[CMOTD]

It is not generally realised that the Post Office and Royal Mail became separate entities after privatisation in 2013. Royal Mail is now a private delivery company while the Post Office remained in government ownership and has no responsibility for mail delivery. Most of the problems people encounter are due to this weird split. They do have an agreement for the Post Office to sell stamps and receive mail on the Royal Mail's behalf but that is about the limit of their cooperation.

We have a village Post Office where I live, it is well run with friendly efficient staff. Likewise our village posties are great but a problem arises when they are unable to deliver a parcel for any reason. Instead of leaving it at the village Post Office for collection they are obliged to return it to the Royal Mail depot which is in a market town 8 miles away and has very limited opening hours!