letter which Courier Didn't publish

[Geezer]

Dear Colleagues,



Please see the attached letter which was sent to the Courier in response to their recent article on walking speeds. However it has not been published.



Hayley Nutley

Senior Secretary to Bob Gibson

Bob Gibson’s Office

Outdoor Postal Dept, CWU HQ

150 The Broadway, Wimbledon

SW19 1RX



Tel: 0208 971 7276

Fax: 0208 254 8577

Dept Website: http://www.cwu.org/outdoor" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;





Letter to the Courier

Dear Editor

I read with interest in the last edition of the courier Royal Mails article “Putting the record straight” explaining why the average walking speed expected of Postpersons within the Pegasus system is around 2mph, and not the 4mph that had been reported within the press.

Like many of my postal colleagues I have had involvement in these revisions and find the article misleading to your readers and a distortion of the truth.

Obviously as stated, if someone walked for 3.5hrs at 4mph they would cover 14 miles, which we know is not the case on the majority of residential deliveries.

Not surprisingly within the article Royal Mail has distorted the calculation of the 4mph walking speed by using total time and distance to bring the average down to around 2.0mph.

This is done by including non walking elements of a delivery like putting mail through the door, knocking on doors for signatures and packets, second pouches etc which Royal Mail term as parameters, which the walking speed is one of.

These different parameters have been assessed collectively and not individually as stated, (referred to as local and geographical factors), which has the effect of bringing the total average walking speed down over the total distance and time of delivery. This does not distract from the fact that our members are expected to walk at 4mph during periods of a 3.5hr delivery span.
If this individual parameter was reduced to say 2.0mph which Royal Mail say is the speed a Postperson should reasonably be able to walk at, and applied with the other parameters in the Pegasus optimisation then we would obviously have more walks from the system and the business would have a reduction in target savings in delivery offices.
The total average walking speed of 2mph over the whole walk as a figure that our members should achieve has no direct relationship to the 4mph our members are expected to walk at on parts of their delivery because of the other parameters that are applied.
The way Royal Mail present their calculation the average walking speed can change simply because of the type of housing you are delivering to, and as stated, using 4mph as a starting point clearly shows that Royal Mail expect their staff to walk at this rate, and is the speed planners are told to input into the system.

Royal Mail may not expect their staff to march across Sicily at 4mph; however, they are trying to turn their postal delivery staff into industrial athletes. Now that the retirement age is 65, all delivery staffs and especially those in their later years are going to find the physical demands of the delivery job near impossible if deliveries become longer in the future and 4mph is their starting point.

However, I believe that the Pegasus system is a good tool to assist in delivery revisions if used properly and the work values within it (parameters) are representative of the actual delivery operation our Postpersons undertake on a daily basis. By applying a 4mph walking speed to the parts of a delivery that our postmen / women actually walk will not achieve that aim, and ultimately mean that we are planning for failure.

**** *******
*** Delivery Office

[brothermagrew]

[floydy]

well the RM propaganda machine was never going to print that was it, all i keep getting from my dom is that walk speed is not an issue, and georoute is correct 99% of the time.

my walk is 4hrs georoute puts it out at 3.40 Dom's solution, get me out earlier so i can finish on time!!!!

whats to say they couldnt get me out for 8 am and do 2 deliverys :cfo :mfo :cfo :mfo :cfo

[DGP1]

well the RM propaganda machine was never going to print that was it, all i keep getting from my dom is that walk speed is not an issue, and georoute is correct 99% of the time.

my walk is 4hrs georoute puts it out at 3.40 Dom's solution, get me out earlier so i can finish on time!!!!

whats to say they couldnt get me out for 8 am and do 2 deliverys :cfo :mfo :cfo :mfo :cfo

Don't give them any more ideas

[Lounge Lizard]

Brevity is an important consideration when hoping to get a letter published.
An editor is far more likely to publish a letter of a few dozen words than one that would cover half the page.

[wranglered]

Fair point..what do you expect from a CWU official!