Is the Royal Mail delivering a good enough service to customers?

CELEBRATING my birthday in lockdown away from family and friends, I looked forward to opening my cards. However, when the post had not been delivered by midday as usual, I asked the man emptying the postbox outside our house what was going on. He told me the postman was on a week off and no post would be delivered on his round because overtime and covering shifts had been stopped. My birthday cards stayed at the sorting office until my postman returned to work. Clearly Royal Mail doesn’t care about depriving customers of their post.

SARAH CROSBIE JONES, Groombridge, Kent.

WHEN our postman was on holiday, we did not get any post. Online orders, children’s birthday cards, insurance documents and cheques were delayed for up to two weeks. When I inquired about it, I was told it was due to Covid19. What they couldn’t explain was why the same thing happened when our postman was on holiday a year ago.

C. WHICHELOW, London SW19.

I POSTED a parcel on Friday at 1.30pm to my sister in Birmingham. She phoned me at 10.30am the next day to say thank you for the present. That’s first-class service in these difficult times when postal staff must be depleted.

DENNIS SHRIVE, Woodbridge, Suffolk.

When cards i had posted to my grandson and son in May didn’t arrive, i sent two more a fortnight later. they didn’t arrive either. When i contacted royal Mail online, they blamed it on the coronavirus crisis.

S. Lindsay, fareham, Hants.

BE GRATEFUL the post is delivered at all. Like other key workers, postmen take their lives in their hands for every delivery they make. You can always phone or email your loved ones from the safety of your home if you’re so concerned. a. Niblett, london SW11. i Recently received a communication from royal Mail — a clear plastic envelope containing an envelope addressed to me, which had been cut open, taped up again and labelled: ‘We’re very sorry the enclosed item has reached you in this condition.’ the envelope contained a small thank-you card from a child, which must have felt like a credit or bank card. the postal service is rubbish compared to how it was when i was a child. then you could post a birthday card in the morning and it would reach the local recipient in the afternoon.

JO GREENHILL, Penzance, Cornwall.