As we are all aware of the Royal Mail strike action for the next two months I was wondering if anyone was thinking of trying an alternative service?
I’ve got a commission that I’m working on just now which needs to get to Orkney for mid November, but obviously I’m concerned.
I would usually post 1st class tracked and signed for which from past experience can take 4 or 5 days to get up to the Islands, now it would most likely just get lost. RM do say they will be prioritising 24 tracked during the strike action and anything else will be a case of ‘suck it and see’ (not their actual words) so, who else to risk our precious letters/parcels with?
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This is a hard one. If Evri were all like my local courier would use them all the time but sadly they are not. My courier said they are getting better as new management by whether to take the chance or not. If using them make sure you allow the correct insurance value at least that way you are covered.
Others? I have used UPS, now they are good but pricey so again would depend on the cost of the item being sent and whether a customer would pay that price or not.
Yodel? Forget them useless.
DPD? They deliver big sacks of dog food and very good but not sure of the cost.
AMAZON? Now they can be pricey but you can get next day delivery, again not used them apart from Prime deliveries so cannot judge. Do know Belinda, Evri, followed them one day as she was on the same route and throwing the parcels into porches. I know we have longish driveways so obviously would have worn them out walking up the drive!
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I believe RM are also prioritising Special delivery. So I have put a notice in my shop to add “postage upgrade listing” to basket if timing is a thing. It also gives me peace of mind with insurance and tracking.
Whether or not many read announcements I don’t know, a couple of folk have added it to basket.
On another note, I really want to support my local rural post office, as if it closed,I would be lost. They are already suffering down here with RM offering free collection from the door until Christmas and print off postage labels.
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I am going to stick with Royal Mail in support of them as well as my local post office. I have always been very pleased with their service in the past and have only had a couple of parcels go astray in nearly 11 years. I shall be using Special Delivery as much as possible and also offering it as an upgrade.
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Thanks for all your replies. 
I’ll just have to crack on with my drawing so I can get it posted in plenty of time and pay the extra for the postage upgrade. I’d rather lose a few pounds on the postage than send it with some other courier who I don’t know will take care of it I think.
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I’m sticking to Royal Mail as they are pretty reliable when services are running normally. My items are small and anything valuable goes tracked and signed. I shall put a little notice in the shop announcement reminding potential customers of possible delays etc. due to strike action.
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It’s a conundrum. Putting up postal prices so everything goes special delivery, seems exorbitant, especially in today’s economic climate. If everyone did it then the royal mail will be overwhelmed! And the lead up to Christmas is always fraught with uncertainty in a normal year. Not to put postage up to SD, could mean unhappy customers if items are delayed. Let alone the anxiety of 'i wonder if they’ll arrive '!
I have always kept my postage as low as possible, but now I am wondering what to do…as I think adding an extra £3+ will make customers think twice. However, always the optimist, maybe they’ll buy in bulk to combine postage!
I’ll be pondering for a wee while longer, with a cup of tea, before I do anything…but am very interested in how other folksiers are feeling
Suzzie xx
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