Parcels through the roof, Mondays now very busy

[Mr Rush]

Seemed to ease off today. This week has been a rerun of the last Prime week in mid July, which itself was a mini-Christmas in its observable effects on letter delivery.

[LouBarlow]

I’m not sure how Amazon work but we only ever seem to get their heavier parcels here now, such as household items like cat litter and tins. I don’t know why their own couriers don’t take them but that seems to be what has increased lately. Absolutely shite packaging as well. You either get a flimsy cardboard box trying to hold 24 heavy tins of whiskas or they just slap a label on 100 bog rolls with no protection at all.

[WalkerX]

I’m not sure how Amazon work but we only ever seem to get their heavier parcels here now, such as household items like cat litter and tins. I don’t know why their own couriers don’t take them but that seems to be what has increased lately. Absolutely shite packaging as well. You either get a flimsy cardboard box trying to hold 24 heavy tins of whiskas or they just slap a label on 100 bog rolls with no protection at all.

RM have made an agreement to take all this s**t, which surely Parcelforce should be taking? ShAmazon trying to squeeze the very last penny out of a transaction by cutting costs on packaging , or "sustainability" as they would have it. Sustainability to them means sustainability of their vast profits. RM drone on about health and safety , but unstable packages such as this cannot surely pass H&S guidelines? I won`t be injuring my back on these items because I`ll be telling my boss that I won`t be taking them. Simples.

[yellowbelly]

I’m not sure how Amazon work but we only ever seem to get their heavier parcels here now, such as household items like cat litter and tins. I don’t know why their own couriers don’t take them but that seems to be what has increased lately. Absolutely shite packaging as well. You either get a flimsy cardboard box trying to hold 24 heavy tins of whiskas or they just slap a label on 100 bog rolls with no protection at all.

Their own couriers don't take them because their algorithms/AI have sussed out that they can fit maybe five more parcels in that volume of space in their own wagon that are easier to deliver and in a more concentrated/local delivery area. More efficient for them.

[postslippete]

Amazon won't use Parcelforce because of costs as PF uses a premium express service. RM, in contrast, has a USO and a cheaper pricing structure for large volume contracts. I believe IDS are pushing to merge RM and PF operations by creating one combined parcel network under the RM brand. It would certainly make more sense to move towards one workforce under one brand as this would save money and simplify operations. If this happens then the current structure where PF handles big items and we handle small parcels/letters could disappear completely. That might be why we are being tasked to deliver bulkier items now - RM might be testing how far they can stretch our capacity without paying PF's rates?

As far as health and safety is concerned, RM's officially stated weight limits for individual items are 20kg max for parcels - and anyone refusing to deliver or collect anything over this would be well within their rights to refuse unsafe loads. I'm sure management will look at ways round this and the one that makes sense to me is to have dedicated parcel drivers doing the bulky stuff. We only tend to have these at Xmas at our depot.

[SpacePhoenix]

RM's officially stated weight limits for individual items are 20kg max for parcels

Whoever at RM who said that obviously can't be keeping up as some firms can send up to 30Kg, that's been the case for at least 5-6 years now.

[postslippete]

RM's officially stated weight limits for individual items are 20kg max for parcels

Whoever at RM who said that obviously can't be keeping up as some firms can send up to 30Kg, that's been the case for at least 5-6 years now.

They have been testing the waters for some time on this but our policy (not parcel force) is that maximum weight limits for a single parcel is 20kg. It is clearly stated in their public terms of service so anything over 20kg is supposed to go through PF worldwide or any other service.

If we are told by management to deliver anything above this limit then ask them to put it in writing (they won't) and you will get full backing from the CWU on this as it is clearly a health and safety issue, not any insubordination.

[SpacePhoenix]

They have been testing the waters for some time on this but our policy (not parcel force) is that maximum weight limits for a single parcel is 20kg. It is clearly stated in their public terms of service so anything over 20kg is supposed to go through PF worldwide or any other service.

Well RM need to update them as they have been out of date for at least 5 years:

https://www.royalmail.com/business/ship ... cked-24-48

Sizes and what you can send

Parcel
Max L 61cm
x W 46cm
x D 46cm

e.g. Gifts, shoes, heavy or bulky items

Parcel max weight: 30kg

Tubes and Rolls
Max 2kg |
Max L 90cm
x W *
x D *

The length plus twice the diameter must be less than 104cm, with the greatest dimension less than 90cm

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalma ... r-2025.pdf (Scroll down to page 5)

Max. 30kg
(Max. 20kg for items sent via Local Collect)

[TopperGas]

We've only been delivering 30KG items within the last year?

[kazardaimenu]

I’m not sure how Amazon work but we only ever seem to get their heavier parcels here now, such as household items like cat litter and tins. I don’t know why their own couriers don’t take them but that seems to be what has increased lately. Absolutely shite packaging as well. You either get a flimsy cardboard box trying to hold 24 heavy tins of whiskas or they just slap a label on 100 bog rolls with no protection at all.

Their own couriers don't take them because their algorithms/AI have sussed out that they can fit maybe five more parcels in that volume of space in their own wagon that are easier to deliver and in a more concentrated/local delivery area. More efficient for them.

And then we get lumbered with trickier delivery points and harassed.

[Mr Rush]

Sustainability to them means sustainability of their vast profits.

The same thing has been happening in the US. Tragedy of the commons. It'll just further deteriorate the universal service for a short term gain and bring about a future where there is no common carrier for Amazon to dump their undesirable work.

If Amazon wants to operate a bypass network it should bloody well do so. This current situation is a bastardised version of DSA.

[postslippete]

They have been testing the waters for some time on this but our policy (not parcel force) is that maximum weight limits for a single parcel is 20kg. It is clearly stated in their public terms of service so anything over 20kg is supposed to go through PF worldwide or any other service.

Well RM need to update them as they have been out of date for at least 5 years:

https://www.royalmail.com/business/ship ... cked-24-48

Sizes and what you can send

Parcel
Max L 61cm
x W 46cm
x D 46cm

e.g. Gifts, shoes, heavy or bulky items

Parcel max weight: 30kg

Tubes and Rolls
Max 2kg |
Max L 90cm
x W *
x D *

The length plus twice the diameter must be less than 104cm, with the greatest dimension less than 90cm

https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalma ... r-2025.pdf (Scroll down to page 5)

Max. 30kg
(Max. 20kg for items sent via Local Collect)

Thanks for that Space. I wasn't aware of this and the link you provided and obviously contradicts what I said earlier, stated here:

https://www.royalmail.com/packaging-and ... eavy-items

RM are clearly testing the waters with this and it's because they want to keep more e-commerce traffic inside the RM network instead of handling it over to PF. Oddly enough the 20kg limit still applies to normal parcels/collections and it doesn't automatically mean that posties are expected to deliver 30kg items solo.

This business is ever-changing but there is still a safe-handling limit in place for delivery staff. The indicative weight limit for a single item handled by one delivery employee is 20kg and anything exceeding that must be risk-assessed and where appropriate either handled by two people, have suitable equipment in place or referred to PFW.

[menditsa]

And if a LM says get the customer to help you unload the item ask the LM has the customer been trained in safe lifting procedures ?

I don't let any customers help with lifting as many years ago a customer nearly broke my arm as they went the opposite way to how I was lifting correctly.

[postslippete]

That's actually a really good point. You wouldn't expect to have a washing machine or fridge delivered and have the customer help the driver unload it for them. Even if it's a two man job most of our vans are not set up for carrying these sort of items as they rammed full of other parcels and bags of mail.

[TopperGas]

I had a completely full van tonight on collections as had to pick up some large PF parcels, no idea how we'll cope nearer peak, once again no real thought has been put into how we're supposed to fit PF parcels into RM vans, before anybody suggests it, I've no intention of driving a larger van and so potentially having an accident as I'v never previously driven one, or ever even wanted to drive one, just to suit the company's needs.