UK Royal Mail makes changes to post box collections

Royal Mail is making changes to the collection plates on its 116,000 pillar post boxes across the UK.

Individual collection times are no longer displayed – only the last collection time of the day is given. Collections will be made throughout the day according to how much mail is put in the box and when it needs emptying.

We understand the rationale behind not making collections at set times throughout the day. Because of improved sorting technology, Royal Mail tells us that letters collected at the end of the day are just as likely to get to their destination the next day as letters collected earlier. In some cases, letters in early collections were not being sorted until the last collections of the day came in anyway.

However, Royal Mail has also stopped using the little metal tabs, which used to indicate the next collection time, thereby letting customers know whether a particular collection had been made.

Now customers have no way of knowing whether the last collection of the day has taken place or not. We feel this is essential. When customers post a first class letter at the end of the day, they need to know if it can still be delivered the next day or not. The metal tab that indicates that the postman has made that collection is simple, effective and easily understood. A tab indicating days of the week would let customers know whether they’ve missed that day’s post or not.

Royal Mail tells us that it is too costly to put these tabs back. We are continuing to pressure them to re-instate daily tabs. If you have a complaint or a comment to make about this issue, please see the complaints section of our website for details on how to make a complaint.

The new collection plates also direct people to the nearest delivery office where they will get a later collection than the one shown for that box. However in some cases, there are other post boxes with later collections much closer than the delivery office. Customers should be directed to the nearest later collection point, not the most convenient for Royal Mail.

We welcome the fact that the new collection plates now meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act – this is essential. However, Royal Mail should not use this as an opportunity to introduce other, non customer-friendly measures which disadvantage postal users in other ways. Royal Mail have also sadly done very little to explain these changes and why they are making them to their customers.