Not at home? Royal Mail wants to leave your post with a neighbour. It’s an option I’m sure many will be keen on, but without being able to opt-out or nominate a neighbour, could this be less Royal Mail and more Royal Fail?
If you were expecting a package to be delivered by Royal Mail, but you weren’t at home, would you prefer it to be taken back to the post office, or left with your neighbour?
Personally, I’d prefer the latter. Dragging my way off to the main delivery office, which is a fair few Tube stops away, isn’t really worth the effort – especially if it’s probably little more than a box of choccies.
Good option for absent adressees?
Plus, 76% of those asked in our Royal Mail investigation said their post arrived after 10am, meaning most of us won’t be home to collect our mail.
So is leaving your post with a neighbour a good idea and could it improve your view of the Royal Mail? Our national postal service no doubt needs to improve its image, as 47% of you have so far said that the company doesn’t meet your expectations in our latest poll.
Royal Mail would like to give it a go – if a letter’s too large for your letter box, or your post needs to be signed for, Royal Mail wants your postie to leave it with one of your neighbours. Its own survey has said that this is our preferred location to leave an item if we’re not in.
And really, what’s not to like? Well, there doesn’t appear to be an opt-out option for a start. What if you don’t know or trust your neighbour? As Consumer Focus says, complete with pun, this ‘could open the door to problems’.
Have you got good neighbours?
Shouldn’t you be able to nominate a neighbour you trust? That may sound familiar, as you can already nominate a “safeplace” with Royal Mail. Still, this has its limitations, a safeplace is only offered for tracked post that’s been ordered from a business that’s signed up to this service.
So would you like Royal Mail to drop your post off next door if you’re not in, even if you couldn’t opt-out or nominate a trustworthy neighbour? Private postal services, like DHL, already do this, so why not our national service too?
Commenter Louis has already told us on our previous Conversation that he’d ‘rather go to the sorting office than have stuff left with others’ – but what about you?
Royal Mail’s currently waiting for permission from postal regulator Postcomm to launch the pilot, and it wants to hear from you before it makes a decision, so fire away.
[UPDATE 15 JUNE 2012] – After a successful trial with almost 750,000 homes, Royal Mail is to ask the new postal regulator, Ofcom, whether it can introduce leaving post with a neighbour across the UK. If you don’t want to take part you can opt out by ordering a sticker for your front door from Royal Mail, online or by phone. The sticker will tell your postman not to leave your post with a neighbour. However, you won’t be able to nominate a preferred neighbour.
Loading ...
