Walk sequencing - any 1 do it ??

[Thorby Bislam]

Apparently they only save 20 minutes prep time. How is that worth it ?

[pickaname]

Not this again...

Trials in Portsmouth lasted for 3 days.

Scrapped 'cause sequenced mail didnt get to the frames 'till gone 10am.

[simply_the_best]

Apparently they only save 20 minutes prep time. How is that worth it ?

But RM will try to tell us they should save 40 mins at least

[piranha]

I honestly reckon if you know the walk well this is not going to save you time, it's the time saved through less manual sorting I guess?!

[Mr Blonde]

I'll be finishing with delivery if this kind of modernisation is as crap as I think it's going to be.

[piranha]

Not this again...

Trials in Portsmouth lasted for 3 days.

Scrapped 'cause sequenced mail didnt get to the frames 'till gone 10am.

The machines are slower than us

[mclovin]

Having spoken to my gaffer about WS he reckons our office is not a viable option for WS as its too small to fit the machine.

He also said the mail had to go round the machine (which must be effing huge) 3 times before the machine gets it in the right place.

[jockstrapp]

Having spoken to my gaffer about WS he reckons our office is not a viable option for WS as its too small to fit the machine.

He also said the mail had to go round the machine (which must be effing huge) 3 times before the machine gets it in the right place.

Thats nothing I have to go round my walk three times to get it in the right f#ckin letterboxes

[mclovin]

Gaffer said it would be at a nearby office which is massive, but they'd be sorting out their own gear first so God only knows what time we'd get ours after theirs had came off the machine. Its a no go, he said it himself, and gaffers dont lie.

[shaunman]

I think the general idea (business plan) is to get these walk sequenced machines in, they will tell us that they talk longer to sort the mail therefore we need to start later. As we start later there will be no need for collections, each duty will collect from some boxes or firms on there way back to the office, as this will save a fortune on collections. I worked out in our small office that we spend around £40,000 a year on collections.

It would be better if Royal Mail told us there ideas, instead of doing everything seperately, I.e. park and loop so every duty has a vehicle, going to the regulator for a later last letter in order for us to tag a collection onto the end of the duty.

[FellChair]

We've had 3 of these amazing machines up and running since Monday and it has been a bit of a shambles really. Problems so far are...

They seem very unreliable, at any given time one or more of the machines wont be working.
They actually increase workload on the IPS as these machines can't sort a lot of stuff which the old ones could. The operators were regularly bringing bundles of mail round that the machine couldn't process.
Today we only had 2 mech....the first was sequenced but the second wasn't because it arrived too late to go through the machines so it went through once to be walk-sorted only.
On Monday my mech was sequenced but a lot just had walk-sorted again, not sure what the problem was there.
As for prep time, it really is negligible on your own walk. Obviously if you're asked to prep another walk it's OK for getting the mech in but you still have exactly the same workload off the IPS if not slightly more.

It's early days so maybe things will improve but at the moment it doesn't seem like money well spent. I'd say getting people in on the IPS for a night shift like the old days would be more efficient than these machines!

[Stumpy]

Strikes me that the implementation of these walk sorting machines is much the same as the bikes and uniform. The outcome of the trials is already documented before they even begin.

[Dorset Plodder]

Fancy that RM is talking out of its A***hole for a change! I presume they have got to make this WS system work as theyve been biggin it up for so long. It might help in our office (if it worked) as the DIM doesnt like to leave anyone on the same duty for more than 2 days just in case they get to know what theyre doing! I think the solution is not to bring in new machines but to bring in new managers. Any one out there actually got a DIM who in not a total Dickhead? The good DIms that I have know have all moved on/retired early/gone sick or been sacked. Why? Because they tried to do the job properly.

[postmanx]

We have had it for months now - and no it does not work as they say it does!!
does not save that much time on prep - and when the machines go wrong then it all goes to pot!!
but they have still taken away hours and will not put them back in.
and all done without the cwu (again) - so royal mail should see why there plans fail.
we have been told we are the ONLY office in the country to have ALL changes done(CDV,EHCT,HCT,WALK SORT MACHINES)
we are supposed to be the MODEL OFFICE??
think dave and billy should come and see - Sort It Out Please!

[rhino49]

We have two sequencing units being installed in January to go live in February. They will cover our office and three other local DO'S. I believe that as we are doing the sequencing the priority will be on a similar vein to MC systems, the furthest away offices will be processed first to get the mail on it's way and the home office, because the mail will not have to travel, will be processed last. The only advantage I see to this is that the people who come in before their time now, will not have the same advantages because their will be no advance prep for them to do. I also believe that any advantage gained from the sequencing machines should be used to make the work easier - not as an excuse to give us more physical time on the streets with no toilets and more weather exposure.