On 15/03/14 13:52, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:40:45 on Sat, 15 Mar
2014, " remarked:

Also be nice to grab smaller items on the way into work too.

That's one prospective use of the additional space at stations once
TfL shuts all ticket offices, isn't it?

Yes it is, but I wouldn't hold my breath that things would be there in
time for people to grab them on the way to work (unless they were also
there to not-be-grabbed on the way home the previous day).

This is the main problem with the Royal Mail's current business model:
what they deliver "today" is generally too late for the normally
employed to do anything about it until "tomorrow".

Given Amazon are so massive, they might be able to do a courier deal for
overnight locker drops. No traffic, no parking problems, vans sitting
idle. The only cost would be "shift bonus" for the drivers - a small
cost compared to all the potential benefits.

In message , at 14:25:07 on
Sat, 15 Mar 2014, Tim Watts remarked:
Also be nice to grab smaller items on the way into work too.

That's one prospective use of the additional space at stations once
TfL shuts all ticket offices, isn't it?

Yes it is, but I wouldn't hold my breath that things would be there in
time for people to grab them on the way to work (unless they were also
there to not-be-grabbed on the way home the previous day).

This is the main problem with the Royal Mail's current business model:
what they deliver "today" is generally too late for the normally
employed to do anything about it until "tomorrow".

Given Amazon are so massive, they might be able to do a courier deal
for overnight locker drops. No traffic, no parking problems, vans
sitting idle. The only cost would be "shift bonus" for the drivers - a
small cost compared to all the potential benefits.

It's possible, although the sites would have to be accessible, and not
locked behind shutters designed to keep out the people who missed the
last tube.

--
Roland Perry

On Thu, 13 Mar 2014 13:44:40 +0000, Martin Smith
wrote:

On 12/03/2014 19:49, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 17:36:23 on
Wed, 12 Mar 2014, Charles Ellson remarked:
Will that be a variation of the Post Office taking everyone for a ride
with the guarantee that 1st Class Post will arrive by 10AM the next
day?

Where does it guarantee that First class mail will be delivered by
10am? On the Royal Mail Web site, it just says, "Aims to deliver the
next working day including Saturdays".

It looks like confusion with e.g. "Special Delivery" which has two
options of "guaranteed by 1pm" and "guaranteed by 9am".

SD also seems to have an informal "not before 7am", just so they don't
wake people up too early!

As for the rest of the deliveries, they do seem to have crept from
7.30am to noon over the last 20yrs (my anecdata).

Here in S London it has gone from 7:30am about 30 years ago to now no
earlier than 3pm usually about 3:30.

Sometimes I wonder who is worse, The Royal Mail, or the USPS. I have
to deal with both. Hard as it may be to believe the USPS just about
beats the Royal Mail to the bottom.

When practical my preferred carrier is FedEx,
--

http://www.991fmtalk.com/ The DMZ in Reno

On 15/03/14 20:53, Aurora wrote:

Sometimes I wonder who is worse, The Royal Mail, or the USPS. I have
to deal with both. Hard as it may be to believe the USPS just about
beats the Royal Mail to the bottom.

Neither - that's Yodel's job to be on the bottom of the barrel.

DPD know what they are doing though.

On Sat, 15 Mar 2014 20:56:06 +0000, Tim Watts
wrote:

On 15/03/14 20:53, Aurora wrote:

Sometimes I wonder who is worse, The Royal Mail, or the USPS. I have
to deal with both. Hard as it may be to believe the USPS just about
beats the Royal Mail to the bottom.

Neither - that's Yodel's job to be on the bottom of the barrel.

DPD know what they are doing though.

Thank you for the tip. I may try DPD sometime. DHL are pretty good.
Word to the wise, avoid UPS at all costs.
--

http://www.991fmtalk.com/ The DMZ in Reno

"Tim Watts" wrote in message
...

On 15/03/14 13:52, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 13:40:45 on Sat, 15 Mar
2014, " remarked:

Also be nice to grab smaller items on the way into work too.

That's one prospective use of the additional space at stations once
TfL shuts all ticket offices, isn't it?

Yes it is, but I wouldn't hold my breath that things would be there in
time for people to grab them on the way to work (unless they were also
there to not-be-grabbed on the way home the previous day).

This is the main problem with the Royal Mail's current business model:
what they deliver "today" is generally too late for the normally
employed to do anything about it until "tomorrow".

Given Amazon are so massive, they might be able to do a courier deal for
overnight locker drops.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought they were going to send their drone "copter" out to you

tim

Roland Perry wrote:

That's one prospective use of the additional space at stations once TfL
shuts all ticket offices, isn't it?

Yes it is, but I wouldn't hold my breath that things would be there in
time for people to grab them on the way to work (unless they were also
there to not-be-grabbed on the way home the previous day).

This is the main problem with the Royal Mail's current business model:
what they deliver "today" is generally too late for the normally employed
to do anything about it until "tomorrow".

True though usually when I've come in mid morning to discover I missed a
package I've been able to get it from the sorting office that day, providing
I leave an hour from the time on the card. But then our sorting office,
which closes at lunchtime, is just a couple of corners away. Short of
evening openings, doubtless at the cost of the early morning, pre-commute
ones, I'm not sure what the solution would be for a wider range of people.

Of course the couriers are mixed here - they usually do afternoon openings
but evenings and Saturdays are hit and mix, plus there's the difficulty of
physically accessing them. My favourite was on the tip of the North
Greenwich pennisular (I think it's no longer there) where I found the
pedestrian layout from the tube station next to impossible to allow me to
walk to it and I had to get a bus where the last stop before the Blackwall
tunnel was only a third of the distance, causing me to cross the river more
than needed.

--
My blog: http://adf.ly/4hi4c

"Tim Roll-Pickering" wrote in message
...

Of course the couriers are mixed here - they usually do afternoon openings
but evenings and Saturdays are hit and mix, plus there's the difficulty of
physically accessing them. My favourite was on the tip of the North
Greenwich pennisular (I think it's no longer there) where I found the
pedestrian layout from the tube station next to impossible to allow me to
walk to it and I had to get a bus where the last stop before the Blackwall
tunnel was only a third of the distance, causing me to cross the river
more than needed.


One begins to wonder whether the Post Office et al really are in the
business
of providing a public service, or whether their main business is fostering
their own private comforts?

In message , at 19:51:06 on Sun, 16
Mar 2014, Tim Roll-Pickering remarked:
That's one prospective use of the additional space at stations once TfL
shuts all ticket offices, isn't it?

Yes it is, but I wouldn't hold my breath that things would be there in
time for people to grab them on the way to work (unless they were also
there to not-be-grabbed on the way home the previous day).

This is the main problem with the Royal Mail's current business model:
what they deliver "today" is generally too late for the normally employed
to do anything about it until "tomorrow".

True though usually when I've come in mid morning to discover I missed a
package I've been able to get it from the sorting office that day, providing
I leave an hour from the time on the card.

I'm not just talking about things which are too big for a letterbox.
--
Roland Perry