don't know where they left this card but it wasn't at my house. I have now thrown a massive spanner into the works by asking them to redirect it to my workplace, watch this space for details of how the receptionist now manages to screw this up

[curryman]

oooh!!,
this episode is just crying out to be in the paper.

headlines:
Courier firm and Royal Mail in Printer stand off - Nobody takes the blame!