Bank Holiday Disruptions

We are aware of recent comments on social media about delays to letter mail and parcel deliveries in Jersey. In addition, a number of customers have been enquiring about the length of time that some items have been taking to be delivered. The delays have been exacerbated by the double bank holiday during the week of 6 May. We endeavour to control the timely delivery of any items that have arrived on the island from the UK and overseas in line with our clear-floor policy in the sorting office. The policy is that no items are left behind if they are due for delivery. Our delivery days are Monday to Friday for letter mail and parcels and some Saturdays for certain parcel services.

At the end of Liberation week, we found ourselves in the position where Thursday’s airmail was sent by sea container arriving on Friday evening. On the Monday following Liberation week, we received the normal weekend container plus a further two and the normal Monday airmail. This meant we had 4 sea containers on top of our normal daily airmails and it took us until the end of last week to clear all of this.

How mail is prioritised

The speed of service for letter mail and parcels sent to Jersey is determined by the postage service that has been paid for at the point of despatch:

• First class - once this mail arrives on the island, it is sorted and sent out for delivery on the same day that it arrives.
• Second class or parcel service - depending on the mail boat arrival time, these items will be sorted ready for delivery on the day after they are received at Rue des Pres.

Whether they arrive by first or second class, almost all of these items will have been despatched to the island by Royal Mail. We continue to have a productive working relationship with Royal Mail. However, we are seeing an increasing rate of Royal Mail sending first class and priority items by sea. This means that first-class mail could be mixed up with bags of non-priority mail. We regret that this naturally impacts on the length of time it takes for these items to reach the island and be available to us for processing and final delivery.

We would like to reassure all islanders that we also find this frustrating and that we are working hard with Royal Mail to resolve this matter. Our CEO, Tim Brown is meeting Royal Mail later this month to discuss these challenges.

Outstanding items

If any customers are waiting for items that are now outside of the estimated delivery dates, we can advise the following options:

1. Items with a tracking number can be tracked by our Customer Services team, or online at jerseypost.com/tracking.
   
   
2. Items that are ordered online should be queried directly with the online retailer - service delivery details can be queried more rapidly through the point of despatch.
   
   
3. Items from friends/family with no tracking details should be queried with the postal provider at the point of despatch. There will be arrangements in place with the postal despatch provider to remedy items that have not yet been received.

Finally, we would like to thank islanders for their continued support.