Sheffield mail: residents protest over claimed 'poor postal service' in city by Royal Mail

A group of Sheffield residents have become so upset with their postal service, they have launched regular protests outside a Sheffield depot.

Save Our Post, Save Our Posties say they have had a weekly presence outside Sheffield South Delivery Office, Woodseats Road, since June. Now they plan a major demonstration supporting postal workers, but against perceived failings in the way Royal Mail is run, on Friday, December 8.

The group has titled their protest “Royal Mail, First Class Fail: Don’t Blame the Posties”. It will feature banners, live music, themed dress and food.

The event follows months of regular demonstrations at the delivery office by the campaigners, with some saying they sometimes found themselves with no post at all after service changes this year.

There has been a presence from the group at the office every week since early June, and the campaigners say that the posties have got to know them, honking their horns and waving as they leave in their vans to go on on their rounds.

The campaigners said in a statement that they recognise what they describe as ‘increasingly poor service from Royal Mail’ is not the fault of the posties, but the result of the privatisation, and Royal Mail’s corporate management was responsible for their post not arriving on time, or sometimes not at all.

Kate Billington, founding member of Save Our Post, Save Our Posties, said: “In early June we realised we hadn’t had ANY post for three weeks. – or even junk mail. It soon became clear that this wasn’t just a temporary local blip, but the result of a national policy of removing personnel from rounds permanently, with no real plan as to how the public would continue to receive their mail on anything like a regular basis.

"People still don’t realise that the Royal Mail has been privatised and many initially don’t believe me when I tell them I don’t have a postman/woman assigned to my street anymore. This is one of the saddest things to have happened in recent years, especially as our posties were always such lovely people and mostly used to enjoy and take pride in their jobs. Many are now leaving, as the workload and conditions have become unbearable.

"It's my understanding that the Woodseats Road office has lost 16 members of staff in the past year. It is also not recruiting new staff, other than agency workers, who, with the best will in the world, simply can’t replace experienced professionals.”

Coun Marieanne Elliot, one of the group members, added: “We have asked posties how we can help them, as morale is low and clearly they are struggling to get all the post delivered. They have told us that they want people to understand what has happened since privatisation.

"Posties workloads have become unfeasible, so at the end of the day they have not finished their rounds. This failure to meet the Universal Service Obligation is not their fault – it’s not how they want it to be. Some have reported they have received verbal abuse in the street, with members of the public blaming them for their post not arriving.”

In a statement, Royal Mail said local teams were working extremely hard to ensure consistency and reliability in the postal service residents were receiving.

The firm also said they were making six deliveries a week, with the vast majority of addresses in S8 and S7 postcodes receiving mail on time.

If there were notable delays in the area, the company reported them on its service page, Service updates | Royal Mail Group Ltd, but Royal Mail says Sheffield is not reported on there.

The statement added: “However, there have, at times, been delays and these have been caused by higher than usual levels of sick absence and a number of vacancies. If a household does not receive their mail on the day they expect, we will always endeavour to deliver the next working day to minimise disruption. It’s important to note not every household has mail to be delivered to daily.

“We have implemented measures to improve the service and these are having an impact.

“We have recently recruited three new posties with more due to start shortly and we are using agency staff to help manage the demand. We also have an ongoing recruitment plan to bring more permanent staff into the office.”