Wednesday, May 01, 2019

Why don't An Post use eircode?

I took a delivery this morning from An Post for a new book purchased from Amazon - I'm delighted that they use our national postal service to deliver our parcels. No doubt that this is contributing a significant part of An Post's business - see "Profits at An Post surge by 400pc while it closes offices" announced today.

But what really surprised me was that the delivery man called me from his phone as he approached our street - I could see him through our front window. I take particular care to ensure that my address is full and accurate - plus I now always add my postcode/eircode. It turned out that the printing on my parcel label was very close to the edge, and the driver could not tell if my house number was "2", or "12", or "22" and so on. I also know that these drivers are under tremendous pressure to deliver quickly, so no doubt he was saving himself some time to avoid checking every house on our street that has a "2" in the address. When he got to my door I asked him could he not have used the eircode (which was on the label)? He said that while it is used in the sorting office it is "no use" to the drivers, and that the drivers "can't find anything" with the eircode. They do not have a navigation system that can use the eircode and bring them directly to the delivery address. They are still relying on the street address, and still have to use the phone if their is any ambiguity on the address label. 

Jaysus!

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