9% Letter Volumes Fall Further 9%

[greynut]

All I really want to know is 'If mail volumes are falling the why aren't revenues dropping by the same amount?' maybe one of the managers could let me know (failing that one of the apologists).

Spot on. Mail volumnes are NOT falling; they are just sent differently.

For instance. Offices and hospitals used to have an office junior licking, sponging and wetting stamps so they could send the letters out. Now it franked mail. RM have promoted PPI mail, this has taken the place of a lot of stamped mail. And lo and behold, the majority of mailsort letters are now down stream accesed by TNT and the like.

We are delivering cartloads of mail (Don t know about you but today was horrendous) and to suggest mail is down is an insult to us. Packets are up, and yes, why the f**k doesn't the courier stop behaving like some propaganda machine. Its disgusting that money is spent on this s**t. And another thing while I am at it. The w*****s who stand in front of a camera to have their picture taken and say things like "Oh yes, I have noticed a big drop in mail since the recession hit." Just f**k off you arse licker's :mfo

[smokerjim]

Right my tuppence worth - all the points that have been raised could be / are valid - but one thing I don't think has been mention is while everyone ( well, everyone not in a blue shirt ) is gobbing off about mail volumes falling, recession, businesses saving cutting costs so we have to cut costs what I've heard jack about is have the weights been dropping off? We're all told to weigh our pouches and bags, and record those weights, but where are those figures? If mail has been dropping off to the extent that our job is easier, and RM has to become more efficient, then logically, our bag weights should have been dropping - shouldn't it? Or are mail volumes dropping ( either in actuality or through creative accounting ), but the weight on our backs have been increasing?

Also regarding misdeliverys,a whole topic and not always posties fault, the local emergencey services had a campaign recently to try to get every house to have a house number on it .

I know I did a round once a Council estate ,where the numbers and layout could have been designed by Stevie Wonder,

goes something like1,2,3,100,98,25,27,5,etc put the wrong letters through the door got loads of abuse from this Female of sorts, suggested she might put a house number on the House,

Not New Ash Green, is it? Done it once or twice when I multidropped ( for my sins ) - my definition of Purgatory for anyone on any sort of delivery!

[Tman]

Spot on. Mail volumnes are NOT falling; they are just sent differently.

For instance. Offices and hospitals used to have an office junior licking, sponging and wetting stamps so they could send the letters out. Now it franked mail. RM have promoted PPI mail, this has taken the place of a lot of stamped mail. And lo and behold, the majority of mailsort letters are now down stream accesed by TNT and the like.

I was going to keep out of this and let the same old same say the same old same old, but this is just too ludicrous to allow to pass as "fact".

RM don't count "stamps". RM automation doesn't count "stamps" either, it counts letters processed, whether they are stamped, PPI, DSA, TNT, whatever. It counts them all.

Whether you believe volumes are falling or not (and I don't know how many sources will need to tell you before you finally believe it) you're still basing the "not falling" assumption on heavy walks, which is ridiculous, but at least get the way the mail is processed right.....

Still, add usual responses by usual posters here...............

[k979aaa]

Spot on. Mail volumnes are NOT falling; they are just sent differently.

For instance. Offices and hospitals used to have an office junior licking, sponging and wetting stamps so they could send the letters out. Now it franked mail. RM have promoted PPI mail, this has taken the place of a lot of stamped mail. And lo and behold, the majority of mailsort letters are now down stream accesed by TNT and the like.

I was going to keep out of this and let the same old same say the same old same old, but this is just too ludicrous to allow to pass as "fact".

RM don't count "stamps". RM automation doesn't count "stamps" either, it counts letters processed, whether they are stamped, PPI, DSA, TNT, whatever. It counts them all.

Whether you believe volumes are falling or not (and I don't know how many sources will need to tell you before you finally believe it) you're still basing the "not falling" assumption on heavy walks, which is ridiculous, but at least get the way the mail is processed right.....

Still, add usual responses by usual posters here...............

Lots of DSA is in bulk and theirfor does not get processed it just gets passed on too the D/O !. Get your fact's right Tman.

[Tman]

DSA comes in "bulk" to MCs where it's processed. If it's got a code on it, it's been processed and counted.
Maybe you should get your own facts right first.

[smokerjim]

Ok, before this decends into a slanging match, what about the possibility of mail volumes falling, but the collective weight of mail for delivery going up? After all, as I said, RM collects ( or is supposed to collect ) this data - and if there was a significant drop in weight going out on delivery ( say 5kgs a day less than 5 years ago, for instance ) then surely these figures would be published as well as further proof that any increase in the work postmen and woment do is a figment of our imagination, don't you think that would be the case?

[Tman]

Smokerjim, you make a good point, and one I've mentioned several times.
I'm stating that the volume of mail has decreased dramatically in the last couple of years. I can't comment on bags/bag weights/walks/etc as it's not my world, but I can argue the erroneous asumption that "mail volumes can't be dropping 'cos I work just as hard " which doesn't take the brain of Steven Hawking to see is an assumption full of unknown factors and therefore can't be considered to be factual or accurate.

Not for the want of endless repetition though..........

[savo]

Mail may/may not be dropping, but dont forget that large numbers of posties have left the business over last few years, walks are getting merged into other walks, wlaks getting bigger...... so a much smaller amount of posties are having to deliver the same amount ( or even 10% less if you believe the courier ) Ergo - Bags will be heavier,

[NewPostieUK]

If you weighed your bags a year ago and had 7 bags at 11kg each, thats 77kg. If you weighed your bags yesterday and had 6 bags at 11kg and one at 10kg, thats a 1kg drop. You'd not notice it, and you wouldn't finish any earlier. Multiply that 1kg by the number of postmen, and you'd have a massive drop in mail, which Royal Mail needs to something about. And they are...merging walks etc, making the postman, who's job wasn't any easier, do more. Royal Mail needs to look at other solutions, not just the obvious (but wrong) one.

Also, they say things like people send a text or email instead of a birthday card, or a letter. Maybe, but people get a lot more magazines delivered now, which are heavier than a letter. 100's of flats every day...brochures, catalogues SAGA, NATIONAL TRUST grrrr...and I'm sure the government sends a load more large letters. If you've got two kids, you'll know about the tax credit forms, in duplicate, per child, per parent, with mistakes which are corrected and all sent out yet again. My parents never got them. Banks and building societies send packs an inch thick, you can't bend them to get them through the letterbox, I'm sure those are a recent development. There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.

[greynut]

Spot on. Mail volumnes are NOT falling; they are just sent differently.

For instance. Offices and hospitals used to have an office junior licking, sponging and wetting stamps so they could send the letters out. Now it franked mail. RM have promoted PPI mail, this has taken the place of a lot of stamped mail. And lo and behold, the majority of mailsort letters are now down stream accesed by TNT and the like.

I was going to keep out of this and let the same old same say the same old same old, but this is just too ludicrous to allow to pass as "fact".

RM don't count "stamps". RM automation doesn't count "stamps" either, it counts letters processed, whether they are stamped, PPI, DSA, TNT, whatever. It counts them all.

Whether you believe volumes are falling or not (and I don't know how many sources will need to tell you before you finally believe it) you're still basing the "not falling" assumption on heavy walks, which is ridiculous, but at least get the way the mail is processed right.....

Still, add usual responses by usual posters here...............

OK, lets say you are right and I am always willing to leaqrn. Why then are we constantly bombarded by RM management stating that STAMPED mail is down??? And that email and texting has taken over from sending a STAMPED letter.Texting has NOT taken over from a letter. How many letters did you write when you were between 12-16 years old. Texting is just rubbish one liners getting sent by kids . But I am reacting to what is thrown in my face week in and week out by RM management. Now if you think that we are carrying less mail each week then you are mistaken. As you say it is all the same PPI,DSA etc. Therefore its got heavier by far.

[greynut]

Smokerjim, you make a good point, and one I've mentioned several times.
I'm stating that the volume of mail has decreased dramatically in the last couple of years. I can't comment on bags/bag weights/walks/etc as it's not my world, but I can argue the erroneous asumption that "mail volumes can't be dropping 'cos I work just as hard " which doesn't take the brain of Steven Hawking to see is an assumption full of unknown factors and therefore can't be considered to be factual or accurate.

Not for the want of endless repetition though..........

When we have a debate on here it doesn t need your insulting references to peoples intelligence. As you say in your post, bag weights etc are not your world. So how would you know what it was like to do a walk 5 years ago compared to the present day?

When I started here 7 years ago we would deliver by 9.15am be back and would have cut and tipped the flats by 11.00am. Now there are yorks and yorks of the stuff. There is so much more its unbelievable. Looking at numbers on a computer does is not the same as carrying 16KG bags around.

[greynut]

Spot on. Mail volumnes are NOT falling; they are just sent differently.

For instance. Offices and hospitals used to have an office junior licking, sponging and wetting stamps so they could send the letters out. Now it franked mail. RM have promoted PPI mail, this has taken the place of a lot of stamped mail. And lo and behold, the majority of mailsort letters are now down stream accesed by TNT and the like.

I was going to keep out of this and let the same old same say the same old same old, but this is just too ludicrous to allow to pass as "fact".

RM don't count "stamps". RM automation doesn't count "stamps" either, it counts letters processed, whether they are stamped, PPI, DSA, TNT, whatever. It counts them all.

Whether you believe volumes are falling or not (and I don't know how many sources will need to tell you before you finally believe it) you're still basing the "not falling" assumption on heavy walks, which is ridiculous, but at least get the way the mail is processed right.....

Still, add usual responses by usual posters here...............

OK, lets say you are right and I am always willing to leaqrn. You say that RM do not count stamps. What are you talking about? Why then are we constantly bombarded by RM management stating that STAMPED mail is down???If they don t count it wheres your logic? They also say that email and texting has taken over from sending a STAMPED letter.Texting has NOT taken over from a letter. How many letters did you write when you were between 12-16 years old. Texting is just rubbish one liners getting sent by kids . But I am reacting to what is thrown in my face week in and week out by RM management. Now if you think that we are carrying less mail each week then you are mistaken. As you say it is all the same PPI,DSA etc. Therefore its got heavier by far.

[axeman]

You must realise that tman looks at it from the agle of 'darkness' yes in the bullshi* world it's volumes have fallen so much your now going to be expected to work twice as long and for free !!! whilst those who do the job and have done for very many years know for a fact that even now volumes are increasing year on year
the job that i do has gone from one bag to five and still it's volumes are growing and the job is the same as it was twenty + years ago strange that in veiw of the ever decreasing mail bag. So who's not being truthfull i guess as always it's the postie ....well you have validify you bull so where better to start as we don't see these figgures in any format other than bullshi*

[Tman]

OK, lets say you are right and I am always willing to leaqrn. Why then are we constantly bombarded by RM management stating that STAMPED mail is down???

Maybe because it is? Our MC's CFCs used to run between 14.00 to the despatch times at about 20.00/20, and process anywhere between 100,000 to 200,000 items per shift, now one CFC isn't even staffed all late shift, and the total items processed can be as low as 50,000. Look at it any way you like, but that's a big drop in stamped mail.

And that email and texting has taken over from sending a STAMPED letter.Texting has NOT taken over from a letter. How many letters did you write when you were between 12-16 years old. Texting is just rubbish one liners getting sent by kids .

Very true, but RM seem to have taken this "texting has done for letters" crap from the Daily Mail or Express, but in reality, as you say, it isn't so. Other than Xmas, Valentines and Mother's Day etc there's still a big drop in stamped mail though.

But I am reacting to what is thrown in my face week in and week out by RM management. Now if you think that we are carrying less mail each week then you are mistaken. As you say it is all the same PPI,DSA etc. Therefore its got heavier by far.

I don't know what you carry, but I know what the machines carry, and it's way down. Even the CWU are telling you it's down, and why would they lie?

[Tman]

You must realise that tman looks at it from the agle of 'darkness' yes in the bullshi* world it's volumes have fallen so much your now going to be expected to work twice as long and for free !!! whilst those who do the job and have done for very many years know for a fact that even now volumes are increasing year on year
the job that i do has gone from one bag to five and still it's volumes are growing and the job is the same as it was twenty + years ago strange that in veiw of the ever decreasing mail bag. So who's not being truthfull i guess as always it's the postie ....well you have validify you bull so where better to start as we don't see these figgures in any format other than bullshi*

Good to hear from you again Axey. Been away?