Royal Mail deliver to neighbour

[obiter dictum]

I have just had the postman knock at my door asking if i will take a packet in on behalf of my neighbour. Talking to him he has stated that it is now compulsory for him to knock on neighbours to try and get rid of the packet and if he returns to the office with packets then he has to explain why he was unable to leave them with a neighbour.

 

Looking into this Royal Mail brought in this system and the decision was left with the postman as to if he will leave the item with a neighbour unless the household had opted out of such an arrangement.

 

Now that Royal Mail have now made delivery to a neighbour compulsory and taken away the discretion of the postman if the addresse is not in

 

Can Royal Mail just "Opt in" peoples implied consent that they agree to this delivery to a neighbour without their express prior consent

 

I thought legislation was brought in stopping companies just to "Opt you in" to business terms without prior consent. After all the sender makes a contractual agreement with Royal Mail to deliver the item to the addressee, not a neighbour, anything else can be breach of contract??

[SabreSheep]

I would be concerned. What if one did not get on with their neighbor and when knocked the neighbor happily accepted the parcel thinking "oh good free stuff" I would imagine this leave Royal Mail open to challenge as they would have to replace or recover the items delivered to dodgy neighbors

[citizenB]

http://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/delivery-to-neighbour

 

 

This has been going on since around 2012..

 

Hope you like your neighbours! Royal Mail to start leaving parcels next door if no one's home

Critics fear for their items as they will not be able to choose who receives mail

Households can opt out by putting a sticker on their door near their letter box

 

 

From tomorrow, postmen will leave parcels with a neighbour if you are out.

 

Instead of posting a ‘sorry you were out’ note, Royal Mail will deliver next door.

 

Households can opt out by putting a special sticker near their letter box. And Royal Mail will still be responsible if the post goes missing.

 

But critics fear for their items as it will not be possible to choose who receives your mail

 

Until now, Royal Mail was the only company not to deliver next door as standard practice.

 

The state-owned post service was banned from leaving post with a neighbour under previous regulations – but these rules are expected to be lifted within the next few weeks by regulator Ofcom.

 

The decision follows a successful trial of the service in around 750,000 homes in seven parts of the country – including Swansea, Norwich, Edinburgh and Wigan – since November last year.

 

 

But critics have raised concerns that items could be stolen or damaged by neighbours.

 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210583/Royal-Mail-start-leaving-parcels-door-ones-home.html#ixzz35qVK2ktO

 

 

 

 

So I guess the answer is, if you dont want your mail delivered elsewhere or dont wish to take in someone else's mail.. then leave a note by your front door. IMHO, I think this is very wrong indeed.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2210583/Royal-Mail-start-leaving-parcels-door-ones-home.html

[obiter dictum]

It is not so much Royal Mail delivering to a neighbour as such, it is making the staff do it for fear of a disciplinary for not attempting, be it they have opted out or not.

 

This was a staff briefing given yesterday

 

We’ve issued a national guideline that Delivery to Neighbour is now a

Royal Mail standard.

Where no opt out exists and it's safe and secure it must be attempted

Every time a customer is not in

.

[Consumer dude]

I have just had the postman knock at my door asking if i will take a packet in on behalf of my neighbour. Talking to him he has stated that it is now compulsory for him to knock on neighbours to try and get rid of the packet and if he returns to the office with packets then he has to explain why he was unable to leave them with a neighbour.

 

Looking into this Royal Mail brought in this system and the decision was left with the postman as to if he will leave the item with a neighbour unless the household had opted out of such an arrangement.

 

Now that Royal Mail have now made delivery to a neighbour compulsory and taken away the discretion of the postman if the addresse is not in

 

Can Royal Mail just "Opt in" peoples implied consent that they agree to this delivery to a neighbour without their express prior consent

 

I thought legislation was brought in stopping companies just to "Opt you in" to business terms without prior consent. After all the sender makes a contractual agreement with Royal Mail to deliver the item to the addressee, not a neighbour, anything else can be breach of contract??

 

The postman can ask but if you say no, what can they do..

[obiter dictum]

Again the point being is that the postman is being forced now, not his previous discretion to go to a neighbour and try and dispose of the postal item. If he brings back any postal items back to the delivery office without good reason he faces being disciplined

[Consumer dude]

Again the point being is that the postman is being forced now, not his previous discretion to go to a neighbour and try and dispose of the postal item. If he brings back any postal items back to the delivery office without good reason he faces being disciplined

 

If that is the case, then that is unfair and something he could take up with his work place perhaps by internal procedures..

[SabreSheep]

If it happens to me I will be doing a complaint to the post office. I also will be sending my thoughts to the union thats recognised by the Postal Service on what I think of the matter.

 

If they are clever they will collate evidenc e from customers and use it in negotiations

[obiter dictum]

It seems the union is in full agreement

[SabreSheep]

surprises me that they would open their members to that much potential unfair treament

[chiefengineer]

I can understand the potential issues here, but let's look at the other side of the coin.

 

Your not in, they leave a card and you have to go pick it up from your sorting office. Fine for me as my sorting office is a mile away. Where my parents live (a sizeable town) there is no local sorting office, so they have to do a 12 mile round trip to the next town.

 

I take post for others in my road, and others do the same for me. No problems and we all get our post on the day.

[obiter dictum]

Pulled this off their union website

 

We fully support Delivery to Neighbour becoming a Royal Mail standard on the basis of it being safe for our members

And secure in terms of mail integrity. It is a necessary response to increased competition.

’

Bob Gibson,

assistant

secretary,

CWU

[citizenB]

I can understand the potential issues here, but let's look at the other side of the coin.

 

Your not in, they leave a card and you have to go pick it up from your sorting office. Fine for me as my sorting office is a mile away. Where my parents live (a sizeable town) there is no local sorting office, so they have to do a 12 mile round trip to the next town.

 

I take post for others in my road, and others do the same for me. No problems and we all get our post on the day.

 

I agree that it is likely not a problem in some areas, however areas where there is a high turn over of residents.. short term lets for instance, then this could be a major problem.

[wazir]

A few months on, it works when the regular postie is on a round - they know who's in, who will take items for neighbors, who doesn't get on.

When they're off on leave/sick it's a bigger problem for the cover posties ('reserves', we're known as in Royal Mail). Yet to see the potential problems of theft (by neighbors, or - very rarely - posties) that this practice will make a bit easier (postie and neighbor can claim it was/was not delivered next door). But there is a real push on 'first time delivery' in RM now.