Tag: Royal Mail

Post Office research: Over a third of UK workforce at work over Christmas period

Posted by | Dec 27, 2007 | |

This Christmas 40 per cent of the UK workforce will be at work for some or all of the Christmas period (25 December – 1 January) despite the fact that over half of them (52 per cent) will lose holiday entitlement as a result.

According to new research released today by Post Office® Travel Services, 25 per cent of people surveyed are working because they have too much work to do to take time off. A further 58 per cent couldn’t take annual leave because of shift rotas or other colleagues getting in there first. And a handful admitted they liked their jobs so much they would rather be there than at home or on holiday with loved ones.

It appears we are a truly a nation of workaholics. As well as those missing out on their holiday entitlement by working through Christmas, the research also showed nearly four in ten UK workers (37 per cent) won’t have taken their full annual holiday entitlement by the end of 2007, meaning a staggering 1.3 billion* days holiday will be lost.

People working for the government or public sectors are most likely to work over the Christmas period (75 per cent) as well as lose some of their holiday entitlement (59 per cent). Those working in the service industry are least likely to lose their holiday days (13 per cent) and those working in advertising, marketing or PR are least likely to be working over the holiday period (11 per cent).

Men are worse than women at booking their full holiday quota with 39 per cent of men losing out compared to only 32 per cent of women.

Of those who claimed to be losing their holiday entitlement, nearly half (49 per cent) will lose between four and seven days and seven per cent will lose three weeks or more (15 days). Regional differences show that over a third (36 per cent) of workers from East Anglia have a staggering three weeks or more holiday remaining, whereas only 25 per cent of those working in Lancashire have any holiday entitlement left to take.

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Online shopping complaints rise (UK)

Posted by | Dec 24, 2007 | |

Complaints about the late arrival of online deliveries have risen by a third in the run-up to Christmas, according to a government advice service.

Consumer Direct says it has received 3,000 complaints in six weeks.

Royal Mail says the “vast bulk” of Christmas post will arrive on time and online retailer Amazon says its delivery success rate is above 99 pct.

Meanwhile, retailers reported Saturday was their busiest day of the year with sales exceeding expectations for many.

The UK’s 27 million online shoppers are expected to have spent GBP 15bn online in the run-up to Christmas Day – up 60 pct on last year, according to Interactive Media and Retail Group (IMRG), the industry body for the electronic retail community.

Online retailers use a variety of courier companies to make deliveries to customers, as well as Royal Mail.

Amazon says it has been dispatching 750,000 parcels a day in the run-up to Christmas.

Royal Mail has predicted that it will deliver a record 120 million items ordered over the internet this festive season – double the number handled three years ago.

In total, it expects to deliver some two billion items of Christmas post.

Royal Mail’s workforce has been boosted by an extra 20,000 members of staff in the four week run-up to Christmas, with more than 2,000 staff taken off non-operational duties to help with deliveries.

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Cash counts at Christmas – 50 per cent of people give money as a Christmas gift

Posted by | Dec 24, 2007 | |

Anyone still looking for a last minute Christmas gift may be set to join half of people (50 per cent)* across Britain in giving cash as a Christmas gift this year.

For the over 55s it’s a particularly popular choice with almost two thirds (64 per cent)* of the over 55’s opting to send cash gifts to people, including their children and grandchildren at Christmas.

For 35 to 44 year olds there’s a role reversal with one in ten (11 per cent) giving cash to their parents during the festive season.

For people who have left it until the last minute to send their cash in time for Christmas Day, MoneyGram® from the Post Office® offers a quick and easy solution to their cash gifting dilemmas.

In just ten minutes**, cash can travel from any Post Office® branch to and from outlets nationwide. And with 125,000 locations in approximately 170 countries and territories worldwide, whether your money is travelling to Southampton or South Africa, it’s never been easier to use the Post Office® and MoneyGram® service.

The Post Office® and MoneyGram now offer by far the largest international money transfer network in the UK and have a fully computerised service making it even faster to send and receive cash too.

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Royal Mail loses 2 million presents

Posted by | Dec 23, 2007 | |

Royal Mail faces an angry consumer backlash this weekend over more than 2 million parcels and letters lost or delayed in the Christmas post.

Customers across the country are in danger of being left without their presents as postal workers are overwhelmed by the GBP 10 billion boom in online shopping. The backlog has allegedly been compounded by postal workers deliberately failing to deliver presents to save time on their rounds.

About 1.2m letters and parcels are already estimated to have been lost in the Christmas post. Hundreds of thousands of other items are delayed or awaiting collection at depots where queues of up to two hours have formed.

Postwatch, the independent watchdog, last week wrote to Adam Crozier, chief executive of Royal Mail, to demand that the recorded mail service be improved or scrapped, because so many customers who had paid extra for recorded mail complained that postal workers were routinely failing to get a signature on delivery.

The chaos managed to disrupt the last weekend before Christmas for thousands as they were forced to queue up to collect undelivered packages.

Royal Mail will handle about 120m parcels this Christmas, more than a 20 pct increase on last year. It says the vast majority will be delivered, but admits that it is recorded as a successful delivery even if a “you were out” card is dropped through the door.

Postwatch said Royal Mail’s most recently available figures indicated that it lost about 1m items of mail a month. Royal Mail said it was no longer publishing figures on the amount of mail it lost because the information was commercially confidential.

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1000th fee-free ATM for Post Office UK

Posted by | Dec 20, 2007 | |

The Post Office has installed its 1000th free-to-use automated teller machine (ATM) at a Rotherham Post Office branch further cementing its commitment to be a universal provider of free cash access for its customers.

Customers have already withdrawn GBP 1.2 billion from Post Office fee-free ATMs across the UK this year in 20 million transactions and have potentially saved up to a huge GBP 21million in fees levied by charging ATMs.

The new ATM was installed in Thurnscoe East Post Office in Rotherham.

The Post Office and its financial services partner, Bank of Ireland, are committed to rolling out more free-to-use ATMs across the branch network. At the same time the Post Office is withdrawing from its involvement with third party fee-charging ATM suppliers.

Ian Sadler, head of banking & payments, Post Office Ltd, said: “It’s great news that customers of 1000 UK Post Office branches can now benefit from free access to their money using cash machines. This complements the free cash access service for 19 banks and building societies we offer over the counter at all UK Post Office branches.”

“More than one million free cash withdrawals are made every day at the Post Office, making us the largest, free-to-use cash network in the UK.”

Mr Surti, subpostmaster at Thurnscoe East branch, said he has seen a dramatic rise in the number of people visiting the branch because of his new cash machine.

ATM transactions have increased from 105-140 per week to 1600-1700 per week as a result of the new ATM.

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