Royal Mail tracker.

[Brandane]

I always thought the main point of these parcel tracking things was to give the valued customer some idea of when their goods might be delivered. However it seems I was mistaken, reading my message from them (it is a parcel from Tweeks cycles, incidentally. Sadly not a new bike, just parts).
They will update the tracker once the item has been delivered, or an attempt made to deliver? Not very useful, really. I wanted to know WHEN that attempt might be made, so that I could arrange to be at home to receive it rather than chase it up once the failed delivery has occurred. Could be worse; they could have sent it with Evri 😵.

 

[Drago]

It'll only tell you it's been delivered after you've already discovered for yourself that it's been delivered. Tres crap!

 

[markemark]

In fairness there's too many unknown variables (traffic, delivery waiting, weather etc etc) to know when they will be delivering something as the schedule is non linear. The sequence can also change throughout the day due to traffic conditions. I would be surprised if the algorithm is set at 5am and does not change as the day progresses
For example, you have to deliver 300 items in and around the city you live in. Can you tell when the 178th item would be delivered?

The best they could realistically do is tell you when they are, say, 10 away from you and that would be in around an hour. Some couriers do this.

 

[kynikos]

always worth checking what the delivery options are - and sometimes worth paying a bit more for a better service

 

[classic33]

Last parcel sent to me that way showed it at the receiving station, where it sat for over a week. Only moving when the sender got in touch with them.
After that showed as in transit, then the date, but not the time, for delivery. Paid for first class, trackable postage really didn't show much.

 

[Brandane]

always worth checking what the delivery options are - and sometimes worth paying a bit more for a better service

But why even bother to claim that it's possible to track your parcel, when that is clearly not the case. Checking whether it has been delivered or not, I can do that by looking inside my front door (unless a signature is needed).
As for paying extra for a better service, on this occasion it doesn't warrant any extra expense as it's not time critical. Cost was £4.50 for the standard delivery.

 

[Brandane]

In fairness there's too many unknown variables (traffic, delivery waiting, weather etc etc) to know when they will be delivering something as the schedule is non linear. The sequence can also change throughout the day due to traffic conditions. I would be surprised if the algorithm is set at 5am and does not change as the day progresses
For example, you have to deliver 300 items in and around the city you live in. Can you tell when the 178th item would be delivered?

The best they could realistically do is tell you when they are, say, 10 away from you and that would be in around an hour. Some couriers do this.

"Out for delivery" on the tracker would be good enough. Most delivery companies can manage this.

 

[Drago]

always worth checking what the delivery options are - and sometimes worth paying a bit more for a better service

You know things have got bad when you see it's coming by Evri and breathe a sigh of relief! (Our local Evri lady is lovely)

 

[fossyant]

I've found the royal mail one usually updates once it's out for delivery. I did have a right run around with an item via Amazon Germany - arrived ni UK fine, then Royal Mail kept trying to deliver it to somewhere in Oxford, even a photo of the person's feet and front door. Despite many attempts telling them the wrong address, the item was returned to the seller. Once Amazon refunded me, I ordered some more and these turned up. A week or two later, the original item arrived back with Amazon/the seller, and I received another refund against the second order.

My medication comes via Royal Mail and the tracking is pretty good, but it's 48h tracked.

 

[Pblakeney]

Last parcel sent to me that way showed it at the receiving station, where it sat for over a week. Only moving when the sender got in touch with them.
After that showed as in transit, then the date, but not the time, for delivery. Paid for first class, trackable postage really didn't show much.

I'm going through that just now.
Posted an item on Friday morning. It is tracked as having been received but there is no indication of movement since.

 

[PaulSB]

The Royal Mail tracker used to be OK. In recent months it's been terrible. I get a notification an item has been despatched and then nothing more.

 

[ColinJ]

I see it as 'out for delivery' and a 3-4 hour range of delivery times, say 11:00-14:00. All of my recent deliveries came in the middle of the quoted range.

 

[kynikos]

Living close to the metropolis of Leeds means there are several Amazon warehouses within spitting distance and I'm about to order some stuff for delivery today with no extra charge. All tracked and can't fault 'em.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

The Royal Mail tracker used to be OK. In recent months it's been terrible. I get a notification an item has been despatched and then nothing more.

I have a parcel in transit at the moment. Yesterday the web based tracking as giving good sensible information about where it was but today I get no information at all, just nothing about the parcel (not even what was being shown yesterday).

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

Certainly when I was at RM a few years ago, only certain items would be fully trackable on the online RM tracker.

For example, "Recorded Sign For" have a 13 character code, but the only update you would get is when scanned at the delivery address. "Tracked" on the other hand, would be scanned at various points through the pipeline, including arriving at delivery depot; ready for delivery; delivered etc.