Arundel and South Downs MP, Andrew Griffith, visited the Royal Mail postal team in Arundel on Friday (29th August) to tour the delivery offices and meet the teams before going on a delivery round with one of the local postmen.
Lisa Cripps, the Customer Operations Manager for Arundel, welcomed Andrew to the delivery office and showed him the processes of the final sorting of mail before it is taken out on the delivery rounds. It was by pure coincidence that dozens of Andrew’s letters to residents in Walberton were on the racks ready to be delivered. Andrew sends hundreds of letters each week through the postal system, so it was a good opportunity for him to see how everything works.
Andrew heard how Royal Mail is adapting to the growth in parcel volumes, and how the service is changing to meet the needs of customers who now shop more online than ever before. He also discussed the recent Ofcom changes to the regulations underpinning Royal Mail’s Universal Service (USO). These changes came into force on 28th July. Lisa Cripps said that this will help Royal Mail to better protect the ‘one-price-goes-anywhere’ service that customers value and supports the delivery of a more reliable and sustainable postal service.
As part of his hands-on visit, Andrew had a go at sorting the mail before joining local postie, Jamie O’Fee, on a delivery round in Arundel. He discovered that there is more to delivering the post than simply putting letters through letterboxes. With so many parcels, many of which have to be scanned or photographed for proof of delivery, it is not enough to simply know the route.
The Arundel MP also saw the Delivery Office’s fleet of vehicles. Royal Mail is the UK’s lowest-emissions parcel operator, with over 7,000 EVs in its fleet nationwide and 1,800 more in the pipeline. For its larger trucks, Royal Mail is deploying biofuels to reduce emissions. Added to this is the fact that a majority of deliveries are still made on foot clocking up around one billion steps a day across the country.
Lisa Cripps, the Customer Operations Manager for Arundel, said:
“It was great to have Andrew visit our Delivery Office, and to show him behind the scenes. We were also grateful to have another pair of hands to help deliver the post as it was a busy day! If he wants to help part-time at Christmas, we’d gladly have him back!”
Andrew Griffith, Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs said:
“I am hugely grateful to the brilliant Arundel delivery team, and postal workers everywhere, who go out in all weathers to make sure letters and parcels are delivered on time. There is so much more to the job than even I realised, and I can see how it is having to evolve to meet changing habits in the way we use the post, to keep sustainable and competitive in the sector. Thank you to Lisa Cripps, Jamie O’Fee and everyone I met who took the time to show me their work.”
If you would like to work for Royal Mail, a number of opportunities are available – see https://careers.royalmailgroup.com.
