Thursday 6 December 2012

"Royal Mail: Stop the closure of Glasgow's Cubie Street sorting office" on Change.org.: Update: Response Email to Royal Customer Services

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

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