Picking the pace up?

[greengiant]

So, I'm now in my second week of employment as a Part Time (27.5 hpw) Postie, and day 2 of doing my HCT round, solo.

I'm supposed to arrive at the DO with my frame already prepped and sorted for me to simply bundle up, fill the HCT and head out onto my walk.

Yesterday I didn't leave the DO till half 10, as I had a lot of packets to sort & D2Ds to prep... Ended up returning from my walk at 4:10pm, when I'm supposed to finish my route at half two.....

Today, I didn't have any packets to sort, just a dozen or so letters to prep into the frame, and get the walk bundled up. Despite this, I still didn't get out the door till 10am!, resulting in me getting back to the DO after my walk at 20 past four, almost 2 hours after my route should finish.. .

I probably could pick the pace up for prepping and bundling up the mail and loading the HCT, however I am struggling to see how I can pick the pace up on delivery with the HCT! I'm OK when I can chain the HCT up, and do a loop with just a bundle of mail in my hand, however when I'm having to push the HCT from door to door, and deliver, this really seems to be slowing me up.... If i'm working from a bundle while pushing the HCT, I put it in the bundle holder while I push, then once I have stopped I take the whole bundle out, do the delivery (sometimes just to 1 address), then back into the bundle holder then push again... I'm assuming this is the Correct Thing to do, and it would be a bad idea to leave the rest of the bundle in the holder, covered, take just what I need for the one address, then back to the HCT? I probably should have asked my work coach this last week....

I'm also slightly concerned that my work coach says he can do this walk solo, and be finished an hour early. Previous to my work coach doing this route, it was done by the CWU rep. Kind of expecting a whole lot of bother about my lack of speed!

I can only hope that my shiny new uniform will give me with Super Postie Speed when I get it!!

Ach, well, at least it's been a lovely day for it!

Any ideas on picking up the pace? Or will it come naturally?

[bustedflush]

You are facing the typical newbie choice - do the job properly, and it's too big for the hours. Then you feel slow and embarrassed to claim o/t (which I hope you are doing!)
Or don't do it properly, take it out in pouches and use drop-off points and finish early, come in early and prep your whole week's door-dustbins on a Saturday in your own time.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

It'll come naturally.

You'll be losing seconds on each delivery just because you are new to it and those seconds mount up. Once you are used to it, you'll remember where its best to park the HCT, where the doors are, which way to do a bundle. You'll be able to change the way you do a particular street because its busier than usual, or where you can combine bundles instead of dead walking.

It takes between 6 weeks and 3 months on average to get up to speed, and to get your body used to the demands on the job. One day you'll look at your watch on the last bundle and realise you have got round a lot quicker than you had in the past.

We have all been there.

[greengiant]

Thanks for the replies. I reckon there must be around at least 500 addresses in my walk, so that probably makes a lot of time for me to pick up on if I'm faffing at each delivery.... I'm still enjoying the job, and as you say, speed will come with experience!

[joeyuk]

Don't worry to much to start with. I started 6 months ago and would struggle on a new round each day. I remember in the 1st few weeks a manager come looking for me as i was out for so long. The round should only take 2 hours but it was close to 4 for me with all the farting about i did. I then had to do another half walk after that that took me 2.5 hours compared to the 1.5 it should take, i didn't finish that day till 5.30.

Now i sometimes do half the round that used to take me 3.5 to 4 hours in 45mins, the full round takes about me under 2 hours now.

[GT85]

As above, don't worry about it, you will get faster with time. There is no point rushing and in my experience the few times I have tried to rush things I've ended up dropping my bundle ( ohh err missus) or trapping fingers in letterboxes
I've no experience of using a HCT and I've only been a postie for nearly 5 months but am now fast enough that full timers are quite happy to be paired up with the new bloke as I no longer hold them up.
Would love to walk in to a fully prepped frame every morning but can't see it happening any time soon especially as they are cutting back on p/t early starts and want f/t guys to throw off 3 frames

[Dandylion]

This is my worry once I start. As I am quite unfit and worried people will laugh at me for being so slow and rubbish :/

You sound like your doing well you've not being doing it two weeks so don't give yourself a hard time :)

[tansorboy]

It took me a month to work out what I was supposed to be doing, three months to get comfortable with it and six months to get up to speed. Don't let anyone rush you. An old postie told me I would be kept on if I didn't hit anybody or steal anything....he was right, and I am now full-time, permanent.

[lollollol]

After a few weeks in the job I went sick with shin-splints...

Lost 2 stone in weight in the first few months...

I didn't realise how well I knew my round until I was put on a different round for 2 weeks. Upon my return to the original round everything clicked into place...

Ten years on I'm a sad cynical b*****d like the rest of them...

[arthur was right]

at work today [Thursday] steady steady pace...do the job to the t..100% as it should be done... no knockin on neigbours doors to get owt signed etc
stop have a chat with customers etc..smile..have a quick fag break..stroke a nice friendly doggy.......LEAVE A COUPLE OF LOOPS BEHIND COS THERE TOO MUCH

[Dandylion]

Glad it's going well, I start next week eek!

[Barbel]

Yes been there done that and still doing it. You will get quicker if you stay on the same round but if they stick you on different jobs every day that you haven't done before it will happen whether you've been doing the job 2 weeks or 20 years. Just work to your hours and cut off if you have to.

[greengiant]

Well, I ended up doing 2 hours of mail / packet sorting after arriving ready for my shift at 9am (2 trays of letters + bag and a half of packets) . By the time I had everything bundled up it was coming up for 11am, so there was no way I was going to get my round complete in time, let alone before 5. So I had to ask for DOM's advice on what I should do? I ended up asking for the bottom row off my frame to be taken off my hands. Even despite this less work, I still arrived back at the sorting office for just after 5pm....

Not looking forward to Saturday's shift!

[paul1231]

Well, I ended up doing 2 hours of mail / packet sorting after arriving ready for my shift at 9am (2 trays of letters + bag and a half of packets) . By the time I had everything bundled up it was coming up for 11am, so there was no way I was going to get my round complete in time, let alone before 5. So I had to ask for DOM's advice on what I should do? I ended up asking for the bottom row off my frame to be taken off my hands. Even despite this less work, I still arrived back at the sorting office for just after 5pm....

Not looking forward to Saturday's shift!

I've had the exact same thing this week I've being coming in early and going late despite the fact me and my partner are part time there's basically no prepping on our frames when we get in so we end up not leaving till around 11 and don't get back till after 4 but we have being completing (last out and almost always last back) though he assures me its common with his round and not our fault I cant help but feel a bit anxious being a new starter

[DavidFS]

Being a spare and being asked to cover different offices and walks. You realize that some walks are a stroll(lot of front doors) and some are downright nasty(streets of closes).
And then some areas have nothing but packets and signed for which make you work over you're time. No idea how they time these walks never-mind being able to judge if you're going to work over. I'm sure it comes with experience.