Sitting here post Christmas in the Flowerbud offices and licking not a few carrier inflicted wounds, I am mightily cheered (when perhaps I should not be) by news of a pain being felt by the Brits at the hands of none other than their iconic Postman. It seems that when reading the story there is little “royal” about these characters, other than the stink they have created in their lack of industry.
Hot off the Edinburgh Fringe Press is a tale of flower deliveries gone woefully awry, an all too common occurrence. As you well know, Flowerbud contracts with FedEx to carry our cargo in entirety, largely I might add, because the USPS is too busy bemoaning the decline of mail to see much further than the length of their shorts, and that there might just be a whole galaxy of packages to lift and carry from the burgeoning ecommerce businesses currently swelling the coffers of Brown and Purple. All the while the “Brown Shorts” over at UPS seems barely interested in competing against that “Purple Promise” from Memphis from a price point of view and of course the trouble making DHL ( denizens of the German Post Office no less ) have been summarily ejected as a factor from the US and thus can not be the lovely thorn of competitiveness in the side of anyone.
Anyway, back to the Brit Postie, less you think it is only us that has reason to complain. Flower companies that operate substantially like flowerbud.com in the UK have the option of using the Royal Mail to deliver their flowers to a recipient. Well it turns out that nobody consulted the postmen themselves, as apparently they do not like the loading and delivering of parcels. I guess they are taking the “letter carrier” thing to an extreme. As the Edinburgh Fringe Press so succinctly put it ” they cannae be arsed carrying parcels”. So what do they do? Well now, they quickly and sneakily slip a card through your letter box that says you where out (Oh no you where not!) when they were in! Your recourse? You can go on down and collect it from the post office. It turns out that one gal got wind of this and chased after the Postie, getting him to “fess up” that he did not even have the parcel in the van as he had chosen to leave it at the depot. In the case I am familiar with the recipient, knowing they were flowers ( as does the post office ) went to the depot only to be told they were not there ( maybe still on the van?) and best to come back tomorrow. Of course the flowers being perishables and Edinburgh being perishingly cold…. a thoughtful gift from nephews had done the expected… perished.
Post script on 3/11/10
A peely wally mouthful (some two months in the making) of PC waffle from one whose inaction when speaking of action, speaks volumes to ineptness and an I could care less attitude of one in a safe seat and with no “skin in the game”.
Thank you for contacting Royal Mail.
I’m very sorry to hear of the problem you’ve had regarding the ‘Sorry.you
were out’ card we recently left you.Of the huge volumes of letters and packets we handle, very few encounter a
problem along their way - but we take every reported failure seriously.I fully appreciate the inconvenience and delay caused as a result of us
leaving a ‘Sorry.you were out’ card for an item, even though you were at
home.It’s important that our customers have confidence in us to always deliver
their mail to a secure and high standard, so I apologise again that we have
let you down.I have passed these details to the manager of your local Delivery Office
who will do all that is required to ensure you receive the quality of
service you should expect in future.I hope that the action above resolves your enquiry and concludes this
matter: if you need to get back in touch with us, please remember to quote
your unique reference number 1-1348330448.Once again, please accept my sincere apologies on behalf of Royal Mail for
the problem you’ve had, and our thanks for taking the time to make us aware
of this. Please be assured that we take letting our customers down
seriously and will use this information to make further improvements.Regards
Anthony Ryles
Customer Service Advisor