Training and making the job clearer

[HTPostman]

I was given 3 days training on a rural duty, and have been doing that for nearly 4 weeks. Everything was going fine, I picked it up quickly, no complaints or failed Specials etc. A colleague then came to me and said have I emptied my 2 drop bags.

At no point during the 3 days training was I ever told about these drop bags. I'm assuming the guy who trained me was emptying them into my york then wheeling it round for us to sort and never thought to mention it.

So for 3 weeks I've not been aware of them, each morning the packet sorters will have emptied the mail in the previous days drop bags into the york which I then collected and carried on oblivious. None of them thought to tell me until now. Silly thing is the bags are for 2 different schools which I go to each day anyway so it doesn't result in any extra work.

There should be procedures in place for each round. There's so much wasted time here at Royal Mail, trying to find a line manager cos the rota isn't up, trying to find the D2D sheet, attempting to work out which D2Ds were taken the previous day because the sheet hasn't been filled in, trying to figure out how to tie up a round so you then spend 10mins finding someone who's done it.

Each round should have a folder, which tells you how to tie up, where the toilet stops are, and any info like be aware there are 2 seperate yorks of parcels or 2 drop bags.

[Tinoblade]

I was given 3 days training on a rural duty, and have been doing that for nearly 4 weeks. Everything was going fine, I picked it up quickly, no complaints or failed Specials etc. A colleague then came to me and said have I emptied my 2 drop bags.

At no point during the 3 days training was I ever told about these drop bags. I'm assuming the guy who trained me was emptying them into my york then wheeling it round for us to sort and never thought to mention it.

So for 3 weeks I've not been aware of them, each morning the packet sorters will have emptied the mail in the previous days drop bags into the york which I then collected and carried on oblivious. None of them thought to tell me until now. Silly thing is the bags are for 2 different schools which I go to each day anyway so it doesn't result in any extra work.

There should be procedures in place for each round. There's so much wasted time here at Royal Mail, trying to find a line manager cos the rota isn't up, trying to find the D2D sheet, attempting to work out which D2Ds were taken the previous day because the sheet hasn't been filled in, trying to figure out how to tie up a round so you then spend 10mins finding someone who's done it.

Each round should have a folder, which tells you how to tie up, where the toilet stops are, and any info like be aware there are 2 seperate yorks of parcels or 2 drop bags.

Couldn’t agree more. I know each walk has a log book. But instructions on how to tie up and where to park the van etc should be added in here. I know the first time I was prepping a duty I had no idea there were 3 different ips frames for me to collect from so by the time I’d banded up someone came and slapped loads of mail on my frame.
I was trained well on delivery and use of pda etc but no idea of the systems in the office. I always make sure if I’m working with a new starter they know where to collect mail, packet bags and what do with knocks offs etc as they usually have no idea

[Celgar]

I was given 3 days training on a rural duty, and have been doing that for nearly 4 weeks. Everything was going fine, I picked it up quickly, no complaints or failed Specials etc. A colleague then came to me and said have I emptied my 2 drop bags.

At no point during the 3 days training was I ever told about these drop bags. I'm assuming the guy who trained me was emptying them into my york then wheeling it round for us to sort and never thought to mention it.

So for 3 weeks I've not been aware of them, each morning the packet sorters will have emptied the mail in the previous days drop bags into the york which I then collected and carried on oblivious. None of them thought to tell me until now. Silly thing is the bags are for 2 different schools which I go to each day anyway so it doesn't result in any extra work.

There should be procedures in place for each round. There's so much wasted time here at Royal Mail, trying to find a line manager cos the rota isn't up, trying to find the D2D sheet, attempting to work out which D2Ds were taken the previous day because the sheet hasn't been filled in, trying to figure out how to tie up a round so you then spend 10mins finding someone who's done it.

Each round should have a folder, which tells you how to tie up, where the toilet stops are, and any info like be aware there are 2 seperate yorks of parcels or 2 drop bags.

It says you joined the forum in 2008 but I wondered if you had started being a postie much more recently? I agree the postie that gave you three days training should have shown you everything such as emptying drop bags and where your pidgeon holes are. In our DO every postie collects all their own mail from where it has been sorted but I guess your office is different to most others. Usually posties make notes when being trained of anything they might not remember particularly specifics of tying up such as frames not being in correct order of delivery(I know they should be in order.),electric gates and specific delivery point details etc. Not everything can be or is written in walk logs so you need to take a little responsibility to avoid major cock ups.

[HTPostman]

I was given 3 days training on a rural duty, and have been doing that for nearly 4 weeks. Everything was going fine, I picked it up quickly, no complaints or failed Specials etc. A colleague then came to me and said have I emptied my 2 drop bags.

At no point during the 3 days training was I ever told about these drop bags. I'm assuming the guy who trained me was emptying them into my york then wheeling it round for us to sort and never thought to mention it.

So for 3 weeks I've not been aware of them, each morning the packet sorters will have emptied the mail in the previous days drop bags into the york which I then collected and carried on oblivious. None of them thought to tell me until now. Silly thing is the bags are for 2 different schools which I go to each day anyway so it doesn't result in any extra work.

There should be procedures in place for each round. There's so much wasted time here at Royal Mail, trying to find a line manager cos the rota isn't up, trying to find the D2D sheet, attempting to work out which D2Ds were taken the previous day because the sheet hasn't been filled in, trying to figure out how to tie up a round so you then spend 10mins finding someone who's done it.

Each round should have a folder, which tells you how to tie up, where the toilet stops are, and any info like be aware there are 2 seperate yorks of parcels or 2 drop bags.

It says you joined the forum in 2008 but I wondered if you had started being a postie much more recently? I agree the postie that gave you three days training should have shown you everything such as emptying drop bags and where your pidgeon holes are. In our DO every postie collects all their own mail from where it has been sorted but I guess your office is different to most others. Usually posties make notes when being trained of anything they might not remember particularly specifics of tying up such as frames not being in correct order of delivery(I know they should be in order.),electric gates and specific delivery point details etc. Not everything can be or is written in walk logs so you need to take a little responsibility to avoid major cock ups.

Yes I did the job for 3 and a half years from 2008 to 2011 before returning late last year. When I was receiving training on this round, I wrote everything down - every single call was written down in order because very little of it is in order, where to fill up, which farm tracks to cut down, house names that have been changed etc. I then laminated the A4 sheet with my notes so it doesn't get crumpled. I've always held my hand up when I've made a mistake at RM but it I'm not told about 2 drop bags at the other side of the office then I'll never know :-)

There's 70-80 rounds here so if you aren't aware then it doesn't get flagged up quickly, I imagine in smaller DO's something like that would be noticed straight away.

I keep a notepad on my phone as well with how to tie up other rounds that don't follow the frame.

[HTPostman]

I was given 3 days training on a rural duty, and have been doing that for nearly 4 weeks. Everything was going fine, I picked it up quickly, no complaints or failed Specials etc. A colleague then came to me and said have I emptied my 2 drop bags.

At no point during the 3 days training was I ever told about these drop bags. I'm assuming the guy who trained me was emptying them into my york then wheeling it round for us to sort and never thought to mention it.

So for 3 weeks I've not been aware of them, each morning the packet sorters will have emptied the mail in the previous days drop bags into the york which I then collected and carried on oblivious. None of them thought to tell me until now. Silly thing is the bags are for 2 different schools which I go to each day anyway so it doesn't result in any extra work.

There should be procedures in place for each round. There's so much wasted time here at Royal Mail, trying to find a line manager cos the rota isn't up, trying to find the D2D sheet, attempting to work out which D2Ds were taken the previous day because the sheet hasn't been filled in, trying to figure out how to tie up a round so you then spend 10mins finding someone who's done it.

Each round should have a folder, which tells you how to tie up, where the toilet stops are, and any info like be aware there are 2 seperate yorks of parcels or 2 drop bags.

Couldn’t agree more. I know each walk has a log book. But instructions on how to tie up and where to park the van etc should be added in here. I know the first time I was prepping a duty I had no idea there were 3 different ips frames for me to collect from so by the time I’d banded up someone came and slapped loads of mail on my frame.
I was trained well on delivery and use of pda etc but no idea of the systems in the office. I always make sure if I’m working with a new starter they know where to collect mail, packet bags and what do with knocks offs etc as they usually have no idea

Fully agree, where to park the van is big bugbear of mine when you and your van partner have never done the round before. Even things like codes to get into blocks of flats could be listed in the folder so you again aren't having to spend 5mins a day finding someone who does know.

I'd estimate I'm wasting 10mins looking for keys, bags, line managers, overtime sheets, colleagues who can tell me how to tie up. That's an hour a week wasted.

[robbertwhitton]

Sounds like a job for..............Workplace Coach Man!,,sounds an utter shambles but nothing new there,isn’t in the 818 folder that gets dusted off and updated as and when we have time or can be bothered,training at any levels in this job is laughable to say the least,and they don’t want you being trained to do it safely securely and properly cos it takes too long!,,

[yellowbelly]

Fully agree, where to park the van is big bugbear of mine when you and your van partner have never done the round before. Even things like codes to get into blocks of flats could be listed in the folder so you again aren't having to spend 5mins a day finding someone who does know.

I'd estimate I'm wasting 10mins looking for keys, bags, line managers, overtime sheets, colleagues who can tell me how to tie up. That's an hour a week wasted.

This is where management are so short-sighted/short term. They won't put in a couple of hours effort to generate/update walk logs as they see it as two hours
wasted in one week, whereas over time it will save much more than that......

[NewPostieUK]

There should be procedures in place for each round.

There should be a lot of things, but it's a shambles.

There should be someone who's job it is to actually train you. In my office 'training' is following around the duty holder trying to remember the way so you don't get lost. Trying to get them to answer questions. Most aren't interested in training you up. They aren't getting paid for it, they haven't been trained to do it and they just want to get finished as soon as possible.

[HTPostman]

There should be procedures in place for each round.

There should be a lot of things, but it's a shambles.

There should be someone who's job it is to actually train you. In my office 'training' is following around the duty holder trying to remember the way so you don't get lost. Trying to get them to answer questions. Most aren't interested in training you up. They aren't getting paid for it, they haven't been trained to do it and they just want to get finished as soon as possible.

Yes exactly, that's the worst kind of training when you're with someone who see's it as a potentially early finish so just rushes round without explaining anything. Luckily during my part 2 of my Royal Mail career I've been trained well while out on the rounds. It's just the indoor stuff that wastes so much time.

[Interested-seeker]

On the side of each frame, there should be laminated A4 sheets detailing order of delivery, codes needed, a map, how to bag/bundle up), where to park, etc.