Research: How has being a postie changed?

[danf1]

Hi everyone, I'm a postgraduate sociology student and I am doing some research into the ongoing industrial conflict at Royal Mail. I am particuarly interested in how the media have covered the dispute and the experience of changing working practices and the strike from the point of view of the postal workers. I am going to be posting some topics so that people can start discussions on them. Any help that anyone can give me will be greatly recieved and any information that is passed to me will stay anonymous. If anyone has any questions regarding the research or would like to say anything else to me, please feel free to send me a PM. Thanks.

Here I am interested in how people think being a postie has changed in recent years? What has changed, how has this effected the way you do your job and has it effected you outside of work? What do you think the future holds for posties at work? Or just any thoughts anyone has about the job, either then or now.

[taxi4leighton]

ive been a postie for 30+years
we used to work 6 days a week
2 deliveries a day
1st del from 7 00 am to 9 30am
2nd from 11.00 am to 1 00pm
though we were usually finished 2nd before time
basic wage was really poor. you had to work overtime to get decent pay
all men were full time
all women were part time
all managers were former posties
i only had one bag of mail a day
now i have six
most of the mail was social mail
now its mainly mailsort

[stokes11eg]

The biggest change for me, im my sixteen years as a Postie,is the way we are now treated by Management.
not that they have ever been a particularly good employer,but for the past ten years,their treatment of the workforce is terrible.It would not be allowed in any other company,and given this is basically a government owned one, they should hang their heads in shame.

[DirtyHarry]

The two main changes I've seen in my time being a postman, individual workloads reaching impossible proportions, and a management structure which actually seems to hate it's employees, sly enough to never reveal such deep-seated hatred in words that can be seen by everyone, but through deeds that postal workers bear the brunt of, and is hardly felt at all by the public at large.

[knackeredneedadayoff]

26 years service my first wage was £95 its £280 now but we are treated like something you scrapped off your shoe ,we have to tell management if you are going to work over by say 30 mins and its why that much its a light day (7 bags) and they start counting your mail while they make you have your meal relief,as if i stand in the rain rubbing my hands thinking about all the money im getting for it ,half hour thats about £3 after tax.i would rather be at home.the job is **** im looking for another after the recession finishes,there is too much hassle and bullying by management.

[pinstripe]

I've been here 9 years now, so surprisingly still a relative newcomer. The main difference apart from the dramatic increase in workload is the time we finish now. I took this job (30 hours, one delivery, 6 days a week) because of the early finish time of 09.45. Don't be fooled though, by that time I had already done a full days work. This time suited me as I could spend quality time with my family, but over the years my finish time has been moved back to 12.30, with even later finishes in the not to distant future. Although 9 years have passed and my circumstances have changed, later finishes will not suit me, my son is disabled and it takes both my wife and myself to provide the level of care we do.
It seems to me and most of my colleagues that all the changes are designed to improve the bonuses for senior management, not to provide a better service for the public of better terms and conditions for the employees.

[danf1]

It seems to me, from what has been written, that a lot has changed over the years. If you think about what the job was like before, would you have considered looking for another job or was it a job you saw yourself staying in for a long time? If you did see yourself staying in the job for a long time, what was it that you liked about it?

[Stormproof]

I could'nt believe my luck when I first got a job with RM back in the 80's. A job I could be proud of, a job for life, a respected member of the community. Now its an embarrassing company to work for, virtually no public service left in it all the bosses are interested in is profit. I can't wait to find another job with less stress and a a lot more dignity and respect given to the staff.

[danf1]

I could'nt believe my luck when I first got a job with RM back in the 80's. A job I could be proud of, a job for life, a respected member of the community. Now its an embarrassing company to work for, virtually no public service left in it all the bosses are interested in is profit. I can't wait to find another job with less stress and a a lot more dignity and respect given to the staff.

Do other people feel like this? Was the respect and public service aspect of the job an important part?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I could'nt believe my luck when I first got a job with RM back in the 80's. A job I could be proud of, a job for life, a respected member of the community. Now its an embarrassing company to work for, virtually no public service left in it all the bosses are interested in is profit. I can't wait to find another job with less stress and a a lot more dignity and respect given to the staff.

Do other people feel like this? Was the respect and public service aspect of the job an important part?

May be not respect but certainly the Service Part. I joined with an intention to stay till retirement, I don't think I'll stick it out that long.

[dvbuk55]

I could'nt believe my luck when I first got a job with RM back in the 80's. A job I could be proud of, a job for life, a respected member of the community. Now its an embarrassing company to work for, virtually no public service left in it all the bosses are interested in is profit. I can't wait to find another job with less stress and a a lot more dignity and respect given to the staff.

Do other people feel like this? Was the respect and public service aspect of the job an important part?

May be not respect but certainly the Service Part. I joined with an intention to stay till retirement, I don't think I'll stick it out that long.

Some say you've already retired

[danf1]

What is it for you that is important about supplying a public service?

[antcpfc]

What is it for you that is important about supplying a public service?

It is not the supplying of the service that is important .What really matters is the quality of the service.Management could not care less about individual customers,luckily we do and will try and go that bit further.At times now I am embarrassed to walk the streets because We are getting out so late and leaving whole roads of mail behind due to time constraints.

[stokes11eg]

I could'nt believe my luck when I first got a job with RM back in the 80's. A job I could be proud of, a job for life, a respected member of the community. Now its an embarrassing company to work for, virtually no public service left in it all the bosses are interested in is profit. I can't wait to find another job with less stress and a a lot more dignity and respect given to the staff.

Do other people feel like this? Was the respect and public service aspect of the job an important part?

Yes, of course it was.but thanks to the management all that is gone.

[piranha]

As part of your 'research' have you contacted Royal Mail HR to get their point of view? It would be interesting to see, perhaps you could post their responses?