Royal Mail postal workers claim they are told to hide mail to look like delivery targets met

Royal Mail is facing accusations that postal workers were asked to hide their shipments from senior bosses to give the impression delivery targets were being met.

The postal service is facing criticism that ongoing delays are affecting millions of people across the UK and that parcels are being prioritized over letters.

Ten postal workers told the BBC they were often told by managers to “take the mail for a spin” when a senior manager arrived to inspect the office.

One worker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Let’s say we have a senior manager coming from outside the delivery office, the remaining mail will be hidden by line managers.

“It is placed in York [trolley] It is taken somewhere and brought to you the next day.”

He explained that when someone brought up the fact that there were too many packages to be delivered and the mail was too much to deliver, the staff would often just say “take the mail for a ride.”

“If someone comes in from the outside, it will look like you’ve finished the tour, when in fact when you’re done you’ll bring them right back.

“This is shameful and deceptive,” he said.

Concerns were raised in early March that Royal Mail was failing to meet Ofcom targets on timeliness in its deliveries, potentially leading to millions of letters arriving late.

There is a legal obligation to deliver first-class mail six days a week, and some post offices display signs reminding staff that mail must be delivered.

Another worker said the phrase “taking the mail for a ride” meant that “if inspections were done at the delivery office, first-class mail would not be in the frame.”

“This meant that the tour could be classified as completed in order to manipulate the office’s delivery success.”

Labor MP Dave Robertson has previously said people in his constituency are “tired of Royal Mail lying”.

The Lichfield MP said on Wednesday: “I met with Royal Mail just before Christmas to complain about the complete lack of our postal service in Lichfield. “We were probably the worst part of the country at that point.

“I was told at the meeting that all first class mail was sent that week, which is a lie, an absolute lie because my constituents told me.

“It is clear that Royal Mail has no authority in this matter; they either do not measure their performance or they hide their performance.”

In February, the service said 91.6 percent of second-class mail was delivered within three business days, while 77.5 percent of first-class mail was delivered by the next business day between Sept. 29 and Nov. 30.

Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communications Workers Union, said: “These results prove conclusively that the company’s failure to serve customers is a long-term problem.

“These failures stem from the recruitment crisis caused by the decision to impose low wages and poor conditions on new starters in 2022.

“This devaluation of the postal worker’s job, combined with a toxic management culture, has created chaos and demoralization in nearly every workplace across the country.”

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “These allegations do not reflect how our delivery operations work and we take any suggestion that our colleagues are withholding mail very seriously.

“We deliver 92 percent of letters on time and have a range of measures to monitor service performance across our network, including mail tracking technology, independent measurement and approximately 100 unannounced spot checks each week to ensure reporting is accurate.”