special delivery dismissal

[claire1.9]

Have anybody been told that that if they dont speak to every customer posting about special delivery that you may have a formal interview and then dismissal. I have some body in my office who is supposed of failed the mystery shopper special delivery at the being of november, was told last week the results and now has a formal interview to attend. She didnt know she had the mystery shopper and cannot even remember the conversation. Now I have just come off the phone to another collegue from another office and they have been told this morning in training if they dont have the full converstion with every single person they would also have an formal interview which could lead to dismissal. Has any body else been threaten with this.

[goggins69]

I know we are supposed to ask every customer the question but haven't heard of any warnings or interviews if we don't. I'm sure it will come.

[knackeredneedadayoff]

the worlds gone mad do they think you have a easy time of it with fag and coffee breaks every 10 mins,you just aint got the time especially this time of the year,i collect from sub offices ,they are none stop with mail piled up around them because royal mail has cut the relief collections to save money.

[headscrewedon]

She didnt know she had the mystery shopper

Kind of scary that POCL use this kind of underhand way to check whether staff are giving the public the 'hard sell'. But you don't seriously think someone employed to do this sort of monitoring is going to tell the counter staff he/she is a mystery shopper ?

My granddad fought in the war to rid the world of an evil regime that spied on it's own people and wanted all it's frontline people to carry out orders without question. Looks like ol' Hitler is back and now in charge of POCL, then ...

Postman Pat Hitler.jpg

[claire1.9]

they do tell you who they are if you get it right and you get a £5 voucher for your efforts there and then. Get it wrong they go away write a report get it weeks later and face defending themselves against a mystery shopper you dont know you had.

[POSTMAN]

When i was a collection driver i used to collect from a big BO,i would be inside waiting on stuff behind the counter with you guys and every time a customer came to a window just to buy a stamp or whatever,all i heard was,'do you want to send it special delivery'.Drove me mad,must drive you guys madder!

[PostalOfficer]

Once again, it's funny how they can afford mystery shoppers but not enough counter staff...

I must say that although our manager always goes on about using the right conversation, we have never got anywhere near sacking people.

Frankly, the official 'conversation' is too long and customers frequently cut me off even when I try to use it. On busy days I tend to revert back to "anything valuable or urgent?" and judge where to go next from the customers reaction. There again that comes from the skill and experience we have gained doing the job for 20+ years. Not something senior management seem capable of comprehending.

I did have a surreal 1-2-1 with a previous Asst. Branch Manager. "How have you done today?!
Proudly I said, "Upsold 3 specials", as I had only just come back from 6 weeks off with stress.
"Oh good, what conversation did you use?"
[Whatever unofficial version I had found convenient to do the job]
"NO!! You've got it all wrong".
"Sorry, customer got correct service, went away happy, specials in locker, £15 in till, job done".
"NO!! You did it all wrong."

Brings me to my belief that we are actually in the business of generating statistics and reports and ticking boxes rather than actually selling!

[Running Man]

Although we should have all mastered the Special Delivery conversation by now it does seem Draconian to say the least that our teams are being threatened with a 'formal interview that could lead to dismissal' if every 'i' is not dotted or every 't' not crossed within each mails conversation.
I am not aware of any instruction being issued to Crown Office Managers suggesting that we should take such a heavy handed approach and I would like to think that most of our managers would have something to say about that to their CAM if it were the case.
Under normal circumstances I would expect any of our counter clerks to receive feedback on a mystery shopper visit whether it be to praise a great result (does that happen enough?) or to provide support and guidance if there is (allegedly) room for improvement.
I have to wonder what makes those people tick who threaten such action for such trivial matters, often at the expense of people who have served the business well for most of their working lives.
And I thought I was beyond despair already!

[claire1.9]

this has been rolled down by the cam

[billyhayes]

[claire1.9]

have taken this matter up with my section secretary and should be passed onto the terrorial rep. I will know more tommorrow when I attend the interview with my collegue.

[billyhayes]

have taken this matter up with my section secretary and should be passed onto the terrorial rep. I will know more tommorrow when I attend the interview with my collegue.

Good progress, keep us posted

[counter man]

I cant believe managers are being asked to do this...! On what grounds would the have to interview, as there is no evidence a conversation took place. I remember in the past the mystery shoper made themselves known at the time irrespective if the visit was " passed or failed!" Then at least in this case it would be fresh in the mind of the clerk...and if you forgot ,! hands up guv, its a fair cop!" I wont do it again....but to start formal?? For dismissal there needs to be a specific charge..., fact finding, and interviews accompanied with your union rep....I really cant see this going to dismissal...
However there are only 2 questions to remember....delivered tomorrow and £39.00...surely we can all do that.

Not wanting to find out where you are Claire, but you say it was rolled out by your CAM.....its definately not been mentioned by ours....wondering if its a regional thing?

[claire1.9]

In training this morning we discusssed this issue and you can fail if you say is it urgent valuable or worth more than £39 and you are not suppose to say 'do you want to guarantee it tomorrow' because it puts people offf as I was told in my 1 to 1 the other week, by the way this came out of a branch managers meeting. Even if you get a special delivery upsell it could be classed as a failure. Also not offering parcelforce can be classed as a failure, I will let you imagine what are replies were. All I can say in this matter is that our branch manager is definately on our side with this.

[billyhayes]

All I can say in this matter is that our branch manager is definately on our side with this.

Don't kid yourself! No way is your manager on anyones side apart from the CAM. They will not back you up and they will not think twice about starting the MUP process against you if that is what they have been TOLD to do.

What you must realise is that managers have PDRs the same as us. And if the CAM puts on that PDR, that the branch manager must 'discipline' staff for failing to have type x, y or z conversation, then they WILL fail you, or be 'under-performing' themselves! Simples.

I have never met a branch manager in 20 years of working on the counter that 'sticks up for the staff' against their own masters. Wake up people.