What the Post Office say
The latest letter is at the top of the page.
9th July 2013 - The response from the Postal Review Panel:-
3rd July 2013 - The Post Office replied to the possiblity of using a private post box and privately transferring the contents to an official mail point.
Thank you for your further email.
I have explored your suggestion regarding the local community installing their own post box at the Tesco store with the Plant Collection Manager for the area. He advises that this is not something Royal Mail would encourage due to the security implications and possible problems it could create. However, there is an alternative that you may wish to consider. A number of smaller supermarkets have used a private box company such as WRT Group to set up a similar facility. Basically it becomes a contract between Royal Mail, the store and the private box company. The store would need to contact the private company direct and arrange installation of a private box. The private company would contact Royal Mail to arrange a business collection from the box. The key issue here being that only Royal Mail staff would have access to the box, avoiding any security issues.
Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We endeavour to listen to suggestions and act upon them wherever feasible.
Yours sincerely
Joanne Taylor
Chairman and Chief Executive Office
100 Victoria Embankment LONDON EC4Y 0HQ
21st June 2013 - The Postal Review Panel
Thank you for your email dated 20 June 2013 regarding a recent complaint you have made to Royal Mail Customer Services.
The Postal Review Panel is a ‘ring fenced’ team that sits outside of Royal Mail Customer Services and we are empowered to review complaints from customers who have used a Royal Mail service.
To enable me to provide you with a full review, I will firstly need to collate all the information held by Royal Mail Customer Services. Also, further investigations may be necessary. For this reason, it may take 30 calendar days to provide you with a final response. Please be assured that this matter is being taken seriously and I will contact you on completion of my review or if I require further information from you.
Yours sincerely
Sally Jarvis
Postal Review Panel
20th June 2013 - Post Office - Chief Excutive's Office
Thank you for your further emails and the information you have provided.
Having reviewed your request I am unable to add anything further to the information that has already been provided. Your comments have been noted and I would like to reassure you that we do our utmost to provide all of our customers with an efficient and reliable service in all areas. However we have no plans to change the decision that has been made.
If you are dissatisfied with my response you have the option of escalating your complaint to the Postal Review Panel (PRP) at postalreview@royalmail.com. The role of the Postal Review Panel is to make an impartial and unprejudiced review of a complaint. The circumstances of your case will be carefully assessed and your comments given full consideration.
Assuring you of our best intentions at all times.
Yours sincerely
Joanne Taylor
Chairman and Chief Executive Office
100 Victoria Embankment LONDON EC4Y 0HQ
18th June 2013
Thank you for your emails regarding your request for a post-box to be installed at the Tesco store Waunceirch. I am sorry that you were unhappy with the response from Neil Armstrong.
I have reviewed the information provided by Neil and can see that he has informed you why we have taken the decision to refuse your request on this occasion. I have looked into the further points you have raised with the collections planning manager. As a condition of our Postal Licence, Royal Mail must ensure that, as a minimum: in each postcode area where the delivery point density is not less than 200 delivery points per square kilometre, not less than 99% of users or potential users of postal services are within 500 metres of a post-box. The manager advises that there are three boxes within 500m of the Tesco site, and all the estate falls within the criteria. As the current posting facilities in the above-mentioned area already meet these requirements, I regret that we are unable to meet your request on this occasion.
The post box in Dwr y Felin Road is reasonably well used. It does not face the road on grounds of Health and Safety, though we accept some boxes do. We have no plans to relocate this box which has been in situ for around 50 years.
Regarding your request for a posting facility within the Tesco store. Though we appreciate that this site is a central location we only consider Tesco locations with retail space of over 25,000sq ft not the smaller Tesco stores.
Thank you for contacting us about this and I'm sorry for any disappointment caused by this decision.
Yours sincerely
Joanne Taylor
Chairman and Chief Executive Office
100 Victoria Embankment LONDON EC4Y 0HQ
5th June 2013
Thanks for the email. I am sorry to hear of your concerns regarding the lack of a postbox on the Waunceirch estate and I appreciate the concern this may be causing.
On receipt of your email I contacted the Collections Manager for your area. He has informed me that we received a previous request for a Post Box on the Waunceirch site when it was built.
We decided not to install a Post box on the estate, as although there is no facility on the new housing estate, there is a Post box in each direction as you leave the estate.
Therefore it was decided that to install another box would be unnecessary. The boxes concerned are :-
- The box on Dwr Y Felin Road
- The box on Main Road Bryncoch opposite the school.
- The Box at Caewern Post Office
- The box on the corner of Brookfield – accessible through the lane from Rhiwlas.
The Collections Manager visited the location earlier this week and has stated that although he can see the logic of installing a Post box outside Tesco (we only install inside Tesco stores when the retail floor space exceeds 25000 sq ft – an agreement between Tesco and Royal Mail) as it has become a hub of the estate, he still does not think an additional box is warranted.
It appeared that the majority of houses were empty in the day with householders out at work – so that would generate a small amount of mail.
Nationally, mail volumes posted in Post boxes has dropped by 50% in the last 5 years. So to invest in a decreasing area of mail makes no commercial sense.
The long standing boxes in the area serve the location more than adequately – In residential areas we aim to have a Post box within 500 metres as the crow flies of each property this is more than achieved in Waunceirch.
I appreciate that this is not the reply that you have hoped for but as the Collections Manager has stated, we do not think an additional Post Box is warranted at the Tesco site bearing in mind the one at Dwr Y felin Road is less than 300 metres away.
Neil Armstrong
Customer Service Advisor
NOTE. The above letter was received BEFORE the facts on this website were presented. We hope the matter will now be reviewed before we proceed to national executive level and before it is highlighted in the media.
From the Royal Mail website:
