Thank you, Bruce Ross-Smith, for confirming our view that Royal Mail is not fit for purpose, and for putting our problems into perspective (Letters, 21 November). In the 83 days since 1 September we have received mail on only 10 days. There has not been a delivery of mail to any of the 200-plus people in our apartment building, nor to a neighbouring building on the same road, since 3 November.
The types of mail that have been sent to us but not delivered include credit card and other bills, information from the Department for Work and Pensions, activation codes to provide access to financial accounts online, a bowel cancer testing kit sent by the NHS and a publishing contract. We fear that other vital information has failed to reach us. Thanks to Royal Mail’s mistake in wrongly transcribing our address, all redirected mail from a previous address (costing us £78) has been returned to sender.
David Needle
Canary Wharf, London
• It’s not just Oxford that has seen a collapse in Royal Mail’s service. Here in Buckinghamshire, I received a birthday card two weeks after blowing out my candles. And I’m still waiting for my copy of the New Statesman from a fortnight ago. Are shareholders the only ones getting a good service?
Rob Skinner
Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire
• The Royal Mail service around Aylesbury is just as bad as in Oxford. My recent Private Eyes have been delayed by up to eight days. I presume it’s revenge for the Eye’s numerous articles about the Post Office Horizon computer scandal.
Geoffrey Terrill
Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire
• I’ve been a postman for 43 years, and I’m very sorry to hear of the readers from Oxford who have endured such poor service. Please don’t blame us hard-working posties, who kept going right through the pandemic. Years of not employing anyone and not engaging with the union have come home to roost. Also, the shrinking employment market has not helped. We are doing our best to deliver everything, but there is only so much we can physically do.
Stephen Blaney
Ashtead, Surrey
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