Royal Mail customer service point opening hours slashed at about half its sites in Kent, including Ashford

Residents fear their postal service could get worse, as opening hours are slashed at Royal Mail customer service points.

The firm has taken the measure at approximately half of its sites in Kent, including Tannery Lane sorting office and delivery point in Ashford, citing changes in customer behaviour.

Nationally, Royal Mail has reduced the hours of half of its 1,200 customer service points, where people could pick up parcels that could not be delivered to their homes.

While the new arrangements differ slightly at various sites, Tannery Lane is now open from just 8am until 10am Monday to Friday, as well as 4pm until 6pm Tuesday to Friday, and 8am-12pm on Saturday.

It was previously open seven days a week for longer periods of time, including 8am-6pm Wednesday to Friday.

Ashford residents have taken to Facebook to raise concerns about the changes, with some saying it is “hardly worth opening”.

“It is the people who work until six I feel the most for,” one person commented.

“My postman says it’s going to get worse,” another wrote.

Others have said they were unaware of the change and went to the sorting office to find it was closed.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said an increase in doorstep drop-offs means more parcels are delivered on the first attempt, but added the firm understands the importance of customer service points (CSPs) for some.

“An increase in doorstep services such as Parcel Collect and Safeplace are helping us to enhance customer convenience and deliver more parcels first time,” they said.

“In May this year, we also introduced automatic redelivery of parcels the next working day across the UK for customers who are not at home when posties attempt to deliver the first time.

“Over 99% of parcels are now successfully delivered to customers on the first or second delivery attempt. This is reducing the need for customers to collect parcels from CSPs.

“To keep pace with the changing behaviour of our customers, we are amending the opening hours of CSPs. We have a range of options free-of-charge for customers who want to arrange for an item to be redelivered. Details of how to arrange this can be found on our website.”

Stephanie Roberts was campaigning for parking bays outside the site in Tannery Lane and says the reduced opening hours would likely increase demand of the spaces.

“People may not be aware of the changes so it would be rather upsetting if you paid for parking and found it was shut,” she said.

“Personally, I do not think this changes the need for the bays. They are still offering the service and with the hours being less, people may have to go back twice if they do not know the new hours.

‘My postman says it’s going to get worse…’

“The only time the need for the bays would change would be if they stopped offering a delivery and collection service.”

There are at least 17 other customer service points in Kent, including in Canterbury, Dover, Maidstone and Chatham.

Royal Mail did not respond when asked by KentOnline which specific sites in the county, other than Ashford, have had their hours slashed.