ANNOUNCEMENT : ALL OF ROYAL MAIL'S EMPLOYMENT POLICIES (AGREEMENTS) AT A GLANCE (Updated 2021)... HERE

ANNOUNCEMENT : PLEASE BE AWARE WE ARE NOT ON FACEBOOK AT ALL!


Mail Centres

Reminisce about days gone by in the job.How it used to be what you miss and how things have changed.This is an open forum.
Post Reply
Lockardian
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 405
Joined: 29 Oct 2015, 06:19
Gender: Male

Mail Centres

Post by Lockardian »

I work in one of the smaller Mail Centres and we currently only deal with the inward sort for two postcode areas, and the first class outward sort. Every weekday 100 or so Yorks of 2C/T48 letters and packets are sent to a larger Mail Centre for processing. In the past we used to cover five postcode areas as well as process our own 2C mail.

As far as space is concerned, we are currently operating at full capacity and a temporary outhouse is used in the lead up to Christmas - all just for the inward sort and 1C dispatch and it’s hard to imagine how centres like the one where I’m
based coped in the past - I assume there was a lot less packets and more letters so less space was needed for packet sorting/bull rings, and less machines like CSS and IMPs taking up floor space.

A question for long-termers: how have Mail Centres changed over the last 20 years or so?

baldrick
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 4963
Joined: 13 Sep 2007, 23:37
Gender: Male

Mail Centres

Post by baldrick »

In London there were iirc eight Mail Centres when I started in 1981. Over the years most were closed and merged, until there is only one today, Mount Pleasant.
MP used to have space for Xmas casuals in the basement. But now that is used for the EC and WC delivery offices which were moved into MP. The building was overcrowded when I retired 8 years ago.
During Xmas pressure second class mail was diverted an outhouse near HWDC. And the 600 odd Xmas casuals were mainly sorting packets in a hired marquee in the yard, but I don't know what they do now.
Lockardian
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 405
Joined: 29 Oct 2015, 06:19
Gender: Male

Re: Mail Centres

Post by Lockardian »

Would I be right in thinking that a typical shift involved a lot more letter sorting than packet sorting say 10-20 years ago?
SpacePhoenix
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 10209
Joined: 12 Nov 2008, 17:03
Gender: Male

Re: Mail Centres

Post by SpacePhoenix »

Lockardian wrote:
24 Nov 2020, 17:15
Would I be right in thinking that a typical shift involved a lot more letter sorting than packet sorting say 10-20 years ago?
Yep. There was also a lot more mech letters back then compared with now. Also a lot more SDs (a lot of what had gone as SDs these days now goes Tracked)
Post Reply