Are you delivering less mail than a year ago?

Phantom · Post by **Phantom** » 15 Jun 2009, 08:24

Its just over a year since the last poll i did about mail volumes, so a year on from now and according to Royal Mail and a few others who frequent this forum all Royal Mail delivery staff are handling less mail.

So the question is " Are you delivering less mail than a year ago? " I personally am not delivering less.

Please note: This is ALL types of mail and excludes packets for now.

andy2007 · Post by **andy2007** » 15 Jun 2009, 10:22

I can't really join in with the Poll, as I work indoors. But what I can tell you, is that since shortly after the Credit Crunch hit the headlines, the mail in my area has dropped off dramatically. It did pick up, almost to normal levels for a while recently. But it's back down to depressingly low quantities again now.

Personally: I believe that it's due to the Recession. Particularly as some of our Customers have closed depots in our area, and some, sadly, have gone bust. But that doesn't mean that it won't pick up again, once the Economy does.

Tman · Post by **Tman** » 15 Jun 2009, 10:50

[Its just over a year since the last poll i did about mail volumes, so a year on from now and according to Royal Mail and a few others who frequent this forum all Royal Mail delivery staff are handling less mail.

So the question is " Are you delivering less mail than a year ago? " I personally am not delivering less.

Like all surveys, the expected answers can be massaged by the way the question is worded. National mail volumes can't be assessed by how much mail individual delivery staff are handling, and likewise the assertion never was that "delivery staff are handling less mail" . The two aren't equatable in this way.

Maybe the survey question should have been " have MC staff noticed the drop in mail traffic?" as Andy apparently has in his RDC, and he's not alone. After all, RM have said it, the CWU have said it, along with the CMA, Postconn etc etc.

So nothing new really, just the same old points in the same old interminable thread.........

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 15 Jun 2009, 12:47

Tman wrote:
[Its just over a year since the last poll i did about mail volumes, so a year on from now and according to Royal Mail and a few others who frequent this forum all Royal Mail delivery staff are handling less mail.

So the question is " Are you delivering less mail than a year ago? " I personally am not delivering less.
Like all surveys, the expected answers can be massaged by the way the question is worded. National mail volumes can't be assessed by how much mail individual delivery staff are handling, and likewise the assertion never was that "delivery staff are handling less mail" . The two aren't equatable in this way.

Maybe the survey question should have been " have MC staff noticed the drop in mail traffic?" as Andy apparently has in his RDC, and he's not alone. After all, RM have said it, the CWU have said it, along with the CMA, Postconn etc etc.

So nothing new really, just the same old points in the same old interminable thread.........

Polls can be started by anyone Tman - you could start the one you suggested

Tman · Post by **Tman** » 15 Jun 2009, 14:50

[

Polls can be started by anyone Tman - you could start the one you suggeste

I could, but what's the point?

Sadly, people's jobs rely on hard facts rather than ill-informed opinions, and the hard fact is that volumes continue to drop alarmingly. Apparently Portsmouth MC is the latest to collapse the early processing shift due to lack of work.
[Delicate aroma of Doue Egberts finest wafts around the portals of RMC.....]

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 15 Jun 2009, 14:59

You see we on delivery cant see the drop as even with a 10% drop it would be hard to spot on an average delivery of 500 - 600 drops, yet royal mail say because of the drop we can do more work, and be more flexible. Well most of us work to our time and even cut off yet we still keep getting the Volumes are down shoved down our throat by management.

Not being on delivery you'll probably not realise but Volume for a delivery postman means nothing, zilch, zero. Its the Attendance and call rate that are the important statistics and there is no way to measure them to my knowledge.

Thats why this subject keeps coming up, it may be a minor issue for you but its a Major one that Delivery Posties face on a daily basis and if they can let off steam by complaining about it on here we should let them, we are after all a forum for discussion so let them discuss it.

Perhaps after reading this post you may have more sympathy for deliveries and also realise why sometimes your comments and posts inadvertently get other members upset.

Phantom · Post by **Phantom** » 15 Jun 2009, 15:26

Tman wrote:
[Its just over a year since the last poll i did about mail volumes, so a year on from now and according to Royal Mail and a few others who frequent this forum all Royal Mail delivery staff are handling less mail.

So the question is " Are you delivering less mail than a year ago? " I personally am not delivering less.
Like all surveys, the expected answers can be massaged by the way the question is worded. National mail volumes can't be assessed by how much mail individual delivery staff are handling, and likewise the assertion never was that "delivery staff are handling less mail" . The two aren't equatable in this way.

Maybe the survey question should have been " have MC staff noticed the drop in mail traffic?" as Andy apparently has in his RDC, and he's not alone. After all, RM have said it, the CWU have said it, along with the CMA, Postconn etc etc.

So nothing new really, just the same old points in the same old interminable thread.........

No the question should not be aimed at MC staff as i don't believe you are counting all mail. My delivery office has not seen a fall in mail volume (managers words not mine) and the poll applies to anyone around the UK, so i would say the question is fairly generalised in that matter and does not concentrate on one particular area. Maybe some areas have seen a drop or maybe some have stayed the same or increased!

And yes we do need hard facts to protect jobs and it is fact that i've not seen in my area a decline in mail. Put it this way, my job is safe and i have no worries regarding so called falling mail volumes, when they do fall i'll be the first to admit it.

Sandyman · Post by **Sandyman** » 15 Jun 2009, 18:30

Tman wrote: Sadly, people's jobs rely on hard facts rather than ill-informed opinions

Not in Royal Mail. Lies , damn lies and (bent) statistics is the modus operandi of Old St.

Tman · Post by **Tman** » 15 Jun 2009, 18:38

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:You see we on delivery cant see the drop as even with a 10% drop it would be hard to spot on an average delivery of 500 - 600 drops, yet royal mail say because of the drop we can do more work, and be more flexible. Well most of us work to our time and even cut off yet we still keep getting the Volumes are down shoved down our throat by management.
They may well do that, but sadly it doesn't change the facts.

Not being on delivery you'll probably not realise but Volume for a delivery postman means nothing, zilch, zero. Its the Attendance and call rate that are the important statistics and there is no way to measure them to my knowledge.
I'm sure you're right in what you say, but yet again, it has no bearing on the familiar claim that mail volumes aren't dropping.

Thats why this subject keeps coming up, it may be a minor issue for you but its a Major one that Delivery Posties face on a daily basis and if they can let off steam by complaining about it on here we should let them, we are after all a forum for discussion so let them discuss it.
Hardly a "minor issue" for any RM staff I would think, but isn't "complaining" or "letting off steam" more useful when the facts are accepted and acknowleged? Pretty pointless otherwise.

Perhaps after reading this post you may have more sympathy for deliveries and also realise why sometimes your comments and posts inadvertently get other members upset.

Puppetmaster · Post by **Puppetmaster** » 15 Jun 2009, 18:49

Most of us on Deliveries dont see any drop of mail in our office,BUT, one of the guys who do factories in the Office mentioned something last week put a total different veiw on my outlook.

Like I say those of us on normal domesict deliveies have noticed nothing different,but this Factory guy pointed out one of the big factories he delivers to has closed down that had a lot of mail.

So thinking about the Firms in the area that have closed down,you proably have a situation where a handfull of companies that had a lot of mail have closed down,but if these companies had a lot of mail the traffic figures for that office would show as being down,when what actual hapening is been no change to 99% of the deliveries only a very minor change to the guys delivering to Firms,but on paper a signicant drop of traffic.

Not sure if this makes any sense?

Post by **stokes11eg** » 16 Jun 2009, 05:51

The mail always drops at this time of year, so not really possible to give a true reflection.For me, I covered the walk I;m on ten years ago, for a couple of years, and moved back to it 4 years ago. One street has over 200 houses, and I take
more pouches out for that walk now, than I did before.And they are all full to the limit, so overall, I take out more mail.
and I see an overall increase in the number of signed fors etc, what with e-bay and the likes,=more time, bur Managers
forget this.

andy2007 · Post by **andy2007** » 16 Jun 2009, 10:51

Puppetmaster wrote:Most of us on Deliveries dont see any drop of mail in our office,BUT, one of the guys who do factories in the Office mentioned something last week put a total different veiw on my outlook.

Like I say those of us on normal domesict deliveies have noticed nothing different,but this Factory guy pointed out one of the big factories he delivers to has closed down that had a lot of mail.

So thinking about the Firms in the area that have closed down,you proably have a situation where a handfull of companies that had a lot of mail have closed down,but if these companies had a lot of mail the traffic figures for that office would show as being down,when what actual hapening is been no change to 99% of the deliveries only a very minor change to the guys delivering to Firms,but on paper a signicant drop of traffic.

Not sure if this makes any sense?

That's why Tman is suggesting that we should be asking MC and RDC Staff, as we see how many lorry loads are coming in, and how full they are. It's a very inexact way of looking at it. But no worse than looking at individual rounds. So I've started a Poll to find out: http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 10&t=16888" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DGP1 · Post by **DGP1** » 16 Jun 2009, 18:35

linkinpark wrote:The other thing i have noticed for MY walk is a small increase of mail sort 3 and a slight decrease of DSA over the last 12 - 18 months. It could be my walk but i am getting far more on a Saturday than i have before as well as in the week whilst the DSA does not seem so bad. This could be beause RM are offering a cheaper product than they did in the past? or firms are fed up with the cr*p service they get from DSA and would rather pay a small bit more to have their cr*p delivered when they want rather than when TNT ect ect fill up a wagon before they decide to send it out to MCs and then have it delivered LATE for their advertising campaign on TV?

Saturdays are just rammed solid with DSA, I swear there seems to be more DSA on a Saturday than the rest of the week combined.

Phantom · Post by **Phantom** » 20 Aug 2009, 18:59

Over two months in and the poll says NO WE ARE NOT DELIVERING LESS MAIL THAN A YEAR AGO - Seems like the CWU have now seen the lies behind RM's 10% decline in order to push through more cuts.

And so to the none believers, you know who you are, you can shove the 10% up your arse!

El-Bandito · Post by **El-Bandito** » 15 Sep 2009, 15:12

Am i delivering less "Royal Mail" mail the answer is yes. Am i delivering more competition mail the answer is yes i am. Has the amount of mail i am delivering lessened the answer is no, it has increased. The question shoud have been. " Why for years and years that the management have been giving Royal Mail workers all the scare stories about the "competition this and the competition that" sat back and done f*ck all and allowed it to happen?

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