The Communication Workers Union representing Royal Mail workers has called on it's members to continue going on strike through November, December and more dates are likely to be announced for 2023.
This is going to continue to cause delays to delivery times, in addition Lees Precision Engineering is a one-man micro manufacturer operating part time along with a regular part time job as a result where strike dates are combined with already significantly reduced opening hours at my local Royal Mail delivery office dispatch times have ended up being far longer than I would like although still generally within the up to 5 working days stated on my Shipping Prices & Information page.
The dates on which Royal Mail workers have been and will be going on strike are as follows,
Thursday 24th November
Friday 25th November
Wednesday 30th November
Thursday 1st December
Friday 9th December
Sunday 11th December
Wednesday 14th December
Thursday 15th December
Friday 23rd December
Saturday 24th December
More dates after christmas expected but not yet announced
The above dates are not considered working days for the purpose of working out if an order is delayed or lost,
Please note that not all Royal Mail workers will be on strike, you may have seen Royal Mail vans or workers out on strike dates but this does not mean your order will or could have been delivered on that day as they are giving priority to Special Delivery items and Tracked 24 parcels.
I will continue to dispatch orders as fast as is practically possible but once orders have been dropped off at my local delivery office I have no control over the delivery time and have no way to track the order beyond the tracking basic tracking on the Royal Mail website, nor can I pester someone at Royal Mail to make your order arrive faster.
If you are a website customer within the United Kingdom your order will have been sent by First Class Signed for or Tracked 24, please note these are not guaranteed services and Signed For isn't tracked, the delivery aim is 1 working day and 'tracking' only shows drop off at the delivery office and then delivery or attempted delivery. When an order is dispatched you should receive an automated dispatch confirmation email containing a link with the reference number, if you have had the dispatch email but no link please contact me using the contact form to request it.
For international website customers orders are still likely to be delayed but not as badly due to them only using part of the Royal Mail network, if you have paid for the Priority Tracked Airmail service then you should also receive an automated dispatch confirmation email containing the tracking link, as above if you have received the email but no link please contact me using the contact form and I will reply with the link as soon as possible. Please note that while the Priority Tracked Airmail service does receive priority handling over standard airmail it is not a guaranteed service and can be subject to delays like any other airmail service.
I have received an influx of emails asking questions like “Do you know when my order will be delivered” recently, as none of the services I use are guaranteed the answer is no I don't know exactly, if you have a tracking link that shows your order has been dropped off at the delivery office please consider the strike dates listed above and how many actual working days it has been before sending an email, please be patient and allow some time to pass first. I will not issue refunds for orders that are perceived to be late or delayed as delays are common in November and December normally and I am not compensated by Royal Mail for any delays.
Finally thank you to everyone who has placed an order, past Royal Mail worker strikes have had a devastating impact on order levels and it is those that keep the lights on so the continued orders through this period of strikes is even more appreciated than ever.
