The job is better now

[richietns]

All of the talk about compulsory overtime, when we work for a company who switches it on and off when they fancy it.
The business ran on goodwill for years, they destroyed it

People coming in early and working for free destroyed that. Why would they pay overtime when there’s a large number of the workforce still coming in before their time and staying out after their time, all for no pay. Madness

Maybe back in the day but since siso its eradicated it.

[postmanzach]

The job is better now with late finishes of up to 4:30pm?

16:45 here!

[postmanzach]

Honestly, I don’t see why people complain about the job. In my opinion it’s set up to benefit posties now. We can literally do what we can do within our time, bring back whatever mail we can’t get done and nobody says a word. As long as premium products/collections are completed, we can fail as much mail as we need to. We can even go out and not post a single non-1st class letter if parcel volumes are high. I think it’s great and there’s absolutely no pressure anymore like there was during days we had to clear frames. Why would anyone want this back again? It’s not possible anymore anyway. I couldn’t give a toss if letters sit in frames to next year. Not our problem. Sorry, but anyone that gets upset and stressed out needs to catch themselves on. The only people putting pressure on you are yourselves. Start on your time and finish on your time and nobody can say a word. Stop coming in early like a clown and you will be better off. The only thing I want is more money per hour.

I somewhat agree tbh! But it’s the understaffing and the angry public that brings me down. People use to somewhat like and respect the postie now it seems most are angry at us.
When people have to cover 2 walks, just do tracked 24 first class and nhs letters it’s impossible on heavy days.
They need to improve pay for new contracts because they just keep leaving.
Union seems incredibly useless now, all talk no action.

[Pfrizzy10]

Honestly, I don’t see why people complain about the job. In my opinion it’s set up to benefit posties now. We can literally do what we can do within our time, bring back whatever mail we can’t get done and nobody says a word. As long as premium products/collections are completed, we can fail as much mail as we need to. We can even go out and not post a single non-1st class letter if parcel volumes are high. I think it’s great and there’s absolutely no pressure anymore like there was during days we had to clear frames. Why would anyone want this back again? It’s not possible anymore anyway. I couldn’t give a toss if letters sit in frames to next year. Not our problem. Sorry, but anyone that gets upset and stressed out needs to catch themselves on. The only people putting pressure on you are yourselves. Start on your time and finish on your time and nobody can say a word. Stop coming in early like a clown and you will be better off. The only thing I want is more money per hour.

I somewhat agree tbh! But it’s the understaffing and the angry public that brings me down. People use to somewhat like and respect the postie now it seems most are angry at us.
When people have to cover 2 walks, just do tracked 24 first class and nhs letters it’s impossible on heavy days.
They need to improve pay for new contracts because they just keep leaving.
Union seems incredibly useless now, all talk no action.

Don’t worry about the public. You owe them nothing. They will complain as soon as anyone sets a foot wrong. They aren’t our friends. Just keep doing your job, working your hours and nobody can question it.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Employment law says very different. It is a reasonable expectation for employers to expect employees to work overtime. Case law exists.

Not exactly true. Under UK employment law, the employer cannot simply claim a "reasonable expectation" that you will work overtime. They must point to an express term in your written contract that requires you to do so.

Specifically to Royal Mail:

The 2021 agreement between Royal Mail and the CWU (the Communication Workers Union) explicitly states that attendance for extended hours is on a "purely voluntary basis." That is not case law. That is a binding agreement between your employer and your union. If you are a CWU member (and most Royal Mail operational staff are), Royal Mail is contractually bound by that agreement.

However, those starting after November 2022 are on different contracts, and there is an explicit clause, and long and shorts, IIRC, which is dependent on traffic levels, so they can be expected to work a reasonable amount overtime, as long as it complies with YK employment law.

[Tman]

As long as it's by prior arrangement. To believe that an employee can be "ordered" to stay past their time is the stuff of nonsense.

[Hyrrokkin]

As long as it's by prior arrangement. To believe that an employee can be "ordered" to stay past their time is the stuff of nonsense.

Exactly - your contract is your contract...simple as that

[JoeWagg]

We've recently had the changes in our DO to duties, changing them around/pairing with ones that are 'nearer' to cut on driving time.
My word, what an absolute shitshow. Apparently the objective was to make the duties more achievable to complete. Guess what? There's more getting left in now than before! Another case of people who know nothing about the job thinking they know better than us lot.

[Chelseablue]

This awful ( and we know it will be ) is this being brought in to crash the whole place altogether??? Just seems like the past revision of 3 years ago , when we all knew the expanded duties were a mess but cdnt do nothing about it.

[Pfrizzy10]

Let’s be real, offices will never be able to fully clear ever again as long as we are delivering mail. You can only do what you can do in your time.

[Mr Rush]

Let’s be real, offices will never be able to fully clear ever again as long as we are delivering mail.

Offices will never be able to fully clear ever again as long as we are delivering packets.

I don't think it's any coincidence that as soon as the volume access barriers to Tracked were removed (circa 2018) that failing became endemic.

[goneaway]

I don't think it's any coincidence that as soon as the volume access barriers to Tracked were removed (circa 2018) that failing became endemic.

What were volume access barriers? I must have missed that.

[Mr Rush]

What were volume access barriers? I must have missed that.

Tracked was originally restricted to high volume senders who could meet a minimum number of orders per month. That used to limit it to major retailers and their big contracts. I think it was down to 1000 per month before it was opened to the general public.

The tipping point was whenever the MC stopped putting the stickers on them.