Royal Mail's Dundee quality of service figures are no surpri

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Royal Mail's Dundee quality of service figures are no surprise to postal workers' union leader

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Dundee ... eader.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Scotland's postal union leader said he wasn't surprised Dundee and Angus recorded the worst quality of service figures on the mainland.

Communication Workers' Union, believed the problems at the Dundee East depot were to blame for dragging down the performance of all postal staff in the DD area.

"It doesn't surprise me at all," he said. "The revision (new system of working) was pushed through too hastily and the quality of service figures were bound to collapse on the back of that.

"It doesn't matter how much money Royal Mail has pumped in to try to resolve the problem because Royal Mail caused the problem in the first place. They brought in the revision before it was ready to be brought in."

Mr Brown was responding to this week's performance figures showing the DD postcode area — covering Dundee, Angus and parts of north Fife — achieved a first class next working day delivery score of 78.5%, far below the UK target of 93%.

In Scotland, only Shetland and the Western Isles had poorer figures, but they are left out of the performance report because of their geographical remoteness.

Royal Mail blamed the severe winter weather for affecting deliveries across the UK during the 12 weeks to December 5.

Snowstorms


The slump in service pre-dated the snowstorms, and the rest of Scotland recorded a much better performance than Dundee — signalling the weather may not have been the only reason for the DD figures.

Attention has inevitably turned on the introduction of the new delivery system — The Way Forward — at the Dundee East depot in November as the reason for the DD debacle.

Staff struggled to complete their enlarged rounds on time under the system of sending teams to deliver letters and parcels from vans.

A massive backlog of mail built up that worsened with the bad weather. Royal Mail threw in extra staff from other branches, but the mountain wasn't cleared until well into January.

Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce chief executive Alan Mitchell said it was disappointing that the area's postal staff had recorded the worst performance in mainland Scotland and he called on all sides to address the problem to ensure there would be no repeat.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said, "At the end of last year there was an issue with changes made to local working practices in Dundee East Delivery Office.

"These changes were part of the issues the office faced, but we should not forget that they were then compounded by the worst winter weather in Scotland in living memory and we have apologised to our customers for this.

"We have learned lessons from the changes we made in Dundee East and a robust plan is in place to ensure our customers receive the service they expect and deserve. In fact in the last month, quality of service is improving week on week."

[axeman]

No, no mrs spokesperson they were hidden by the unscrupulous management at royal fail headquaters .....but we had already been informed by your man who blamed it entirly on the revision that had taken place at least he had the balls to tell it like it is not in fear of those dimwits running royal fail............... yes it did snow but it was in a mess well before christmas mail entered pipeline