Postal service now ‘unreliable and expensive’

Post from the UK is increasingly unreliable and expensive. No Mothering Sunday card came through my letterbox until Monday 29 March although posted in central London on Tuesday 22 March with a 1st class stamp. Guernsey Post Office told me 1st class mail takes four days on average now from outside the islands, so tell your friends to make sure they beat the Friday deadline by posting on a Monday.

The price of an English 1st class stamp will be 95p and 2nd Class 68p in April. Guernsey 1st Class rises to 52p within the Bailiwick and 79p to UK, Isle of Man and Jersey. But remember to make sure your envelope is no bigger than 24x16.5cm or you will pay 73p within the Bailiwick and £1.26 to the UK.

If you need your mail to arrive faster there’s always the special service costing £7.50 to the UK or £4 within the Bailiwick. Add that to the price of your card and online greetings might be a better deal, but it’s much more fun to open a cheerful card to stand on your desk.

We need postal services but are increasingly frustrated by the unreliable and expensive service. We have lost some hard copy newspapers being delivered in Guernsey. Will our mail be the next to go?

ELISABETH EVANS

Editor’s footnote: Dawn Gallienne, head of corporate engagement for Guernsey Post, responds:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond. We do monitor quality of service levels for items going to and from the UK and it is certainly the case that the service has not yet returned to the levels we would have expected before the pandemic. The majority of our delivery partners in the UK have had to contend with high absence levels. We can at least reassure our customers that once the item arrives in Guernsey it is dealt with the same day, whether that is for onward connection or out for delivery. If customers have incidents where specific items are taking too long to arrive, please contact our Customer Service Team on 711720 so we can investigate.