We cant really blame royal mail in general, crooks are everywhere, and alot of times the person on the recieving end is the real culpret, especially when dealing on ebay.
But anyways, my mate started a job as a posty about 2 months ago and he seen a few posties up no good so far, or not really upto no good, but more not sticking to the rules when it comes to special delivery and recorded delivery. I'm going into one of the post offices on monday morning to see if I can get a job there (hey its good money and I need work lol). If I can get a place there I'll keep my eyes open...we'll have a 'man on the inside'.
Slightly OT...Did you know you can get a 'proof of delivery' on ANYTHING you send via RM, you just ask for it when you are sending something and they will give you a special reciept for it. It costs nothing extra too! lol They never told me that when I was in the post office, I only found out about it after my mate started working with them lol. Aparently the posty can get his ass kicked if they dont do the proof of delivery thing after you have asked for it.
But overall I would say. If you are ever sending anything of value (within the UK anyway). Dont send by RM, use a courier, they are no more expensive than RM now anyways, especially with heavier items. I always use parcel2go.com, they use DHL couriers, they collect the item from you and are very quick at delivering. I've never had bother with them, unlike RM, I've had alot of thing go 'missing' with them.