5 ms·

"It is unclear at what point these ‘counterfeit’ stamps have entered circulation, and their source — or whether they are genuine and Royal Mail’s scanning techn

by nextos 3y ago

"It is unclear at what point these ‘counterfeit’ stamps have entered circulation, and their source — or whether they are genuine and Royal Mail’s scanning technology is at fault." Given the precedents from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal, I think the second option is plausible. My experience in the UK is that dysfunctional organizations try to hide issues by bullying their own customers.

toomuchtodo 3y ago
It’s a scandal engine that occasionally delivers mail. No accountability, no repercussions.
- matthewmacleod 3y ago
  Royal Mail and the Post Office are two separate organisations.
  - toomuchtodo 3y ago
    I am aware. It seems, regardless of institution, that no one at these levels of UK public good can take responsibility. It is as if the apathy has been institutionalized in a declining nation state. Where and how do find someone who cares and the authority to do something about it? If you told me yet another UK institution had systemic issues (NHS?), I would not be surprised, and that is very sad. It should not be this hard to do better. Right? Or am I just an ignorant Yankee?
    - RobotToaster 3y ago
      Royal mail has been a privately owned corporation for some years now.
      - toomuchtodo 3y ago
        Ignorant Yankee behind the times it is. Much shame. Appreciate being corrected.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- bombcar 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - lostlogin 3y ago
    No, the mail service isn’t protecting paedophiles as far as I know.
    - Loughla 3y ago
      [flagged]
      - andy81 3y ago
        > Pissed that my taxes were subsidizing their bullshit Accurate
      - pard68 3y ago
        Well I (an American) agree with your sentiment, it appears that the British royalty don't actually rely on tax money, but instead they keep 25% of the money that the royaly estate /makes/ and the other 75% goes to the British treasury. But I might be wrong. https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-57559653 https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-57559653
        Dalewyn 3y ago
        Also an American and I like the British (and also Japanese) royals. Benevolent monarchs are a cornerstone of serenity and sanity. And yes, I realize the irony as an American. I think on average Americans like the British royal family more than Britons do?
        oarsinsync 3y ago
        > Benevolent monarchs… The British royal family has veto power over parliament. They use this power to rewrite laws. Lots of this is well documented, but poorly publicised.
- devnullbrain 3y ago
  >that occasionally delivers mail Roughly once every two weeks, here.
bombcar 3y ago
Or it could be a bug in the printing, there have been cases before where things were accidentally duplicated that shouldn't have been. https://www.mycurrencycollection.com/blog/1-2013-new-york-duplicate-serial-number-mistake https://www.mycurrencycollection.com/blog/1-2013-new-york-du...
nikdoof 3y ago
In the past six months I've had four letters returned to me because they went through the sort/scanner upside down and used the sender address on the CN22 as the destination address. I'd put money on it being a failure of technology.
- ThePowerOfFuet 3y ago
  Try putting the CN22 on the back instead.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
quitit 3y ago
>My experience in the UK is that dysfunctional organizations try to hide issues by bullying their own customers. I noticed this from Royal Mail. I reached out to them multiple times regarding a scam carried out using one of their tracked products from an eBay purchase and they said there was nothing they could do about it. But there was something they could do, and it was already going on completely silently in the background. I later received a letter from Royal Mail stating that the delivery did in fact not take place, and with that I was able to claim a refund from eBay. However my interactions with Royal Mail were not reasonable: 1. They did not disclose that the matter would be looked into, instead they stated unequivocally that it would not and there was no way to escalate the matter. This meant that my plans were altered on account of assuming that the funds were lost. 2. They were unwilling to provide any official statement to eBay regarding the limited "tracking" available for their own product, and naturally eBay won't accept second-hand statements. If they were slightly flexible this would have resolved the dispute promptly - and I doubt I was the first person to fall victim to this scam, so some communication between eBay and Royal Mail would seem reasonable. 3. They gave no notice that they found in my favour and would be sending me a letter as evidence. I only received that mail by chance as I happened to book the same accomodation in a later visit, and this luckily coincided with that letter's arrival. The unhelpfulness, stonewalling and opaque investigation seem entirely designed to cover for their own shortcomings. They would have had location data for the signed delivery, and they would have immediately had visibility that this didn't match my address.

by nextos 3y ago

toomuchtodo 3y ago

It’s a scandal engine that occasionally delivers mail. No accountability, no repercussions.

matthewmacleod 3y ago
Royal Mail and the Post Office are two separate organisations.
- toomuchtodo 3y ago
  I am aware. It seems, regardless of institution, that no one at these levels of UK public good can take responsibility. It is as if the apathy has been institutionalized in a declining nation state. Where and how do find someone who cares and the authority to do something about it? If you told me yet another UK institution had systemic issues (NHS?), I would not be surprised, and that is very sad. It should not be this hard to do better. Right? Or am I just an ignorant Yankee?
  - RobotToaster 3y ago
    Royal mail has been a privately owned corporation for some years now.
    - toomuchtodo 3y ago
      Ignorant Yankee behind the times it is. Much shame. Appreciate being corrected.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
bombcar 3y ago
[flagged]
- lostlogin 3y ago
  No, the mail service isn’t protecting paedophiles as far as I know.
  - Loughla 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - andy81 3y ago
      > Pissed that my taxes were subsidizing their bullshit Accurate
    - pard68 3y ago
      Well I (an American) agree with your sentiment, it appears that the British royalty don't actually rely on tax money, but instead they keep 25% of the money that the royaly estate /makes/ and the other 75% goes to the British treasury. But I might be wrong. https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-57559653 https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-57559653
      - Dalewyn 3y ago
        Also an American and I like the British (and also Japanese) royals. Benevolent monarchs are a cornerstone of serenity and sanity. And yes, I realize the irony as an American. I think on average Americans like the British royal family more than Britons do?
        oarsinsync 3y ago
        > Benevolent monarchs… The British royal family has veto power over parliament. They use this power to rewrite laws. Lots of this is well documented, but poorly publicised.
devnullbrain 3y ago
>that occasionally delivers mail Roughly once every two weeks, here.

bombcar 3y ago

Or it could be a bug in the printing, there have been cases before where things were accidentally duplicated that shouldn't have been. https://www.mycurrencycollection.com/blog/1-2013-new-york-duplicate-serial-number-mistake https://www.mycurrencycollection.com/blog/1-2013-new-york-du...

nikdoof 3y ago

In the past six months I've had four letters returned to me because they went through the sort/scanner upside down and used the sender address on the CN22 as the destination address. I'd put money on it being a failure of technology.

ThePowerOfFuet 3y ago
Try putting the CN22 on the back instead.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

quitit 3y ago

>My experience in the UK is that dysfunctional organizations try to hide issues by bullying their own customers. I noticed this from Royal Mail. I reached out to them multiple times regarding a scam carried out using one of their tracked products from an eBay purchase and they said there was nothing they could do about it. But there was something they could do, and it was already going on completely silently in the background. I later received a letter from Royal Mail stating that the delivery did in fact not take place, and with that I was able to claim a refund from eBay. However my interactions with Royal Mail were not reasonable: 1. They did not disclose that the matter would be looked into, instead they stated unequivocally that it would not and there was no way to escalate the matter. This meant that my plans were altered on account of assuming that the funds were lost. 2. They were unwilling to provide any official statement to eBay regarding the limited "tracking" available for their own product, and naturally eBay won't accept second-hand statements. If they were slightly flexible this would have resolved the dispute promptly - and I doubt I was the first person to fall victim to this scam, so some communication between eBay and Royal Mail would seem reasonable. 3. They gave no notice that they found in my favour and would be sending me a letter as evidence. I only received that mail by chance as I happened to book the same accomodation in a later visit, and this luckily coincided with that letter's arrival. The unhelpfulness, stonewalling and opaque investigation seem entirely designed to cover for their own shortcomings. They would have had location data for the signed delivery, and they would have immediately had visibility that this didn't match my address.