This has just happened to me for at least the 3rd time in one year. I cancelled the things I planned for today only to be at home for the delivery; I was sat at home all day and heard nothing. Then, around 2PM I found a red slip saying I should contact Royal Mail for a redelivery (I was at work yesterday when they first ~~tried~~ left a red slip). Obviously my only other day off is tomorrow (Wednesday), and the earliest they allow me to schedule it for is Thursday, so the earliest I can TRY to receive it is an entire week from now. Alternatively, I could have it redelivered to the post office near me, which closes before I could get back from work (EDIT: it ALSO opens after I have to leave for work, therefore completely useless for picking up stuff that arrives on my working day). This is super infuriating now.
Once I even found 2 red slips with different dates in my post box, even though it was empty the night before.
What's going on when this happens?
UPDATE:
So this morning, as a night owl, I decided to make a sacrifice and took an early train to the delivery office (which is open between 8AM and 10AM, but I get it, otherwise the parcels are en route during the day). I asked the guy at the window about it, being fully aware that he might or might not be part of the actual delivery process; not blaming, not interrogating, just simply asking if he knows what the heck is going on.
Yupp, he confirmed what everyone has been commenting about, lol. He didn't have anything other in mind, apart from the afternoon delivery guy cutting corners. I can still imagine it's because they are loaded with work (it happens to be the case at my job) and it's literally impossible to make everyone happy, but management refuses to pay more people. Or he's just lazy. I don't know, but the bottom line is, it wasn't because of some technical nuance, bureaucracy, barometric pressure change in the stratosphere or God knows what. Most likely, he had the parcel but decided to bring the red slip only.
My trust in humanity is in the negatives.
Not a Post Office worker but I was right by the door when one dropped through, so I whipped the door open and shouted after the postie. He sheepishly told me that he hadn't brought it out. I imagine, especially at this time of year, they are flooded with stuff to deliver and it must be tempting to leave a few behind (especially if you don't have room for them) and the customer can come and fetch them.