Delivery staff leaving royal mail.

[Smoothbackground]

I think

New staff on shitey contracts are what the company is all about.
It's a race to the bottom Lou, are you blind?

Think you need a reality check, bruv. Although it is inferior to your terms and conditions of employment, it isn’t at all “shitey” when compared to other jobs elsewhere in industry - over £30k just for five days, holiday pay, life insurance, productivitt bonuses, overtime at enhanced rates... in actual fact it is head and shoulders above comparable jobs.

Go and do a few months on the DPD or Amazon vans, with no holiday pay, no sick pay, exorbitant van and running costs, unpaid days off imposed at whim, no union to whip up unnecessary petty squabbles with management, massive workload - far bigger than yours, trust me, I’ve done both jobs - and you’ll be regretting ever leaving your cushty RM job and its security and benefits. You’ve had it too easy for too long, and now that RM is trying to bring itself into the real, modern world, and you along with it, you are hard done by.

Against that backdrop, that is why many of us on “shitey contracts” are enthusiastic, happy to go the extra mile - and even get on with the managers.

I’ve spent a year in Royal Mail now, finally going permanent in September. I’ve worked for varying lengths in at least 12 different DOs during that time. The culture is like something stuck in the ‘70s. In no other job in industry can you get away with being subordinate, rude and workshy – except RM, that is. The managers I’ve encountered have nearly always been on the defensive, expecting you to kick up a fuss about anything and everything – because, of course, that is what they get from a small but sizeable minority of the existing longstanding staff.

And no, I’m not a troll!

[Dexydog]

"Productivity bonuses".
"Enhanced overtime rates".
Are you serious??????

[denhamhoop]

Enhanced overtime rates? The overtime rate is actually 75% of your normal rate .Productivity bonus ? Only if you're a Manager Yes it is well paid in comparison to the rest of the Gig Economy of Delivery Drivers but then again they get paid per item delivered and aren't delivering to 700 to 1000 homes and being expected to walk 10 plus miles day in day out.

[Dexydog]

Also talks about being called in and not being paid for that day.
If that does happen, it's illegal.
Comparing behaviour like this to a new starter at RM is just ridiculous.
He does say he's not a troll, though.

[SpacePhoenix]

Enhanced overtime rates? The overtime rate is actually 75% of your normal rate .Productivity bonus ? Only if you're a Manager Yes it is well paid in comparison to the rest of the Gig Economy of Delivery Drivers but then again they get paid per item delivered and aren't delivering to 700 to 1000 homes and being expected to walk 10 plus miles day in day out.

Don't forget that "the rest of the Gig Economy of Delivery Drivers" only deliver parcels.

Say you had 1,000dps on a walk, what would a typical call rate be for that walk and what would it be if it were parcels/Tracked/SDs only?

[DiamondSmiles]

I think

New staff on shitey contracts are what the company is all about.
It's a race to the bottom Lou, are you blind?

Think you need a reality check, bruv. Although it is inferior to your terms and conditions of employment, it isn’t at all “shitey” when compared to other jobs elsewhere in industry - over £30k just for five days, holiday pay, life insurance, productivitt bonuses, overtime at enhanced rates... in actual fact it is head and shoulders above comparable jobs.

Go and do a few months on the DPD or Amazon vans, with no holiday pay, no sick pay, exorbitant van and running costs, unpaid days off imposed at whim, no union to whip up unnecessary petty squabbles with management, massive workload - far bigger than yours, trust me, I’ve done both jobs - and you’ll be regretting ever leaving your cushty RM job and its security and benefits. You’ve had it too easy for too long, and now that RM is trying to bring itself into the real, modern world, and you along with it, you are hard done by.

Against that backdrop, that is why many of us on “shitey contracts” are enthusiastic, happy to go the extra mile - and even get on with the managers.

I’ve spent a year in Royal Mail now, finally going permanent in September. I’ve worked for varying lengths in at least 12 different DOs during that time. The culture is like something stuck in the ‘70s. In no other job in industry can you get away with being subordinate, rude and workshy – except RM, that is. The managers I’ve encountered have nearly always been on the defensive, expecting you to kick up a fuss about anything and everything – because, of course, that is what they get from a small but sizeable minority of the existing longstanding staff.

And no, I’m not a troll!

Over 30k. I take it you mean London area with that figure?

[Valentina@1]

I think

New staff on shitey contracts are what the company is all about.
It's a race to the bottom Lou, are you blind?

Think you need a reality check, bruv. Although it is inferior to your terms and conditions of employment, it isn’t at all “shitey” when compared to other jobs elsewhere in industry - over £30k just for five days, holiday pay, life insurance, productivitt bonuses, overtime at enhanced rates... in actual fact it is head and shoulders above comparable jobs.

Go and do a few months on the DPD or Amazon vans, with no holiday pay, no sick pay, exorbitant van and running costs, unpaid days off imposed at whim, no union to whip up unnecessary petty squabbles with management, massive workload - far bigger than yours, trust me, I’ve done both jobs - and you’ll be regretting ever leaving your cushty RM job and its security and benefits. You’ve had it too easy for too long, and now that RM is trying to bring itself into the real, modern world, and you along with it, you are hard done by.

Against that backdrop, that is why many of us on “shitey contracts” are enthusiastic, happy to go the extra mile - and even get on with the managers.

I’ve spent a year in Royal Mail now, finally going permanent in September. I’ve worked for varying lengths in at least 12 different DOs during that time. The culture is like something stuck in the ‘70s. In no other job in industry can you get away with being subordinate, rude and workshy – except RM, that is. The managers I’ve encountered have nearly always been on the defensive, expecting you to kick up a fuss about anything and everything – because, of course, that is what they get from a small but sizeable minority of the existing longstanding staff.

And no, I’m not a troll!

Over 30k. I take it you mean London area with that figure?

[LouBarlow]

I think

New staff on shitey contracts are what the company is all about.
It's a race to the bottom Lou, are you blind?

Think you need a reality check, bruv. Although it is inferior to your terms and conditions of employment, it isn’t at all “shitey” when compared to other jobs elsewhere in industry - over £30k just for five days, holiday pay, life insurance, productivitt bonuses, overtime at enhanced rates... in actual fact it is head and shoulders above comparable jobs.

Go and do a few months on the DPD or Amazon vans, with no holiday pay, no sick pay, exorbitant van and running costs, unpaid days off imposed at whim, no union to whip up unnecessary petty squabbles with management, massive workload - far bigger than yours, trust me, I’ve done both jobs - and you’ll be regretting ever leaving your cushty RM job and its security and benefits. You’ve had it too easy for too long, and now that RM is trying to bring itself into the real, modern world, and you along with it, you are hard done by.

Against that backdrop, that is why many of us on “shitey contracts” are enthusiastic, happy to go the extra mile - and even get on with the managers.

I’ve spent a year in Royal Mail now, finally going permanent in September. I’ve worked for varying lengths in at least 12 different DOs during that time. The culture is like something stuck in the ‘70s. In no other job in industry can you get away with being subordinate, rude and workshy – except RM, that is. The managers I’ve encountered have nearly always been on the defensive, expecting you to kick up a fuss about anything and everything – because, of course, that is what they get from a small but sizeable minority of the existing longstanding staff.

And no, I’m not a troll!

You make some very fair points, especially in how staff disrespect management. You only have to read some of the posts here to understand that, but if people have been bullied I can see why they would be bitter. Reality check is right though - a lot of posties have not done other ‘proper’ jobs before and don’t realise how easy they have had it for so long. The job isn’t bad now, it is just aligned with any other job that exists to make money for shareholders as the priority.

[Valentina@1]

If RM suddenly cut Lou’s wages in half he’d still put a positive spin on it somehow.
The job has gone to pot,just be honest instead of this fake positivity rubbish

[Smoothbackground]

Enhanced overtime rates? The overtime rate is actually 75% of your normal rate .Productivity bonus ? Only if you're a Manager Yes it is well paid in comparison to the rest of the Gig Economy of Delivery Drivers but then again they get paid per item delivered and aren't delivering to 700 to 1000 homes and being expected to walk 10 plus miles day in day out.

Enhanced overtime rate is actually 125% of your normal rate (1.25 hourly rate).

Productivity bonus? Wasn’t one announced by RM last week, potentially worth £500, for peak period? Isn’t that on top

DPD drivers might be paid on a per-drop basis, but not Amazon drivers (unless on “rescue” or other exceptional but very rare circumstances). Amazon drivers are paid a flat daily rate, sometimes with a measly daily peak supplement bonus if certain criteria are met.

An Amazon driver easily averages >25k steps daily, which equates to roughly 12 miles of walking. Unlike RM, however, you’re on the road delivering for up to nine hours, often in the dark, and with none of the respect from customers that the friendly postman is afforded.

[SMS1969]

To get 30k as a new starter you would need to work at least 47 hours a week ( outside London). The money is there to earn if you want it, there’s no doubt about that. But you will be knackered doing those hours every week.

[Redshadow]

Love to be on over 30ka year,might make getting up and going into work a bit more palitable

[LouBarlow]

If RM suddenly cut Lou’s wages in half he’d still put a positive spin on it somehow.
The job has gone to pot,just be honest instead of this fake positivity rubbish

It is an enjoyable job I am paid well for. Why wouldn’t I be positive?

[Basildon Bond]

An Amazon driver easily averages >25k steps daily, which equates to roughly 12 miles of walking.

Sorry but I just don't believe that; twenty-five thousand steps per day? Nope. I cannot see that. It's more driving than walking.

[Smoothbackground]

I’m going from my own stepometer on my phone and my own experience of delivering in central London, where I would always park up and end up dragging a tote around full of parcels so you don’t sit in traffic for 20 minutes. Have you never seen Amazon and other drivers pulling the yellow and blue totes around??!

*EDIT: in interests of transparency, 25k isn’t an average, sorry — perhaps upper limit in peak! 18,000 steps is my daily average for 2022, when i was doing Amazon, with some outliers around and above 25k. Not intending to mislead so wanted to clarify.*