talkmagic.co.uk

Hi, this is Mike from Mike Danata's Magic Studio. I just wanted to come on here to say that despite the fact that I am getting mail order orders out the same day (as usual), because of the Postal Strike, many items are getting very delayed in their delivery, & (rightfully so) customers are getting annoyed.

Every day now, I am getting emails saying "Where are my items that I ordered on the such & such..............." etc etc

Some people are even asking "When can I expect to receive..........?" etc etc.

Please understand that I really have no idea when things will turn up, because it is completely out of my control!

I do everything here myself, & love what I do, I run the business single handedly (wouldn't have it any other way!!) but just can't predict when the postal situation will resolve itself, & when items will turn up.

The reason I am using this forum to relay this message (I sincerely hope that the mods won't mind) is in the hope, that it will reduce the number of emails that I am having to reply to (sometimes at 3 in the morning just to keep up with it!!) concerning the problems with the post.

Please also understand that we actually PAY THE POSTAGE, so if it's just a low priced item that you have ordered, I simply cannot have it sent next day delivery by City Link or whatever, because of the cost.

In the past if the order was £100 (or near) I would send by Special Delivery anyway, for a few months now I've switched over to City Link for next day delivery (apart from Saturdays) & if the order is a decent sized one, I still pay for the delivery, so everyone has been happy.

Enter the Postal Dispute!

Something needs to be done, & this is what I am prepared to do!! for a while (either until the dispute ends, OR a rival company sets up to deliver letters & small pkts) I will send ANYTHING ordered by City Link for delivery NEXT DAY GUARANTEED, as long as the total order is around £50.00 in value, & I WILL PAY THE DELVERY CHARGE!

This would reduce the mounting headache that I am currently experiencing with regard to the Postal Dispute, & hopefully create Happy Customers for me again!

I posted items today, but was told that they now wouldn't be collected until tomorrow, so I rushed to get them out for nothing!

If you want only to order (say) a £10.00 or £15.00 item, I'll still send by CITY LINK NEXT DAY (Apart from Sat) if you pay HALF of the cost, I'll still pay half of it, even though depending on the price of the item, I may not make any profit. Please contact me either by phone, or email to discuss this, all contact details are on my website.

My customers absolutely come first, & I am (almost!) pleased that this mail situation has occured, because it gives me the chance to shine!!!

(Thanks Mods for not removing this post, & if you do I fully understand!)

Best Magical Wishes

Mike

Huh, the postal workers over here can not go on strike.

That really sucks over there, hope it gets solved soon.

I'm also finding it quited annoying!

I'm awaiting an order from Magictricks.co.uk which I placed last weeked. They're normally so quick, but I haven't seen it yet. Boo!

Not their fault, but if you think about it, you can see how crippling for businesses this really can be.

Stuart

Mike, I can sympathise. The exact same situation is happening at my own online shop, and it's causing nightmares.

I cannot stress enough how annoying this situation is, and the sooner it ends, the better.

I've heard similar from others Danata. I'm missing stuff myself. We understand.

I am really angry with Royal mail and to be honest i hope the shops choose a courier service from now on. I am always happy to pay extra for a courier service.

I understand that it must be anoying to have to wait but surely people must understand that it's not the fault of the shop. I can't believe that people would get funny about somthing that's so far out of your control.

For small business like my own, couriers aren't really a viable option. Because of my rural location, they won't collect, and our nearest depot is an uneconomical distance.

Plus, pricing is an issue too.

Royal Mail have the contract, but I am severely doubting that they will for much longer, as I would much rather loose out a few quid of profit in favour of using a courier, than suffer the constant abuse from disgruntled customers who cannot understand that it's not the retailers fault.

Yes using a Courier is fine, but would you use a courier to send a customer some Sponge Balls for instance? The delivery would cost more than the balls!! The customer would not be happy to pay & to be honest either would I!!!

Sending four (I think) 2" sponges in a box at one time cost 70p with Royal Mail, since now it all goes by size, (even if you take them out of the box & try to squish them up, the little blighters just SWELL!) it now costs around £1.30 as a SMALL PACKET!! I actually pay the postage, so of course this eats into profits, I just hope that when a customer orders they order a few things, & not just one item, otherwise we can make a loss!!

I'm still offering the best deal out there!! (& will continue to do so!)

Best wishes

Mike

I understand that JB Magic have, for quite some time now, not used the Post Office in favour of courier service and inevitably it adds considerably to the expense of low cost items. The PO workers are doing themselvs no favours and all this will only lead to the loss of more of their traditional business. At work we used to send 15 or so post parcels a day but for the last 2 years, due to closure of Post Offices, we now do one or two a week and that's only when we absoutely have to use the Postal services. Not good, not good at all.

indeed.. It costs £3.95 to order even a deck of cards, does not put me off but it may do with some people

The Royal Mail are making a VERY BIG MISTAKE! they are already moving many Post Offices into W.H. Smiths (The newsagents chain) & the problem with that is that actual "Retail Shops" housing the Post Offices don't seem to be bothered about the actual Post Office itself, all they seem to be bothered about is the "Foot Traffic" of people entering the shop, & the subsequent SALES (Impulse buys) they can make from the actual customers of the Post Office.

My main Post Office here in Boscombe is inside an independently owned newsagents, & they make so many mistakes (That end up costing me!) & when you try to get it resolved, they tell you that "They" are "Nothing to do with the Post Office, & you'll have to take it up with them!!"

I now walk further to a different Post Office, that is actually ONLY a Post Office, where the staff are PROPERLY trained & KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!

The reason I started this thread was to get people to understand how stressful it's all becoming SINCE the strike, but it was already BAD ENOUGH BEFORE!!!

All the best!

Mike

David The Cryptic wrote:Huh, the postal workers over here can not go on strike.

That really sucks over there, hope it gets solved soon.

No, they just end up bringing a gun to work and killing their co-workers

I like the verb, 'doing a postal'....

DrTodd wrote:

David The Cryptic wrote:Huh, the postal workers over here can not go on strike.

That really sucks over there, hope it gets solved soon.

No, they just end up bringing a gun to work and killing their co-workers

I like the verb, 'doing a postal'....

ITs called "going postal" not "doing a postal." That would mean something totally different.

You know it would happen there too, if they could own guns.

Sadly, we are getting ever-increasing amounts of gun crime and it's not connected to mail services.

The problems with the Royal Mail, as far as I can see, stem from the requirements being imposed on them by the watchdog body Ofcom.

Royal Mail has to do deliveries for other companies and can only charge a bare minimum fee for each item. I think it's something like a penny a letter. Effectively they are subsidising other postal service operators.

The collections and sorting are carried out by the private companies; Royal Mail just does the actual door-to-door deliveries.

I think the idea is that they already have the country-wide delivery network, and it's effectively impossible for other mail companies to provide this. Royal Mail has a monopoly of the distribution network, so it's forced to make the deliveries for a pittance.

Offcom also limits that amount that can be charged for mail items. Good for the consumer in the short term, but it may eventually mean massive problems for Royal Mail, and this will effect everyone.

In the name of increasing competiton, allegedly for the benefit of consumers, Ofcom might be destroying the postal network and you'll end up paying £1 to send a second-class letter.

The postal workers are not helping by striking. If anything, they are further reducing the number of business contracts Royal Mail has. These contracts then go to the private companies and...remember what I said about who has to make the deliveries for very little money?

It is a case of 'turkeys voting for Christmas'. The more business contracts are lost, the less money Royal Mail has and the more cuts will have to be made.

There are other aspects to it as well, of course, like a reduction in letters, but of course internet shopping is popular and those goods have to get delivered somehow.

I'm not an expert, so if anyone knows any better, please reply.

EDIT: Or is it Postcomm, rather than Ofcom?