What is the reason why tuesdays are quiet?

Post by **postiewhite** » 04 Apr 2016, 21:59

Why is mail held back on tuesdays making it a fairly quiet day and then wednesday is stupidly busy? Has this always been the case with Royal Mail or is it a fairly newer thing? I dont really understand the reason behind having one quiet day and why a tuesday? You would have thought they would have nominated a quiet day to a saturday making that day a later start or just making everyday the same to distribute the workload over the 6 days instead of having a couple of fairly quiet days and a couple of mad days when we cant complete.

Creditshampoo · Post by **Creditshampoo** » 04 Apr 2016, 22:15

postiewhite wrote:Why is mail held back on tuesdays making it a fairly quiet day and then wednesday is stupidly busy? Has this always been the case with Royal Mail or is it a fairly newer thing? I dont really understand the reason behind having one quiet day and why a tuesday? You would have thought they would have nominated a quiet day to a saturday making that day a later start or just making everyday the same to distribute the workload over the 6 days instead of having a couple of fairly quiet days and a couple of mad days when we cant complete.

Because businesses post their mail all at the start of the week, so the week normally gets busiest Wednesday/Thursday.
Mail centres can't officially hold it and choose to deliver when they wish.

oypostie · Post by **oypostie** » 05 Apr 2016, 15:39

Mail centres can't officially hold it and choose to deliver when they wish.

Not totally true as the mail centre can affect things by the way it processes the Mailsort

Post by **Pathfinder** » 05 Apr 2016, 16:07

Scarily quiet today! Dreading tomorrow !!

olilew · Post by **olilew** » 05 Apr 2016, 16:13

Well we went over today!

daveyeff · Post by **daveyeff** » 05 Apr 2016, 16:49

they've got mail on hold at mail centres, I know they have. the driver tells us. they've told us there's not enough work on Mondays and Tuesdays to justify us having 9-day fortnite shift patterns. therefore we lost them.. in reality (in all the views at our office anyway) there is definitely enough work on these days to let us have these shift patterns. it is a deliberate business strategy.

Post by **IloveMYredTROLLEY!** » 05 Apr 2016, 17:01

So duty indoor and outdoor workloads can be created against an easy day by planners, in theory ensuring you have enough work to cover your contract hours on a quiet "short" day, only problem is Weds-Fri is a damn sight busier and needs more time than the "long" days!

daveyeff · Post by **daveyeff** » 05 Apr 2016, 17:27

yes. that's the way we see it at our office anyways. the mail we get on wed/thur/fri. is some of the work that is held back on Mondays and Tuesday. it could be 'equated' to make the days roughly the same. but,,,,they know best!!

motherhubbard · Post by **motherhubbard** » 05 Apr 2016, 17:35

IloveMYredTROLLEY! wrote:So duty indoor and outdoor workloads can be created against an easy day by planners:

The indoor and outdoor workload is created against a model week which is agreed as part of the revision process with the union and not just created by planners.

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 05 Apr 2016, 18:51

There's not really too much Mailsort anyway, over the last few years most of it has gone over to DSA. In any case MCs don't have the room to hold stuff anyway as one shift's storage area will be another shift's work area

Darren Bent · Post by **Darren Bent** » 05 Apr 2016, 19:00

and business probably post things on Monday after printing thousands of letters in the weekend.

Biker Mouse · Post by **Biker Mouse** » 05 Apr 2016, 19:51

All mail 1st and 2nd class that is posted on a Saturday is treated as first class therefore no 2nd class for Tuesday delivery and why Mondays are busier than Tuesdays.

Post by **midegarelu** » 05 Apr 2016, 19:56

Gordon Bennett!!!!!

I really do despair at the lack of knowledge by some people on this site.

The reason it's quiet on Tuesday is because 2nd class mail posted on Monday is not processed at the Mail Centre until Tuesday morning. This is a normal course of events and has been since the advent of 1st and 2nd class mail. Spacephoenix is correct most Mail Centres do not have the room to deliberately hold back mails.

Chewster · Post by **Chewster** » 06 Apr 2016, 00:05

I was off today but I did notice a few of my colleagues still out on duty after half 2 today when I was out and about. So much for a quiet tuesday!