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A regular Royal Mail customer has compared the postal service to that of a ‘third world country’ following delays in getting deliveries.
Mike McCusker claims the service has been declining since before Christmas.
After being struck down with Covid-19 on January 8, he was confined to his home as he had to complete his self-isolation period.
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With his wife’s birthday being the following weekend (January 15), he had ordered a special card for her off Moonpig with a first-class delivery stamp. The card arrived three days after her birthday, on January 18.
The 59-year-old, from Congleton, said: “It’s well before Christmas when we were ordering things off eBay and they were taking like three weeks to arrive. It’s a constant nightmare when you knew they were at the sorting office.
“My wife went to try and collect something from there and they said we’ll have to wait for the delivery.
“I went to Moonpig and ordered a card, thinking surely a first-class card has got to be here within a week. It actually came on January 18, which was a week and two days after I’d made the order, which is totally useless because her birthday has come and gone.
“My wife also tested positive for Covid on January 14. She ordered a PCR test, which should be 24-hour tracked, and that came at 3pm on January 18, so God knows what their 24-hour track is like.
“She went to our local post box at 10pm to post a letter and she says it was absolutely full, so the chances are they are not even emptying the post boxes now which is ridiculous service.
“We are both positive and when you have got it you can’t go out and are reliant more and more on these kinds of services.
“It’s like living in a failed state with this postal service.”
Mike works from home and says he can go four days without seeing a postie delivering mail.
He added: “As someone who relies on their services, I feel very angry and I wish that there was an alternative because I would use it all the time.
“Amazon could get stuff to me the very next day, but the Royal Mail can take three weeks.
“We buy a lot of stuff online so use it often. As soon as I see on eBay that a seller uses Royal Mail, it puts me off. I’d go for other carriers because I feel very let down by them.
“Neighbours in Kidsgrove and Sandbach aren’t having these problems.
“I’m working from home and my office is at the front. I can go for about four days and not see a postman walk past. It’s clear they are batching the letters up and trying to minimise the deliveries. When you do get a batch, you get three or four days’ worth at once.
“They used to come out every day but, since before Christmas, it’s been a terrible service and these three to four-day gaps have become the norm. They are still charging the same.
“I don’t blame the posties. I’d like the management to get this sorted out and if that means hiring more people then that’s what it means. If it means re-organising rosters then that’s what it needs.
“At the moment, it’s like a third world country’s postal service. They are losing massive credibility.
“They have a monopoly on letters and, in my opinion, the Government should remove that so they have to compete in the real world.”
Residents in a number of other parts of the country have also complained about delivery delays in recent weeks.
More than 120 postal districts were reportedly hit over the Christmas and New Year period, with London particularly badly affected.
Royal Mail has apologised and says it is experiencing delays due to ‘high levels of sickness absence’.
A spokesperson said: “The vast majority of mail is delivered safely and on time. We aim to deliver to all addresses we have mail for, six days a week.
“In the local area, we are experiencing some delays to service due to high levels of sickness absence, Covid related self-isolation and resourcing issues.
“We apologise to any customers who may have experienced delays to their mail. We have been working hard to get our levels of service back to normal as soon as possible.
“Anyone who has concerns over the delivery of their mail should contact the Royal Mail customer service team on 03457 740 740 or via the Royal Mail website www.royalmail.com .”
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