MAIL SERVICE 'BEING PARED TO THE BONE'

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/ne ... rPath=home" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CUSTOMERS are being given short shrift by a postal service pared to the bone, says a disillusioned postman.

The latest in a series of changes will lead to later starting times for staff working out of the Hexham sorting office, he said.

But it will eat into the time usually allotted to sorting the mail each morning.

Management estimates that there were enough surplus ‘indoor’ hours for postmen to sort mail before they headed out on their deliveries were wide of the mark, he said.

With contract staff’s hours being kept to a minimum and a barely adequate number of sorting machines at their disposal, delivery times for businesses and residents alike would be forced back.

“They (Royal Mail) don’t care what time the mail is delivered – they just want to make their savings,” he said.

“Basically the policy is ‘get it delivered as cheaply as possible and sod the customer’.

“Royal Mail made £321 million in profit during the last six months, so they must think they are doing something right.”

The changes come as a result of an agreement reached between Royal Mail and its regulator Postcom two years ago. It stipulated a last delivery time of 2pm in urban areas and 3pm in rural areas.

Postmen’s eight hour shifts are about to be reorganised to fall in line with those end-stop delivery times.

Instead of starting at 5am as they used to, they will begin at 6am or 7am, depending on whether they cover an urban or a rural delivery route.

“They said there were enough surplus ‘indoor’ hours for us to sort the mail before we go out on our routes, but there aren’t – they are being unrealistic,” he said.

The postal service generally had been trimmed several times during the past seven years.

Collections had been reduced from seven days to six, and four years ago the second post had been axed altogether.

There had been a paring down behind the scenes, too. Hexham’s 84 staff included many whose contracted hours were kept to a minimum, but were topped up with many hours of overtime.

There were also no spare sorting machines, so when one broke down at the regional office in Gateshead last Friday, 30,000 letters and parcels were left lying there over the weekend.

He said: “Everything’s done on a wing and a prayer. The service has been run for years on the goodwill of the staff and overtime.”

A spokesman for Royal Mail said the company was proposing to make some operational changes at Hexham sorting office as part of a wide-ranging agreement reached with the Communication Workers Union in autumn 2007 covering modern, flexible working arrangements.

The deal was subsequently endorsed in a national ballot.

“We are talking to the union and our staff at the delivery office about these changes, which would not affect the quality of service our customers receive,” he said.

“We are investing heavily in the modernisation of our business to improve efficiency and ensure that we compete effectively in the future, while continuing to provide a high quality service to our customers.”

[pinstripe]

Royal Mail spokesman say "Blah blah blah, lie, lie lie, distort, deny, blah blah blah."
The man from Del Monte, he say "yes"

[Big Daz]

Why is 2nd delivery such a issue, the maill should arrive at the D.O on schedule for delivery no matter what.

A 1st class letter is still expected to arrive next day.