Newbie Question: Prepping/sorting

[roughshootwood]

Apologies in advanced for such a basic and clueless question.

I'm about to start training in a couple of weeks for my part time 9am-2pm postman job. I wanted to get information on what is involved with regards to prepping/sorting for a postman working part time hours.

I'm completely clueless on what prepping actually involves, so if someone could break it down to the very basics it would be appreciated.

How long will I be in the office preparing for my walk?

thanks.

[Pat Ostman]

I'll keep this short(ish)

With your contract you should not have to do any prepping whatsoever as you seem like you are on a delivery only contract. Reality is that you will do it as the clueless managers make the understaffed and overworked fulltimers do it and they really do not have the time.

1) Prepping a walk involves putting letters designated for your 'walk' into individual house slots on a frame. In other words preparing your walk for delivery. With this method you will walk down a street and deliver (for example) to no1, no3, no5 etc etc. If you just grabbed a lot of mail and headed out you would be doing the delivery all day. This is why we prep our walk.

2) Sorting, or IPS, is one stage back, where posties sort loose mail (postcoded) into specific deliveries (like yours) which is then sorted again for delivery by the walk holder (see 1). YOU SHOULD NEVER BE TOUCHING IPS with your contract. This is not because you are less important but because you just do not have the time, believe me.

How long will I be in the office preparing for my walk?

Again, since deliveries are supposed to be three and a half hours long, with a 30 mins PAID meal relief and since you do not teleport to and from your delivery point. You should in theory not be in the office for more than half an hour at most. Again, in the lala land of Royal Mail your contract is unworkable.

Um... welcome to Royal Mail!

(And I mean that, it's a GREAT job once you are 1mm away from the DO!

[johnnyp]

Nice one IPS

Have a look at this as well roughshootwood
http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 36&t=13909" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[clashcityrocker]

In our office the walks are 4 hours. A breakdown of a 5 hr day is then:
4hrs delivery
20 minutes break
15 minutes travel to walk
15 minutes pouching off at the end of your walk.
This leaves 10 minutes for dead letters,redirections,tie up pee and collect your special deliveries.
Even if the walk is 100% prepped (which it will not be) you are stuffed before you start.
One DOM gleefully announced that the 25hr contracts were illegal, so ggod luck.

[Pickle]

In our office were fed up telling the part timers to stop coming into work 1-2 hrs before their thime to prep their own walk.

1-why work for nothing. you wouldnt do it in any other job
2- you are not insured to be in the building.
3-if you do have an accident, do you think royalmail will do anything for you.

Everyday part time staff in most DO must be saving royalmail a small fortune in unpaid hours.

[montriff]

In our office the walks are 4 hours. A breakdown of a 5 hr day is then:
4hrs delivery
20 minutes break
15 minutes travel to walk
15 minutes pouching off at the end of your walk.
This leaves 10 minutes for dead letters,redirections,tie up pee and collect your special deliveries.
Even if the walk is 100% prepped (which it will not be) you are stuffed before you start.
One DOM gleefully announced that the 25hr contracts were illegal, so ggod luck.

sounds like my office but you forgot to mention finishing off the prep that the full timer (who's already f****d off before you started ,probally on lapsing) couldn't finish and the two packet bags as well

[opgpat]

Hi,

Your official hours will in reality be 9-13:30 becasue you will never have time for a break mid-shift so will put it at the end of your shift as most PT'ers do. However, realistic finish times for a newbie will be 15:00 - 16:30 so if you can do over-time all well and good. If you can't do OT tell them soon as you get in and if they ever put you out with too much mail to deliver tell them 'i will have to bring some back if I can't finish in time as I can't do OT'.) Remember to tell your manager daily what your OT is and make sure it goes in the OT book. You should tell them you will be over before you go out so simply say 'I'm due to finish at 13:30 will I get OT?''' Make a note in a diary and check your payslip every following Thursday for your OT. If it's not there take your diary and payslip in on Friday and get it put in for the next week.

Don't be nervous about asking for OT when you are entitiled to it. RM isn't a charity and everything you deliver makes money for the company so you shouldn't be working for nothing. Also like posted above, some people even full-timers come in early to get a head-start and then end up working for nothing because they work up till their time. Don't be fooled into that, come in at 9 and only earlier if they pay you for it.

To answer your question you will likely have your packets to prep and a bundle or so of loose mail each day. You will be shown how to do it in you first 3 days so don't worry it's easy once you get used to the frame you will be on. You will also have your leaflets to put in. You do 20% of the walk each day mon-fri. Don't come in early to do these either they should be done WITHIN duty time. If anyone tells you otherwise have a look on here for info on it and print out the relevant agreement and show them it.

Each street should be colour coded on the frame so try to navigate around using the colours. It also helps to use little reminders to locate streets on the frame so for example if u have a street called "upper avenue'' and it's on the top row that's obvious. If you have a "Beech Rd" on the left think of there being a beach there. Sounds silly but that sort of thing will work! If you come in to find masses of mail needing to be done and you're not yet familiar with the frame sort it onto the frame bench in same-street piles. It will then be much easier and quicker to slot in one streets mail at time. Good luck and don't get stressed out, you're not paid for that, that's your managers job.

[NewPostieUK]

I'll keep this short(ish)

With your contract you should not have to do any prepping whatsoever as you seem like you are on a delivery only contract.

I work 5 hours three times a week ( sat, mon and tues) and it's certainly not delivery only. I do everything except IPS. Nothing is done for me.

[shedboy]

And don't forget to join your union, you're gonna need it at some point.

[opgpat]

I work 5 hours three times a week ( sat, mon and tues) and it's certainly not delivery only. I do everything except IPS. Nothing is done for me.

New guy I hope you had a look at the post above and don't come in early or do unpaid OT? If you do you are cheating yourself, giving RM work for nothing when they make a fortune out of you (4million for Crozier) and taking work off other guys who would do your cut-off for much needed OT payment. I do the same as you most days on 6hrs and it's usually a struggle and need to claim on heavy days.

[coxie]

Just make sure mate that if the walk aint prepped fully for you that you tell your line manager that if you get out late and it looks like you wont get done in time you want to either book the extra hour or you will be bringing it back, its not your fault they give such stupid contracts out and you wont be working anytime for free so they either pay up or you cut off. Dont like most people be made to feel guilty for cutting off or be made to feel that because you are new they will get rid of you just because you refuse to work for free.

[bandit1157]

I work 5 hours three times a week ( sat, mon and tues) and it's certainly not delivery only. I do everything except IPS. Nothing is done for me.

New guy I hope you had a look at the post above and don't come in early or do unpaid OT? If you do you are cheating yourself, giving RM work for nothing when they make a fortune out of you (4million for Crozier) and taking work off other guys who would do your cut-off for much needed OT payment. I do the same as you most days on 6hrs and it's usually a struggle and need to claim on heavy days.

it's the same in our office for the 30hr men thats why i refused the offer of increasing to 30 hrs ie 6hrs a day the maths don't add up 4hr walk, flex 20min [every day] 3 lots of d2d [not every week] up to 15min, bag up and weigh, redirections, specials, kill offs and throwing in missorts 30min. this leaves less than an hour to throw a walk off which actually takes someone who knows the walk 90mins on a good day. this means you have to virtually have to run round on the walk non stop. there is something wrong when a job needs overtime on average 4 days out of 6 but royal mail seems to be getting away with it.

[roughshootwood]

Appreciate all the responses.

So really i shouldn't be doing any prepping at all on my contract, bar bagging up and sorting some of the other little things mentioned out? I realize the way things seem to be that that actually probably won't be the case, and I'll be pushed to do things I'm not supposed to be doing. I don't think I'll need much convincing not to work past contracted hours though, accept if I'm granted OT, because I'm really not that desperate for the job to be treated like a piece of crap, which I'm expecting with the vibe I'm getting from Royal Mail workers.

Another thing, what is 'pouching off' and what are 'deads'? It'd be great if someone could clear up the postie terminology.

[97gaz]

L

[97gaz]

O