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THE COST of posting a letter is going up 15p next week, but even if you shell out £1.25 for a first class stamp there is no guarantee it will arrive the following day.
Royal Mail has admitted, after our initial enquiries got lost in the post, that residents in Woodley and Earley are seeing delays to their deliveries.
In recent weeks, we have been inundated with readers emailing us with complaints about their post.
And the borough’s dogs are running short on postmen’s trousers as deliveries are not being made daily.
Common complaints include post being put through letterboxes just twice a week, vital deliveries going missing and birthdays being celebrated long after the cake has been scoffed as the cards arrive late.
Wokingham Today has even heard of a holiday postcard sent in the first week of August only arriving in the third week of September.
Residents have had enough.
One told us: “If, for example, someone’s waiting for an appointment card, results or such like, it’s likely they’d not see that information in time.
“Right now my partner is awaiting a legal document in the post and we’ve not had a delivery at all in eight days.
“We’re in Lower Earley so hardly out in the wilds of anywhere and yet this has been the story more or less since Christmas 2022 when our regular postie left.”
They added: “Some weeks like last week there’s not a single letter delivery but when it finally does arrive it’s in one big pile so clearly has been held at the sorting office pending delivery, surely the Post Office is breaking their own delivery SLAs in such a shoddy approach?”
The reader said that, like others, they had been complaining to Royal Mail and only receiving “we’re very sorry to hear about your problem” emails back.
The reader contacted us at the end of August, and we had to contact Royal Mail three times for a response, eventually receiving it last week.
They have admitted that there is a shortage of posties, which is causing an issue.
When announcing the latest price increase on stamps, the privatised firm called on the government to remove the requirement to deliver post six days a week.
In May, Royal Mail reported a £419 million loss.
Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer at Royal Mail said: “Letter volumes have reduced dramatically over recent years, down more than 60% from their peak in 2004/5 and 30% since the pandemic.
“It is vital that the Universal Service adapts to reflect this new reality.”
As to the borough’s issues, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We are sorry to residents who are experiencing delays. Improving our quality of service is our top priority and we are committed to restoring service levels to where our customers expect them to be.
“The service in the area has been impacted by lower staffing levels than usual, in part due to vacancies and annual leave.
“Every effort is being made to rectify this and ensure mail is being delivered reliably.
“We expect the service to improve over the coming weeks.”
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