I'm a postman of 20 years - here's why a three day week would spell disaster for letter deliveries

[POSTMAN]

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bil ... eries.html

When Paul* became a postman, he delivered letters twice a day by bike.

Twenty years later, he says he is burned out and stressed, as the job he once loved has transformed in the face of changing consumer habits.

Sweeping changes made to the way posties operate has caused frustration among Royal Mail employees, even leading to a full strike in the winter of 2022.

Royal Mail's management has long campaigned for a change to its universal service obligation (USO), which requires the firm to deliver letters six days a week to every address in the UK.

Paul* has worked as a postman for 20 years but is growing frustrated with management

Fewer days delivering letters makes sense in the context of falling volumes and an increase in the number of packages, they say.

Last month the regulator set out proposals for a five, or even three day week. For posties, it would mark the biggest shake-up to the system in years.

Paul thinks it would be a disaster. Here, he tells This is Money what he thinks is behind the delays to your letters and why cutting delivery days would worsen the problem...

The changing face of Royal Mail
Paul, who asked for his name to be changed, says when he started out his job was done by 11am after two rounds of deliveries on his bike.

'I'd come in at 5am, prep the first-class mail, go out with it and then get back to the office. While I was out, the other guys would sort out the second-class mail and then you'd go out and deliver it.'

Royal Mail scrapped the second delivery of the day in 2003, leaving only a single mid-morning delivery. At the time it said the second post was not viable given it accounted for just 4 per cent of mail and 20 per cent of delivery costs.

Paul thinks it has contributed to worsening delivery times, which has seen households complain of bundles of letters being delivered days, or even weeks late.

But Royal Mail has to modernise and some argue it's unfair of posties to expect the company to ignore such huge changes to consumption habits.

The peak for letter volumes was 20billion in 2004-05 before the use of email really took off. Now letter volumes are at around 7billion.

Meanwhile, in the last six years, the average size of a parcel handled by Royal Mail has grown by nearly 30 per cent.

In the same period, the number of parcels classed as 'large parcels' has more than doubled.

Paul says: 'Today I had 67 large packets, or "bulks" which are over the size of a shoebox, plus the ones in my bag. Around 100 in total.'

Customers have also grown accustomed to next-day delivery and they simply aren't posting letters in the same volume as two decades ago.

'We've never been objected to modernisation…,' Paul says.

'But the attitude is that we're lazy and want an easy life. Rather than the fact that we know the village or walk because we've been doing it years.'

Royal Mail has long campaigned for changes to its universal service obligation (USO)

Are posties being directed to prioritise packages?
While some posties might want a return to the good old days, they and Royal Mail can't escape the fact that service has deteriorated in recent years.

Royal Mail has delivered 90.7 per cent of second-class mail within three working days, and just 73.7 per cent of first-class mail in one working day.

It falls well short of the regulator's target of 93 per cent for first-class and 98.5 per cent for second-class post.

There has been some suspicion that posties are prioritising packages over letters in a bid to get through the mountains of packages.
Royal Mail has always strenuously denied this but Paul says posties are being directed to do so by management.

You're constantly a minimum of a day or two behind. It grinds on you, it destroys your will.

'We've been told to ignore letters in favour of tracked. It comes from area management and board level[and] that's the sole reason that there are delays.

'You have an office manager called a DOM - delivery office manager - and you've got someone that sits above them who issues instructions to leave letters. If you think you can do them, do them. If you can't then don't worry about it.

'We tend to ignore that and fish out the ones that we think we'd be p***ed off if we didn't get - hospital letters, cards… Anything that looks official we'll grab and take anyway because we don't like not doing our job.'

'They say leave the letters and take the tracked, but it means tomorrow we've got two days worth of work, the bags are twice as heavy. So it means it's going to take longer to get around.

'You're constantly a minimum of a day or two behind. It grinds on you, it destroys your will. You get to the end of the week and you're tired and fed up.'

Could cutting back on post deliveries make Royal Mail better?
A Royal Mail spokesman said: 'We will always do our utmost to ensure both letters and parcels are delivered on time. The run up to Christmas is our busiest time of year, with more than double the normal number of letters and parcels passing through our network.

'Average parcel sizes have grown by around 30 per cent in recent years, and in any typical week parcels take up around 90 per cent of sorting space in our delivery offices.

'We have always been clear that at busy times such as Christmas it may be logistically necessary to clear parcels first to avoid network issues, keep the mail moving and ensure the safety of our colleagues, especially in small delivery offices.

'These measures have been shared with Ofcom who have not identified any suggestion that Royal Mail senior management have directed the prioritisation of parcels over letters outside of recognised contingency plans.'

They also pointed to Ofcom's recent report which found that there was no suggestion that management had directed the prioritisiation of parcels over letters outside of contingency plans.

However the report also found that there was 'insufficient control, visibility and oversight over local decision-making' and has concerns over the operation of delivery offices.

Posties say they cannot complete their routes and are told to leave letters in favour of tracked items

Who wants to be a postman?
Most posties who spoke to This is Money say they understand the nature of the job has changed but that resources are diminishing.

In 2010, 130,000 postmen and women worked for Royal Mail across 1,371 delivery offices. Its most recent annual report shows the number fell to 90,000 workers across 1,200 offices.

Paul thinks retention is the bigger issue: 'People don't understand what's involved and think you'll just roll in, someone will give you a bag of letters and off you go.'

'Some of the DOMs used to be posties so they have an idea [of the workload]. The trouble is they were posties 10 years ago when there was half the amount of work and you were done at 11am.'

There has been a bitter dispute between Royal Mail and the unions over jobs, pay and working conditions.

Under the agreement struck by the CWU, Royal Mail staff will receive a 10 per cent pay rise over the next three years and a one-off lump sum of £500.

However, it is well below an annual increase in line with inflation, which the union had initially demanded.

Workers will also see changes to sick pay, attendance standards and revised contracts for new starters.

'If you offer people a decent contract, you wouldn't have a retention issue. If you hire someone part-time, you'll get part-time effort,' says Paul.

Royal Mail says its staff turnover is 11 per cent 'which is well below the industry average.'

How will a three day week affect deliveries?
Last month Ofcom said Royal Mail could make savings of up to £200million if it cut its delivery days from six to five days a week. It could save as much as £650million if it moved to three days.

Royal Mail boss Martin Seidenberg said: 'Ofcom's report demonstrates that reform is urgently needed to protect the future of the one-price-goes-anywhere USO.

'We are doing everything in our power to transform, but it is not sustainable to maintain a network built for 20 billion letters when we are now only delivering seven billion.'

The work isn't going to die off. It will sit there and pile up.

Any changes to Royal Mail's USO will be met with strong opposition from posties and their union. The CWU said 'the regulator is openly pursuing the failed agenda of the former Royal Mail Group senior leadership'.

Paul says: 'It would make it an absolute nightmare. At the moment we're struggling with six days a week. If we went to three days a week, what are we doing with the days we're not delivering?

'If I'm delivering Monday, Wednesday and Friday.. Come Monday I've got Saturday and Monday's post. I won't have time so what will I have to do? Levae the letters and take the tracked.

'But then the next delivery isn't until Wednesday, so I'll have Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday's work.

'The work isn't going to die off. It will sit there and pile up until we do go out and then we won't have enough time to deliver it all. It's nonsensical.'

Despite his frustration, Paul still enjoys life as a postie: 'If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't still be here 20 years later.

'It is heartbreaking and you become resentful. I do a rural route, I know my customers. I see kids grow up and get married.

'They know my name, my family, I know their family. I've got three people in the morning I pick the papers up for, one of them has a pint of milk everyday.

'People have such trust for Royal Mail. You don't bat an eyelid. I deliver to some very private houses but they don't look twice if I'm nipping round the back or up the driveway. They just say "ah it's only the postie".'

Do you work for the Royal Mail and want to get in touch with your story? Contact: editor@thisismoney.co.uk

[BenacreNick]

We hear you *Paul

[Mr Rush]

I've heard the 1988 strike drove businesses toward fax machines, yet mail continued to climb for another 15 years. I really don't think e-mail supposedly taking off in Space Year 2004(!) started the decline of letters. Broader economic trends are at work.

[NWpostie]

Email, texts, zoom and Whatsapp have made inroads into mail deliveries, our biggest strength is our network and parcels is where the money is, we should make more of it and go to 7 days a week to remain competitive and save jobs.

[TopperGas]

Email, texts, zoom and Whatsapp have made inroads into mail deliveries, our biggest strength is our network and parcels is where the money is, we should make more of it and go to 7 days a week to remain competitive and save jobs.

We already deliver parcels 7 days a week??

[NWpostie]

Email, texts, zoom and Whatsapp have made inroads into mail deliveries, our biggest strength is our network and parcels is where the money is, we should make more of it and go to 7 days a week to remain competitive and save jobs.

We already deliver parcels 7 days a week??

Note I say "Make more of it"

Set up parcel locker hubs, leave in an approved shop to be picked up by the customers st the convenience, longer locker opening hour to call in after work.

If we make it more convenient they'll use it more.

[guardianangel]

Who cares anymore roll on retirement just slow down and think of yourself ,that's capitalism its either you or them and i choose me ,i'll never do more than i can get away with anymore .

[pieoftheday]

Paul would go out with the first class mail then go out with the second class mail? Really,? I dont believe Paul is real.....

[arkus12]

Well, you're talking only about option 3-days delivery. There is option for 5-days delivery and it would suit mostly of us. Second thing, you've been 20 years at RM and you begin from rural round? Some of us are here for 20-years and still doing town walks as no free rural rounds.

[ted_e_bear]

Paul would go out with the first class mail then go out with the second class mail? Really,? I dont believe Paul is real.....

Neither do I, disregarding the obvious 2nd class mail mistake he'd have to have been employed more like at least 30 years ago for that finished by 11am after 2nd delivery bit to be believable.