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John's Jottings November/December 2011 by John Ineson |
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The Philatelic Exporter reported a few months ago that the Royal Mail destroys 25 million undeliverable items a year. This information came out in response to a Freedom of Information request when they reluctantly disclosed that it shredded 152 millions of undeliverable mail — letters, packets and parcels in the last six years. The Daily Mail reported earlier this year that 70,000 items were sent to the National Returns Centre in Belfast every day. These bore incorrect or incomplete addresses and no return address. If the contents also did not help to deliver or return the item, anything valuable is extracted and sold at auction with the profits going towards the running the centre. Therefore if sending stamps make sure you address the envelope correctly! In another article written in The Daily Telegraph it reported that Royal Mail was forced to pay £5.1 million in compensation for lost items in the last year — equivalent of almost £100,000 per week. This article mentioned that 160 full-time staff are employed at the National Returns Centre to reunite lost letters and parcel with their rightful owners. They manage to redirect one in five items they receive.
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