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Royal Mail workers are being told to hide or move mail if they cannot deliver it in time, as the public deems it “not fit for purpose”. Sources claimed that managers would hide surplus letters when a senior boss was coming to visit, so it appeared they had met their targets of delivering 93% of first-class mail and 98.5% of second-class mail on time.
However, the organisation fell short of this by a huge margin in the 2024-25 financial year, reaching 77% for first class and 92.5% for second class. 10 workers from different delivery offices corroborated the latest claims to the BBC, with one stating: “Say we have a senior manager coming in from outside the delivery office, any mail that has been left would get hidden by the line managers.”
“It gets put into a york (a trolley) and taken somewhere, and brought back to you the next day,” they said. “It’s embarrassing and deceitful.”
A postal worker in Wales said: “It just means that our boss can say that all rounds went out the door, knowing full well they are not going to be delivered.”
Another worker claimed they took the first class mail out daily, knowing they were “just going to bring it back”.
Royal Mail said it was taking the claims “very seriously” and stated that 92% of letters were delivered on time. It said these claims “do not reflect how our delivery operations work” and that it would investigate the specific cases raised.
Slow mail has caused outrage among the UK public, with one claiming on X last week: “It’s horrendous. I’ve had a parcel sat in Chelmsford mail centre since January. Royal Mail are not fit for purpose.”
A second said: “The Royal Mail service is poor – an item that I bought over a week ago – same day dispatch – has been sent to me, but it hasn’t arrived, although the tracking app says it has been delivered. So, it’s a week late and missing.”
One pensioner in Kent stated that 20 NHS letters were waiting for him at the delivery office, where he now frequents every Saturday to get his mail himself because he grew tired of the delays.
The latest claims come after around a dozen Royal Mail workers said parcels were being prioritised over letters, leaving some undelivered in depots for weeks.
Workers say the organisation is under huge strain at present, with a lack of staff, less overtime and continued pressure to deliver parcels on time, meaning they sometimes cannot take letters too.
A Royal Mail spokesperson added: “We will investigate the specific cases raised… where there are local issues, we focus on restoring normal service as quickly as possible and supporting customers.”
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