Have you ever wondered whether the Royal Mail are failing to deliver your post on time? I'd long thought it suspicious that I go days without post then a whole batch arrives together, and that bills seem to arrive long after they were posted. That's why in September 2024 I tried The Royal Mail Experiment. It involved sending myself a letter every day for a week and seeing how long they took to arrive in my letterbox. It went well.
1st class: 5 letters took one day, 1 letter took two days
2nd class: 1 letter took one day, 4 letters took two days, 1 letter took three days
A year and a half later I've tried it again. Just 1st class this time, and just five letters sent Monday to Friday. But each envelope dropped into the box at a main Post Office in South London, as before, and all numbered so I knew exactly what had been sent when. And it did not go well.
Sent
Received
Monday
1st Class (1)
Tuesday
1st Class (2)
1st Class (1)
Wednesday
1st Class (3)
Thursday
1st Class (4)
1st Class (2) 1st Class (3)
Friday
1st Class (5)
Saturday
1st Class (4)
Two letters arrived the next day (1)&(3).
Two letters arrived after two days (2)&(4).
And letter number 5 hadn't arrived yet.
I waited.
Sent
Received
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
some 2nd class mail arrived, but no sign of letter 5
One week after being sent, letter number 5 still hasn't arrived!
Until yesterday it could have been that no deliveries were being made.
But then some 2nd class mail arrived without it, and that's bad.
Either letter 5 is very late or it's got lost.
1st class: 2 letters took one day, 2 letters took two days, 1 hasn't arrived after a week
The Royal Mail target is that 93% of First Class mail must be delivered within one working day of collection.
But they've managed 40% and one missing envelope.
It looks like the mail round here is getting noticeably worse.
But you'd need to try the Royal Mail Experiment again to be sure.
