Dear Royal Mail,
I thank you for your email of 06.11.2012 regarding the closure of Cubie Street Delivery Office.
I would like to take you up on a few points mentioned...
1. 'Whilst
I understand your concerns I would like to reassure you that Royal Mail
has amalgamated offices before and we will be working to ensure that
there is a smooth transition'. This indicates that the decision
is irreversible and any consultation that has or will be completed is
entirely irrelevant. This is not the mark of an organisation that truly
does concern itself with its customers. Nor is it a mark of an
organisation that is meant to be a public service.
2. 'If
you are unable to visit your nearest Delivery Office to collect
undeliverable items, we can arrange a redelivery back to your address or
an alternative address within the same postcode area free of charge or
to a local Post Office for a small fee (please note Special Delivery
items cannot be delivered to an alternative address)'. Your point
stating that you can arrange redelivery back to the requested delivery
address is not satisfactory unless this redelivery can be made on a
specific day and time when the person expecting the delivery can be
present. If it is just a specific day this requires the person expecting
the delivery to be present all day and also available at the required
time during that day, is unsuitable for most (whether through having to
work, other activities or rest). To expect people on limited incomes to
pay extra to have the item delivered to a post office close to where
they stay is also not satisfactory - what if they do not have any spare
money so that this can be carried out?
Therefore the only option
for serving your customers adequately within the Cubie Street delivery
office delivery area is for that delivery office to remain open and for
the operational changes and new technology to be employed within the
existing facility and for the relocation to be cancelled.
In
addition the recent vast increase in the cost of stamps for letters will
further discourage people from using the postal service. This is at a
time when the Royal Mail have stated that the volume of letters being
sent is reducing. Is it any wonder when the speed of delivery has vastly
deteriorated? It used to be possible to post a letter in the morning
first class and be certain of the time of uplift and subsequent
delivery. It was even possible to be almost certain that it would arrive
the same day in some cases using first class. Now you can't be sure
that it will arrive the following day prior to the open of business, or
even on the following day at all.
I know in my family for the
first time this year the cost of postage is barring the sending of
Christmas greetings and parcels by mail when it has never done so
before. So if the vast increase in prices was to ultimately improve
services and therefore encourage people to use the mail service then it
has failed.
I continue to look forward to hearing that Cubie
Street delivery office will remain open and its services to its
customers unaffected.
Yours faithfully
Christopher Crawford
