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Next day delivery services by private parcel companies have become the latest casualty of the Royal Mail strike.
DPD temporarily suspended services the next day in some areas of the UK as it struggles to cope with increased demand as customers lose faith in Royal Mail due to strike disruption.
The company has stopped offering next day delivery in about 5 per cent of postcodes across the UK, as staff said they were struggling with a backlog of parcels expected to take up to three days to arrive.
DPD said Royal Mail’s industrial work had had a “huge impact on the whole industry” as customers flocked to other courier services before Christmas.
A customer service agent told The Telegraph: “We can’t accept packages that have to be delivered the next day… [first we need to deliver] Parcels already in the warehouse.
The company’s website lists 40 counties across the UK including Cheshire, Lancashire and Somerset where areas are currently experiencing delays.
There were also delays in deliveries in Gloucestershire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire due to “extreme weather”.
After two weeks
Customer Jade Powell, 26, said her DPD delivery was nearly two weeks late. She ordered an expensive item from a tech website that was supposed to be delivered on December 1, but received a daily notification that delivery was delayed due to an “unexpected problem”.
The public transport worker said: “My package is in their warehouse and it shouldn’t have moved in over a week.
“I understand it’s a busy time of year and the Royal Mail strikes obviously put a strain on the system, but it’s the complete and utter lack of transparency that’s frustrating.”
Millions of letters and packages have reportedly piled up since members of the Communications Workers Union (CWU), which represents 115,000 postal workers, held demonstrations last week, with other dates scheduled for Wednesday (December 14), as well as December 15-23. and 24.
Monday was the recommended mailing date for second-class mail, the oldest ever in the history of the service.
Union sources warned last week that those paper Christmas cards may not arrive until February due to a backlog exacerbated by strikes.
Central London gathering
It comes after thousands of Royal Mail employees gathered at a rally in central London last week to protest over wages and conditions in what they claimed was the largest demonstration by postal workers in living memory.
Dave Ward, general secretary of the Christian Workers’ Union, claimed that the proposed “unachievable” conditions, which included starting work after three hours, would “destroy the future of Royal Mail”.
The union accused the delivery company of wanting to make the service like a “gig economy”.
Royal Mail is trying to overhaul the 500-year-old company into a parcel-driven company in a bid to compete against rivals such as Amazon.
They say she loses £1m a day, making the status quo unsustainable.
Nick Landon, Royal Mail’s chief commercial officer, accused the CWU of “holding Christmas at ransom”.
The postal strikes come amid a winter of strike action in the UK, including strikes planned by nurses, ambulance staff, railway workers, border forces and national highway officers.
A DPD spokesperson said: “We are seeing short delays at certain warehouse sites, as a result of the Royal Mail industrial strike, which has had a significant impact on the entire industry.
“As a result of the industrial strike, we have seen an increase in demand for our services, as shippers look for alternatives to UK Royal Mail.
“The issues are not across our entire network but can mean local delays of 24 to 48 hours.”
