More than 115,000 UK postal workers are to stage a series of strikes in the coming weeks in a dispute over pay. As Royal Mail plays a key part in how we get your orders delivered, we wanted to keep you informed about how best to avoid the disruption, while supporting the demands for a fair pay rise for postal workers.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called on its members who collect, sort and deliver parcels and mail to take strike action on 26th and 31st August, and then the 8th and 9th September 2022.
The CWU have said it will be the biggest strike of the summer so far to demand a “dignified, proper pay rise”. The decision follows a recent ballot for strike action, in which 97.6% of a 77% turnout of members voted in favour of industrial action.
The CWU general secretary, Dave Ward, said: “Nobody takes the decision to strike lightly, but postal workers are being pushed to the brink.
“There can be no doubt that postal workers are completely united in their determination to secure the dignified, proper pay rise they deserve. We can’t keep on living in a country where bosses rake in billions in profit while their employees are forced to use food banks.
“The CWU’s message to Royal Mail’s leadership is simple – there will be serious disruption until you get real on pay.”
Service disruption during Royal Mail strikes
Royal Mail has contingency plans in place, but they cannot fully compensate for the daily efforts of their frontline workforce. Some services will still be running, but we are expecting, and planning for, significant disruption during this period of industrial action.
On the strike days, Royal Mail will prioritise Special Delivery and Tracked24 parcels. Regular services, such as the Tracked48 service that we offer for free on orders over £20, will not be prioritised. This is likely to be applicable to collections as well as deliveries, which means we won’t get a daily collection from our warehouse.
Delivery and collection offices will also be closed on strike days, so if you miss a delivery and need to visit your local office to collect, you shouldn’t attempt this on the above mentioned dates.
What are we doing for our customers?
At Vape UK, we’re completely sympathetic to the rights of our dedicated postal workers to demand fair pay and conditions for the work they do. We are also completely committed to ensuring that our loyal and valued customers receive the vaping products they need in a timely manner, with minimal possible delays.
To that end, we have taken the decision to offer a 50% reduction on our DPD Local service.
With DPD Local you can expect guaranteed next day delivery on orders placed before 4.30pm on weekdays, and before 2pm at the weekend. They deliver every day of the week, and offer a fully tracked service with a one hour delivery window provided at the start of the delivery day.
During this period of industrial action, our DPD Local services will be offered at the following prices:
- £2.49 for orders under £20
- £1.99 for orders between £20 and £59.99
- £0.99 for orders between £60 and £99.99
- FREE for orders over £100 (as usual)
This reduction will be in place on our website from 25th to 1st September (inclusive) to allow Royal Mail to catch up after the strikes.
If the first round of strikes doesn’t conclude with an acceptable resolution between the CWU and Royal Mail, and the second round of strikes is required, we will reinstate the 50% DPD Local reduction from 7th to 13th September.
We will also update the Royal Mail Special Delivery option at checkout to show that delays are unavoidable. We would ask you not to select this service when we can’t guarantee that Royal Mail will be able to keep up with demand, and provide the next day delivery that you’d have paid for. Unfortunately, we can’t remove it completely, but hope that seeing the delay to delivery dates reminds customers to avoid.
We will still be offering our free Tracked48 service with Royal Mail on all orders over £20. Just be aware that delays are inevitable, and beyond our control. Even on the days leading up to, and following on from, the scheduled strike days, there is likely to be disruption to postal services.
What can you do to help?
If you prefer to opt for free delivery, and are in no particular rush for your order to be delivered, then by all means select Royal Mail’s Tracked48 options at the checkout. We will still pick and pack your order as per our normal service offering, but we can’t guarantee that your order will be collected from us on the same day.
If you need your order to be delivered sooner rather than later, opt for our reduced DPD Local delivery option. We will review and maintain the 50% reduction until the Royal Mail service is operating as normal.
Most of all, what we can all do to help is be patient and understanding while the industrial action takes place. We support the postal workers in their efforts to secure a dignified pay increase; we will also do what we can to minimise the disruption to our customers. Hopefully the CWU will be successful, and normal service can resume as soon as possible.
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At Vape UK, we pride ourselves on being responsible vaping advocates. We keep up to date with all of the latest news and studies; we supply high quality TPD compliant vaping products; and we are always on hand to offer helpful and honest advice about vaping. Please get in touch if you have any questions for our team.
About the author - Nicola Webster
Nicola Webster works as a researcher, consultant, and content creator for Vape UK. She holds a CIM Level 6 Diploma in Professional Marketing and has developed her skills and knowledge of analytics and research over a 12 year career in product marketing. Her research led approach to campaigns and content writing ensures the articles she writes for Vape UK always have a basis in fact and cut through the noise. A strong advocate for tobacco harm reduction, Nicola is an ex-smoker thanks to vaping and wants others to understand the benefits of vaping compared to smoking. 
