‘Brutal’ staff shortages hampering postal service

Postal workers are choosing between taking a break and completing their rounds, an ex-employee of Royal Mail has claimed.

A former delivery driver has told The Orcadian this week that understaffing is behind many of the problems being felt by customers, amid widespread reports of delays.

Royal Mail has said that it is “focused on having the right staffing in place” for a service that can be disrupted by ferry and flight issues at “short notice”.

The trade union representing postal workers has confirmed that it will be raising the matter locally.

The former postie’s claims follow a report by Consumer Scotland, earlier this month, which highlighted ongoing postal delays and inconsistent delivery tracking in Orkney.

The ex-employee, who worked for several years as a delivery driver, has branded the situation with understaffing “brutal”.

He claims that postal staff often return from a day off to double the workload as their area had been untouched while they were on leave.

He further alleges that, during his time working for Royal Mail, a lack of personnel to sort and deliver mail meant that large parcels had to be prioritised to free up available space.

This, he claims, resulted in letters not being delivered for days at a time, and caused “bundles” of post to build up for some addresses.

The ex-employee claims that staff employed before 2022 had higher wages, which was “demoralising” for many of the workers doing the same job for less pay.

The workload, coupled with low wages, often resulted in staff retention being “horrific”.

“It is staffing that was the biggest thorn in our side,” the former postie said.

“The whole time I was there, we were only fully staffed for about a week.”

Craig Anderson, Scottish secretary for the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has, this week, promised to look closely into Orkney’s postal service issues, after hearing of their alleged severity.

Mr Anderson believes “there is an issue” with delays and that the backlog is primarily caused by the number of vacancies.

“The staff are working as long as they can, and doing as many hours as they can, but obviously when you are down a significant number of staff it’s virtually impossible,” he told The Orcadian.

Mr Anderson said that CWU will be working with Royal Mail to see what can be done to improve staff retention and recruitment, and is actively working to close the pay discrepancies between postal workers.

In response to the concerns raised with The Orcadian, a Royal Mail spokesman said: “We know how important a reliable postal service is to people and businesses in Orkney, and we take the concerns raised about deliveries, staffing and customer service seriously.

“Serving island communities involves some of the most complex routes in the UK, with deliveries relying on external ferry and air links that can be disrupted at short notice.

“Our teams monitor these closely, use alternative arrangements where possible, and work to move any affected mail as soon as services resume.

“We are also focused on having the right staffing in place. Recruiting and retaining people locally can be challenging, so we continue to offer a welcome bonus and use temporary staff where needed to support deliveries.”

This is not a problem unique to Orkney. In many areas, the Royal Mail is struggling to employ enough staff to manage their area.

On Tuesday, dozens of postcodes across the UK were told to expect delayed deliveries, according to Royal Mail’s website. No KW postcode was included in this list.

Orkney businesses and residents have frequently felt the impact of postal backlogs in recent years.

In March, last year, the newspaper reported that some residents in Evie and Harray “hadn’t received a single letter or parcel for over ten days” due to what Royal Mail referred to as “short-term sickness absence.”

Tongues have been wagging again in recent weeks over delivery delays, particularly in Kirkwall.

One town resident told the newspaper that he received a bundle of mail on July 23 — the post marks of which, he claims, dated as far back as June 26.

The contents, he said, included belated birthday cards, an envelope marked “important documents”, and credit card statements with just four days left to pay until penalties would be applied.

“This is just not acceptable,” he said, frustrated at the extent to which he claims he had to “chase” Royal Mail to get a delivery.

Another Kirkwall resident has claimed that their complaint about a parcel being misdelivered and damaged wasn’t resolved in a timely fashion.

Some businesses told the newspaper, this week, that they have experienced issues tracking deliveries and with contacting staff regarding delays or compensation.

Nevertheless, they are extremely grateful for the hard work of postal staff, and feel that their overall experience with the service is a positive one.

Martin Fleet, director of jewellery company Sheila Fleet, explained that over 70 per cent of his business relies on postal deliveries.

“It has a positive impact when it works well,” he told The Orcadian.

“It enhances our service as a business for special delivery as it can get items to people quickly when it works.

“In the past year or so, this has at times been impacted by some delays.”

Mr Fleet believes that improving terms and conditions for Royal Mail staff is needed to encourage staff retention and recruitment.

“I hear that those coveted postal jobs have had really big cut backs in the terms and conditions and many people have left the company,” he said.

“This means the knowledge goes with them and no continuity.

“If there is nobody to take up the roles that the fantastic postal workers do, then the whole service would collapse in Orkney.”

In response to the recent Consumer Scotland report on island postal services, Orkney’s MSP Liam McArthur has called for renewed engagement with affected communities to improve reliability and transparency of the service.