LAT product

[SpacePhoenix]

Rumours at MC suggest the product will stop after trial period (October). Any truth in this rumour?

Doubtful, if Amazon or another really big company were to ever use it, then all DOs would have to put 1 or more proper duties in to cover it (plus however many reserves would be needed). Don't know if LAT would be enough to get Amazon to move all their postings from Yodel over to RM

Amazons aim is to increase their own delivery network and compete for contracts currently delivered by RM. We still get a few Amazon parcels to deliver but a small percentage of what we used to deliver

We still get huge amounts of Amazon stuff in my office, probably 15-20% of our workload. Several Yorks full every day. Amazon attempt to use their own drivers for a short while a couple of years ago but we soon got it all back because we're in a fairly isolated part of the country. It will be interesting to see if they expand their delivery network enough to take the work off us again.

For Amazon to compete to get contracts currently done by RM, they're proabably have to start delivering in areas which they currently off-load to RM.

[Smir]

the guy in our office is only 30 hours, he's a tad annoyed as he meet someone from a different office who had already finished, but was on a full time duty (unsure if 35/37)

last Saturday he had a full delivery to do.. from 2pm, and had a parcel to do in the next town and also some extra areas to delivery to... are they trying to piss him off aswell? seems shocking.

[Anonymous100]

Hi,

I’ve been reading through a lot of the comments and it’s interesting to see how this alAT product is being run across the country.
I’m doing this in my office and at first when I was first asked about doing it I was told I’d get 5hours added to my contract which at the time was 25hr contracts so this put me up to 30hours and I was told however many that came in once I delivered them then I could go home.
So when it started in July, I’m not lying we were getting 1-3 parcels a day on this LAT thing and suddenly the goal posts moved and managers were giving us tracked packets which didn’t go out, they were giving us loops off walks which never went out we were basically mop up in the office and treated like a dogs body in my opinion.

That’s not what I signed up too, and although with new businesses coming on board in September/October we should see the LAT numbers increase each day unless the managers in my office decide to stop treating us like mop up. I’ve already been told by the union in my office I can give the hours straight back.

I’m giving it one more week as I have asked for a meeting with the union and the Dom to see if we can change this, and if they won’t budge then I’m not doing it anymore.
I’m not mucking about, the managers grab a York, walk round the whole office with you and chuck into your York anything which hasn’t gone out, it’s taking the piss.

I do think it’s a shame because I agree with some of the comments it’s a product which I believe has the potential to be really good for Royal because ‘most’ people they are impulse buyers and when they decide they want something they don’t want to wait long for it, so if we can get those items to people same day or next day and do it really well, suddenly Royal Mail will have a new revenue stream coming in.

I will keep you all posted what happens next week, but in our office all the other guys who are doing this with me, they also want to give it up as well because managers are just using this time for mop up and to cover up how much each office is failing and not hitting there performance targets.
I personally want to get it sooner, because with Christmas coming in a few months I have no interest doing loads of LAT tracked packets and them try give me loops or packets from other areas.
Regardless if we get 10 a day or 20 or 30, the managers in my office won’t say what that magic number is when we don’t have to take any loops or tracked with it.

The area I cover is about 8 towns it’s a huge area and when I did it recently I had one packet in each town which were about 5-6 miles apart which doesn’t sound like very far but when I start this after I finish my duty after 2-3pm, I get stuck in traffic and it’s not as simple as they think.
Then where they give us loops and tracked packets you can’t just focus on your LAT because you know if you don’t clear the loops or the 20-30 tracked they have given you as well if they failed and you was unable to deliver them you would get a bollocking the following day.

So for me they are putting us under too much pressure, they are putting too much work on us and they have moved the goalposts from what this was originally meant to be and I think by the end of next week some of us are going to give this up because it’s a load of s**t to be honest in my office.

[SpacePhoenix]

The area I cover is about 8 towns it’s a huge area and when I did it recently I had one packet in each town which were about 5-6 miles apart which doesn’t sound like very far but when I start this after I finish my duty after 2-3pm, I get stuck in traffic and it’s not as simple as they think.

Realistically RM need to have a LAT duty per DO

[Ozzvaldo]

The area I cover is about 8 towns it’s a huge area and when I did it recently I had one packet in each town which were about 5-6 miles apart which doesn’t sound like very far but when I start this after I finish my duty after 2-3pm, I get stuck in traffic and it’s not as simple as they think.

Realistically RM need to have a LAT duty per DO

The LAT for my town office is covered by somebody from a smaller town DO 35 miles away. They also do the areas covered by the offices in between, much of it being fairly deep rural stuff....very narrow lanes, steep terrain, half the properties un-signed/un-numbered etc. By all accounts they too are getting a bit fed up with their DOMs expectations for them as mop-up fodder in addition to their LAT work.

[Celgar]

No offence to anyone doing the LAT but it always sounded like a **** idea from the start in terms of the actual job. Delivering to addresses you have never been to before, houses maybe not being visibly named or numbered, working in the dark, maybe encountering dogs you don't know about. Sounds like a mine field to me. I get that it could potentially bring a fair bit of extra revenue for RM but do any of us really need that kind of hassle at the end of the day.

[clashcityrocker]

Realistically RM need to have a LAT duty per DO

The introduction of the product with just one customer was simply to ensure the pipeline was fit for purpose.
The roll out with new customers suggests it is.
Realistically RM will be looking to incorporate the majority of the LAT packets into the current delivery span. It is the only way it makes financial sense.
Later starts anyone .....

[Tristral]

Realistically RM need to have a LAT duty per DO

The introduction of the product with just one customer was simply to ensure the pipeline was fit for purpose.
The roll out with new customers suggests it is.
Realistically RM will be looking to incorporate the majority of the LAT packets into the current delivery span. It is the only way it makes financial sense.
Later starts anyone .....

Maybe someone who knows more about this could answer a hypothetical question.
If R.M actually wanted the LAT to go out in the normal delivery span what time would you be starting your duty?

I would 've thought it's gonna be seriously late on if it takes so long for LAT to get through processing.
Am under no illusion that it'll stay this way as it can't be cost effective yet in my view

[SpacePhoenix]

Realistically RM need to have a LAT duty per DO

The introduction of the product with just one customer was simply to ensure the pipeline was fit for purpose.
The roll out with new customers suggests it is.
Realistically RM will be looking to incorporate the majority of the LAT packets into the current delivery span. It is the only way it makes financial sense.
Later starts anyone .....

Maybe someone who knows more about this could answer a hypothetical question.
If R.M actually wanted the LAT to go out in the normal delivery span what time would you be starting your duty?

I would 've thought it's gonna be seriously late on if it takes so long for LAT to get through processing.
Am under no illusion that it'll stay this way as it can't be cost effective yet in my view

Realistically if that were to happen i think 00:00-08:00 (or maybe 09:00) for night shifts in MCs and 09:00-17:00 in DOs (would just need 1 maybe 2 people in earlier to do any 9am specials). What sort of time are the LAT products arriving in the hubs atm?

[number one]

Realistically RM need to have a LAT duty per DO

The introduction of the product with just one customer was simply to ensure the pipeline was fit for purpose.
The roll out with new customers suggests it is.
Realistically RM will be looking to incorporate the majority of the LAT packets into the current delivery span. It is the only way it makes financial sense.
Later starts anyone .....

The LAT products aren’t reaching some DO’s until 13:00 so what time are we all going to start 14:00-22:00??

[Tristral]

I've never seen LAT before 2:30 So how they want to bake that into normal delivery is beyond me.

[clashcityrocker]

I've never seen LAT before 2:30 So how they want to bake that into normal delivery is beyond me.

Obviously they will need to cook the books.

[clashcityrocker]

How many packets do you think someone needs to deliver on 4/5 hours overtime for that to be economically viable?

[Celgar]

Say we did incorporate the LAT parcels into the main delivery span and a lot more companies started using the LAT service. The Vans are often pretty full once everything is loaded up and at Xmas time and the lead up to it last year it was a struggle to get everything in. That's just with rural deliveries - shared Vans were in a hell of a mess and often had to come back and load up with the remaining parcels. This takes more time and RM are very reluctant to pay out more money. The real reason for RM wanting to move the whole operation later into the day is to cut out extra wages for staff working at night. They say it's to catch customers when they are at home but every postie knows you catch more customers in if you get out earlier. Moving the service forward would also mean difficulty delivering SDs in time or dropping the SD product entirely. How many of us would want to be out delivering in the dark at the end of the day?? If I didn't know better it may seem like they were trying to destroy the business.

[SpacePhoenix]

Moving the service forward would also mean difficulty delivering SDs in time or dropping the SD product entirely. How many of us would want to be out delivering in the dark at the end of the day?? If I didn't know better it may seem like they were trying to destroy the business.

Not necessarily, each DO could have 2 or 3 duties which are primarily SD delivery, then once they've done all their SDs, doing collections and helping our busier walks