‘Common sense’ call to Royal Mail

Currently in Rattray, Royal Mail make two afternoon collections - one at Westfield, one at the Cross – both of which are at the extreme boundaries of Rattray.

Collection times at the old Post Office are 9am weekdays and 7am on Saturdays, which means letters posted after those early times cannot be delivered next day.

It would seem that it would be quite simple, and cost free, for whoever picks up mail from the aforementioned boxes to stop and collect at the old Post Office, which they must pass anyway on their way to the depot – thus giving residents in this area easier access to next day delivery.

Four months ago I delivered a letter requesting this to the manager at the local Royal Mail depot but received no response. I than enlisted the help of the community council who tried unsuccessfully to have this suggestion implemented.

John Swinney MSP was next to be asked to help. He wrote several letters to Moya Greene, chief executive officer at Royal Mail HQ in London.

In her latest reply to Mr Swinney, Ms Greene points out that there are other post boxes with later collections within a mile of the Old Post Office, ignoring the fact, of which she has been made aware, that these can only be accessed with difficulty by some of us.

The main point that Ms Greene makes to Mr Swinney is that, because the old Post Office box averages less than 50 items per day, under Royal Mail guidelines, it falls into their “collection on delivery” collection procedure, which means the postmen collect the mail on their outward journeys!

She goes on to say that all Royal Mail responses have been in line with their national guidelines.

In other words, although at least three postmen pass the old Post Office in the afternoon, she cannot have one of them stop and do a collection!

Royal Mail’s approach to national guidelines seems to be ‘one size fits all’ regardless of where one lives - in an urban area such as London, a small town like ours, or a rural area such as Glenshee.

Guidelines, as the name suggests, are not laws to be rigidly applied. They are intended to provide guidance, flexibility and structure, within which a satisfactory outcome may be reached. If common sense had been applied, within their guidelines, a phone call from the person in charge would have resolved this issue four months ago, at no extra cost to Royal Mail, and to the satisfaction of their customers.

The further one lives from those taking bureaucratic decisions, the less satisfactory the outcome seems to be. On behalf of the Blairgowrie Town Hall Association, I should like to thank the officers from Culture Perth and Kinross at Perth Museum and all our local exhibitors who allowed their personal artefacts relating to Blairgowrie to be displayed at the Really Interesting Experience.

Grateful thanks are also extended to the army of volunteers who came along to act as stewards.

Among both exhibitors and volunteers it was very noticable that nobody declined to participate.

The several hundred people who came along to support the event included John Swinney MSP and several of our local councillors.

It is hoped they, along with everyone else who has an interest, will further support the idea of a permanent display space in Blairgowrie.