Van duties

[Exrep]

Ive said this in a previous thread but its one to ponder on.

I was informed by my area rep that van-share would only be used for walks that are more than 1 mile away from the D/O.

But ive got this gut feeling were about to be shafted.

[mclovin]

Van sharing is just NOT viable.

1. What if the driver goes sick and the non driver, well, cant actually drive?
2. Cost of 11000 vans far too much for a company thats skint.
3. Running costs of said vans also too much.
4. 1 van off the road EVERY 9 days for repair and maintenance. Thats not including vans that are crashed or involved in other RTA's.
5. 3 walks via 2 men + packets + Regs = Far too much, and far too simple to drive the van back to the office at your finish time and dump it back at the managers feet, should he still actually be there.

[fishtank]

Ive said this in a previous thread but its one to ponder on.

I was informed by my area rep that van-share would only be used for walks that are more than 1 mile away from the D/O.

But ive got this gut feeling were about to be shafted.

I think the official line is "Other options may be considered for walks within 1 mile............."

[slinger]

^^^ ie HCT's!

[Exrep]

Im with you MC long term just cant see how it can possibly work the best way of doing the job is by walking.

What the feck is going on in R/M who thinks up these ill minded working practises and honestly believes they will work FFS.

The FECKING muppets are running R/M at the moment.

[Woodcutter's Son]

We've had shared van duties since March after being implemented by Executive Action.

Duties are 4 hour 15 mins long (on a steady day). Only upside is it's lighter bags, but the delivery span is pretty hard going especially for about the first six months

We are having review in Jan in line with Interim Agreement regarding offices who have had change imposed by EA. But we've been told that we are basically stuck with them as five of our staff were made up to F/T due to the rounds being implemented. Also told by Senior management that it was going to be "more than likely" agreed nationally in 2010 anyway.

If you can implement with 3.5 hour delivery spans it probably wouldn't be too bad. Just make sure it's your 3.5 and not Pegasus 3.5

[Exrep]

No fish he actually told me only walks over a mile from the office but i suppose only time will tell as to whether he was right.

WOOD Is there nothink in H/S reagrding the time scale of a walk due to toilet relief etc etc

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

Van sharing is just NOT viable.

1. What if the driver goes sick and the non driver, well, cant actually drive?
2. Cost of 11000 vans far too much for a company thats skint.
3. Running costs of said vans also too much.
4. 1 van off the road EVERY 9 days for repair and maintenance. Thats not including vans that are crashed or involved in other RTA's.
5. 3 walks via 2 men + packets + Regs = Far too much, and far too simple to drive the van back to the office at your finish time and dump it back at the managers feet, should he still actually be there.

all the vans are on a lease agreement where it costs approx £6k per year per van, now average postie wage approx 18k per year, you do the maths if they squash 3 duties into a 2 man van,

even if they reduced 10 duties into 8, ie a duty and quarter each, cost of 4 vans would be £24k per year, wages saved would be £36k so would still be a £12k saving, now walk sequencing is "supposed" to be going to save 20 minutes per walk per day add on a reduction in the conveyancing time, to and from as you dont need to wait on a crew bus, you are looking at 4 hour 15 delivery which is do able in their eyes, coupled by the fact you get the bonus saving of at least 1 other reduction in staff head count as you do not need a bag/packet driver for those 10 walks that would give you another 18k saving per year

it doesnt look good but thats what they are looking at

[fishtank]

Van sharing is just NOT viable.

1. What if the driver goes sick and the non driver, well, cant actually drive?
There should ALWAYS be two drivers ror van sharing to work properly.
This is one of the major issues.What to do with non-drivers?

2. Cost of 11000 vans far too much for a company thats skint.
Most likely be leased.

3. Running costs of said vans also too much.
4. 1 van off the road EVERY 9 days for repair and maintenance. Thats not including vans that are crashed or involved in other RTA's.
We have approx 30 vans in our D.O,Approx 1 per month "off the road"

5. 3 walks via 2 men + packets + Regs = Far too much, and far too simple to drive the van back to the office at your finish time and dump it back at the managers feet, should he still actually be there.

That happens now.

[Exrep]

Im now scratching my head i support the union 110% and truly believe they will look after me ( naive maybe ) but surely even they can see that van-share is not the way to go.

Arent the union allways banging on about protecting F/T jobs well this isnt protecting them is it. the only way to protect F/T jobs and get more F/T contracts is by putting us back on two deliveries why in gods name are the union not trying this road with R/M.

I can hear the muppetts tune playing in the back ground and a lot of laughter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXvV2ALV0bg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mclovin]

Van sharing is just NOT viable.

1. What if the driver goes sick and the non driver, well, cant actually drive?
There should ALWAYS be two drivers ror van sharing to work properly.
This is one of the major issues.What to do with non-drivers?

2. Cost of 11000 vans far too much for a company thats skint.
Most likely be leased.

3. Running costs of said vans also too much.
4. 1 van off the road EVERY 9 days for repair and maintenance. Thats not including vans that are crashed or involved in other RTA's.
We have approx 30 vans in our D.O,Approx 1 per month "off the road"

5. 3 walks via 2 men + packets + Regs = Far too much, and far too simple to drive the van back to the office at your finish time and dump it back at the managers feet, should he still actually be there.

That happens now.

Maybe it happens in your office but not in ALL offices.

Besides my gaffer said its definitely not viable at our place, for a start there arent enough spaces for another 10-15 vans, plus all vans cant be on the dock at the same time so that would have to be taken into account. Like most RM plans, its ill concieved and wont work, and will cost them tons in the process.

[ldsposti]

We had a meeting with the area rep, the dims, and the planner, we asked about job losses dim said could be seven, planner said none till we have all the information, area rep no idea who the hell do you believe, most staff are ok if they can get evr, if we can find out how many walks to a van we can work the job losses out ourselves and of course if it dont work it will be our fault anyway.

[fishtank]

Van sharing is just NOT viable.

1. What if the driver goes sick and the non driver, well, cant actually drive?
There should ALWAYS be two drivers ror van sharing to work properly.
This is one of the major issues.What to do with non-drivers?

2. Cost of 11000 vans far too much for a company thats skint.
Most likely be leased.

3. Running costs of said vans also too much.
4. 1 van off the road EVERY 9 days for repair and maintenance. Thats not including vans that are crashed or involved in other RTA's.
We have approx 30 vans in our D.O,Approx 1 per month "off the road"

5. 3 walks via 2 men + packets + Regs = Far too much, and far too simple to drive the van back to the office at your finish time and dump it back at the managers feet, should he still actually be there.

That happens now.

Maybe it happens in your office but not in ALL offices.

Besides my gaffer said its definitely not viable at our place, for a start there arent enough spaces for another 10-15 vans, plus all vans cant be on the dock at the same time so that would have to be taken into account. Like most RM plans, its ill concieved and wont work, and will cost them tons in the process.

More intelligent people than us have decided that it is viable.
Both the union and RM believe,if done properly this is the way forward.
I'm sure they will find the space for the vans somewhere.It is realitively cheap and easy to re-locate.That is why we ended up in an industrial estate.
And the vans won't need to be on the loading bay if you have staggered attendance patterns.
I'm not a fan of any of this but some of it is now inevitable.

[themaze617]

Re where wil they keep these vans, you'll take them home just like bt workers do.
I'd be intrested in how you combine 3 rural deliveries where you can't just park up load your trolley up because the distance between delivery points, in large resedential housing estates i can see but not in the sticks?

[fishtank]

Re where wil they keep these vans, you'll take them home just like bt workers do.
I'd be intrested in how you combine 3 rural deliveries where you can't just park up load your trolley up because the distance between delivery points, in large resedential housing estates i can see but not in the sticks?

Proper rurals would simply stay the same.
Most are in the 4-5hr delivery span at the moment any way.