Carrying the can: Out and about with the postal workers

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 887924.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How are you Mr Scott?” “Tired Patrick, but I guess you are as well.”

Patrick ruefully nods his head, adjusts his red bag with 16kg of letters and parcels, and moves on to Mrs Johnson’s letterbox.

It’s midday and the postman with more than 20 years’ experience is on only his tenth address of the day.

Since he started his shift at 6am at his North London delivery office he has been sorting the thousands of mail items received each day — and the growing backlog — into the “walks” that each postman does. He then “preps” his round by placing the mail in the slots for each individual address, tying bundles of mail with string and then working out a resupply point with his driver. He has also spent an hour dealing with requests for redirected mail.

Inbetween, he has been getting whacked on the shins with boxes of mail slung across the floor by non-striking colleagues and batting back “unreasonable” management requests being made upon colleagues who are ill.

Finally, at 11.30am and with less than three hours of his shift remaining, management release him with his allotted 120kg of mail. “The managers keep us in the office sorting the backlog even though we never have the time to deliver it. There’s things growing roots down there,” he says, showing a picture of his work bay and the dozens of boxes underneath heaving with mail.

There are other things he wants off his chest. Flicking through his mail bundles he counts the number of parcels and letters stamped with a Royal Mail logo. The vast majority don’t have it. Instead TNT and the other alternative postal operators have put their mark. These companies, having secured lucrative contracts at the expense of Royal Mail, still piggyback on the state postal operator’s “final mile delivery”.

“We do the work and they get the profits,” Patrick says. “Nobody had heard of this downstream access two weeks ago. But this is what happens. They drop their mail, we sort it and we deliver it. They make money and Royal Mail doesn’t. It’s a ludicrous situation.”

Which leads to another gripe: mail volumes. Royal Mail says that its annual volumes are dropping by 10 per cent. Patrick says that his bags, boxes and trolleys have never been fuller.

As he posts a marketing flyer through a letterbox, above which there is a sticker that says no junk mail — “management tell us to ignore those” — he says: “We are busier than I can remember. I suppose one thing I could say about this job is time flies in it.”

Perhaps the flickers of imperfection could be put down to tiredness. One elderly lady calmly walks to her neighbour’s house to repost a letter in its right location; another shouts after Patrick not to leave her parcel on the doorstep with just a cursory ring of the bell. “I knew you would be in,” he says.

Balanced against this are the numerous pleasantries exchanged. The teenage boy, who has seen him deliver mail since he was young, asking him if there are any jobs, and the unemployed man passing with a smile.

By 2.30pm his day is over — management has banned overtime for striking workers — and he returns to the office. Nearly 60kg of his allotted 120kg of mail returns with him. Once again, hundreds of Londoners will be going without their post.

[ulster postie]

management has banned overtime for striking workers
Not over here in N IRELAND they will pay you overtime if its normal for your duty. SEEMS A BIT STRANGE TO ME, MABE THEY ARE MAKING A POINT TO YOU LONDON GUYS & GALS ( PAYBACK TIME ) DONT YOU DARE FLAG US UP FOR WHAT WE ARE :mfo :cfo :lfo

[clashcityrocker]

I thought they had only banned overtime for strikers who had taken unofficial action.

[Godric]

management has banned overtime for striking workers
Not over here in N IRELAND they will pay you overtime if its normal for your duty. SEEMS A BIT STRANGE TO ME, MABE THEY ARE MAKING A POINT TO YOU LONDON GUYS & GALS ( PAYBACK TIME ) DONT YOU DARE FLAG US UP FOR WHAT WE ARE :mfo :cfo :lfo

actually you are wrong today we were told by our manager that their would be no overtime and yesterday was our first strike

[baldrick]

I thought they had only banned overtime for strikers who had taken unofficial action.

No we have been taking official ballotted action for the last 16 weeks and there has been no overtime.
Mail has been diverted out to other offices an Dartford Outhouse instead.

[OnAFlyer]

He has also spent an hour dealing with requests for redirected mail

.

An hour?

Inbetween, he has been getting whacked on the shins with boxes of mail slung across the floor

Eh?

[norfolk n chance]

pressure overtime banned in our area

[clashcityrocker]

Our office is so understaffed that if they were to stop asking people to work their day off the place would grind to a halt.Friday night, just one hour after the strike had officially ended we had 3 people in on night shift on overtime.So either they are applying different criteria to different areas or they have a different description of what constitutes overtime in different areas of the UK.

[robmacca]

Another positive story to balance out all the others reported last week. Fair play to The Times for sending a reporter out with the postie and telling it like it really is.

[rhino49]

Our Lineo was asked today if we would be paid to go over and we were told that in the absence of instructions to the contrary we could claim for extended delivery and anyone who would have a problem with their finishing time had it sorted out. Some of us already had 30 mins flex in place agreed from Thursday and all mailsort3 was held back for Monday. No sign of any DTD's having arrived yet and we normally have them by Saturday - maybe they have been suspended to cut our income during the strike

[johnnyp]

He has also spent an hour dealing with requests for redirected mail

.

An hour?

Im not far behind him when it comes to redrections Heres my frame with them on it

IMG_1703.JPG

[rhino49]

He has also spent an hour dealing with requests for redirected mail

.

An hour?

Im not far behind him when it comes to redrections Heres my frame with them on it

IMG_1703.JPG

Bloody Hell - that looks like a Shanghai tenement - bet you can't wait to get sequenced mail Johnnyp - don't you get dizzy throwing that in?

[jamzeljam]

He has also spent an hour dealing with requests for redirected mail

.

An hour?

Im not far behind him when it comes to redrections Heres my frame with them on it

IMG_1703.JPG

Thats crazy its twice the size of our frames. How many drops?

[Jack Mehoff]

Our Lineo was asked today if we would be paid to go over and we were told that in the absence of instructions to the contrary we could claim for extended delivery and anyone who would have a problem with their finishing time had it sorted out. Some of us already had 30 mins flex in place agreed from Thursday and all mailsort3 was held back for Monday. No sign of any DTD's having arrived yet and we normally have them by Saturday - maybe they have been suspended to cut our income during the strike

At a DO in north london the dim dom gives the D2D's to the casuals as they can't claim for them. He then signs them off and claims the money for himself and his deputy.
How about that for being an out and out c**t.

[rhino49]

Our Lineo was asked today if we would be paid to go over and we were told that in the absence of instructions to the contrary we could claim for extended delivery and anyone who would have a problem with their finishing time had it sorted out. Some of us already had 30 mins flex in place agreed from Thursday and all mailsort3 was held back for Monday. No sign of any DTD's having arrived yet and we normally have them by Saturday - maybe they have been suspended to cut our income during the strike

At a DO in north london the dim dom gives the D2D's to the casuals as they can't claim for them. He then signs them off and claims the money for himself and his deputy.
How about that for being an out and out c**t.

Job for the IB there methinks