So you are home the whole day awaiting your package within the provided slot.
A few minutes into checking the Royal Mail’s tracking page, you see “Delivery Attempted.”
How is that so? The ring doorbell didn’t go off on motion in the first place. The surveillance cameras captured nothing as well.
Well, welcome to the world of Royal Mail deliveries. If you are wondering about what just happened, you aren’t alone.
What Does Royal Mail “Delivery Attempted” Mean?
When Royal Mail says “delivery attempted,” it means that one of the posties brought the package to the provided address and there was no one available to pick it up.
However, it’s not always the case that there was any attempted delivery in the first place as we will look deeper into this write-up.
Why Does Royal Mail Say “Delivery Attempted” When None Was Made?
Faked Delivery Attempt
In as much as it sounds unethical, some posties fake delivery attempts to avoid the tracking system flagging off the package as delayed.
In such scenarios, we saw such packages delivered first thing in the morning.
Whenever you don’t see the Red Notice Card showing that a delivery attempt was made for your package, there is a higher chance that it was a case of a faked attempt.
Another scenario explaining how a faked attempt happens is where there is a delivery cut-off time and the postie decides to just show that a delivery was attempted to prioritize it the following business day.
The major problem at this point is when they will be on leave the following work day or on a weekend. The recipient will have to wait longer and it could be worse for them if they are expecting a time-sensitive package.
Such faked scans usually happen during the peak delivery times when there are tons of backlogs to be cleared, and posties have to use any scan that won’t trigger that a package has been delayed past the provided slot.
Also Read: Royal Mail Says They Were Unable To Attempt A Delivery
Scanning Error
Scanning errors happen all the time in package delivery journeys and while Royal Mail might say that your package is due to be delivered today followed by they attempted the delivery, it could be sitting somewhere in a local post office.
In fact, due to a scanning error, we have seen packages that were said to have been picked up from the sender end up showing that a delivery attempt was made.
Obviously, there is no way a package can be picked up 100 km away and end up getting delivered in a matter of minutes.
Inaccessible Delivery Address
If your address is inaccessible such as when a dog is roaming around, Royal Mail posties can use the “delivery attempted scan.”
Again, if there are vehicles parked close to the mailbox, they might as well decide to use this update.
We, however, find it best if they use a more elaborate update than just attempted delivery.
A scan should show what happened such that a delivery couldn’t be effected.
What Do I Do When Royal Mail Says “Delivery Attempted?”
Use Third-party Package Tracking Apps
Whenever you see Royal Mail saying that they attempted delivery and you were home the whole day, don’t panic.
Use free Third-party tracking sites such as Parcelsapp or 17Track and you will be in a position to see the journey that the package made.
You might find that the package is still in one of the Royal Mail’s facilities, and the update happened due to a scanning error.
Get In Touch With The Sender
If you were home the whole day or surveillance cameras show that no delivery attempt was made, we recommend that you get in touch with the sender and not Royal Mail.
Since the sender is in contract with Royal Mail to ensure that packages get to the recipients, they should contact Royal Mail on your behalf to get the right status of your package.
In case of any further details past the estimated delivery date, you can then agree with the sender to send you a replacement package or a refund.
