questions - Why is it hell?

[deekin]

Thanks for the replies on my other thread where I asked about what my induction day will be like. Now I know what to expect!

Two more questions:

What is "the union" that everyone suggest I join on my induction day all about?

And why is there lots of talk about me needing loads of luck and entering hell? Am I just being naive in a new-boy sort of way but my local postman, for example, looks very merry and enjoying delivering her mail. I feel like I will also enjoy being out there.

[fishtank]

The best advice i can give about the downside to this job is read the threads on this forum.
It's not all doom and gloom though,most of the staff are great.
As far as the union goes.....http://www.cwu.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And this is the online application form. Just fill it in and email it to joinunion@cwu.org

cwu__1255527377_RMG_Application_Form_(Word_-_i.doc

[smelly_cat_lady]

If you're a 20 hour a week dude, you will be expected to rock up at 9am (approx) finish doing the prep (preparation for delivery) and get ready to go out when your colleagues finish meal relief / and or are ready to go. You will be expected to:

Clear down IPS frames and throw off any remaining mail
Check for re directions
Kill off any letters returned by customers
Tie up your frame with killer elastic bands
Put your mail into bags broken down to suit your walk so you don't spend hours dead walking or waiting for a driver
Oh, make sure none of them weigh more than 16 kgs
Walk your bags to the van / trolley / own car
Start walking
3 - 4 hours later you might be finished
If you can manage to crawl home you will be asleep by 9.30pm and then guess what? you get to do it all over again tomorrow

BTW if you haven't understood one word of the terminology on this site, don't worry they will explain it on your induction day. NOT! I'd like to hear what your induction manager has to say when you ask him the same questions

[thevardinator]

There is good banter with other posties, and on light days (which are very rare), it can be a good days work. Apart from that there isn't much to shout about.

The majority of managers are idiots, and very two faced. You hear that managers are there to help, but most of the time they are there to hinder.

If I could walk into another job I'd be out of this one in a flash.

[krussel]

I think a lot depends upon the office which you start and the type of management you are faced with.
From what ive read on here the bigger it seems the office and the more impersonal it can become, esp with bonus hungry management.

There has always been a physical pain barrier which everyone has to go through. Normally blisters and aching leg muscles for the first few weeks as no one is used to walking up to 10 km a day when they start.

If you get through the first few months then the physical side becomes easier as your fitness level and stamina has increased. Being moved from round to round is mentally stressful as your learning a new walk all the time. Things are a WHOLE lot easier if your lucky enough to be placed on the same round for any length of time.

Having said all that if you make it through and are still keen you will find a job that can still be very enjoyable with the freedom you experience once out on the walk. Normally there is no one looking over your shoulder and you can work to your own pace which should get quicker by itself as you become more experienced.

A lot of the moans and groans on here (me included) are raised by staff who have been in for some years and sadly miss the old ways of working which unfortunately you are never going to experience anyway. Its not all bad really.

Best of luck,

PS. Just rem to look after your feet

[resperin]

krussel's explained it in good detail about the in's/outs ; something i'm able to relate too anyway

[General Mannerheim]

It will be a breeze for you,the job is a piece of piss.....you spend all day with your bag flapping in the wind with your two bundles of mail, your full uniform (Waterproof coat,fleece,spare trousers,luminous coat,hat,water bottle,spare socks and a baby whale)in the other bit of your bag.
You will have ages to talk to everybody,merrily waving to Mrs.Granny Smith as you deliver her Ceramic Figurines magazine whilst her nice bull mastiff greets you with a smile as `he likes postmen`.
You will also be called on to rescue old biddies out of a burning building,change the tyre on anybody who needs it,know the whereabouts of a parcel sent from Australia two days ago and know every house number within a 50 mile radius so the gormless brickie in his van can ask you where it is when your fighting off the said earlier bull mastiff.
If you get to be really good and survive you might get offered a job in management,this is a truely great moment in anybody`s life where you get to wander around with either a clipboard looking gormless or hold onto a yorkie trying to look busy or hold a coffee cup,sometimes if your really good at it you can do all three.
Hope this helps.

[wiganpostie]

Thanks for the replies on my other thread where I asked about what my induction day will be like. Now I know what to expect!

Two more questions:

What is "the union" that everyone suggest I join on my induction day all about?

And why is there lots of talk about me needing loads of luck and entering hell? Am I just being naive in a new-boy sort of way but my local postman, for example, looks very merry and enjoying delivering her mail. I feel like I will also enjoy being out there.

Your opinion of the job will obviously vary according to your previous employment - in my case, I was working 12 hour night shifts in a plastics factory walking backwards and forwards between two machines all night, so I thought being a postie was quite a good job when I first started. Since then, however, it's all been downhill, as RM management incrementally change the job for the worse, gradually increasing the workload and eroding your terms and conditions while reciting a 'mail volume is dropping' mantra to try and hypnotise us into believing their bullshit and thereby justifying their increase of our workloads. But as someone else said, give it a few weeks before you decide if it for you or not.

[clashcityrocker]

It will be a breeze for you,the job is a piece of piss.....you spend all day with your bag flapping in the wind with your two bundles of mail, your full uniform (Waterproof coat,fleece,spare trousers,luminous coat,hat,water bottle,spare socks and a baby whale)in the other bit of your bag.
You will have ages to talk to everybody,merrily waving to Mrs.Granny Smith as you deliver her Ceramic Figurines magazine whilst her nice bull mastiff greets you with a smile as `he likes postmen`.
You will also be called on to rescue old biddies out of a burning building,change the tyre on anybody who needs it,know the whereabouts of a parcel sent from Australia two days ago and know every house number within a 50 mile radius so the gormless brickie in his van can ask you where it is when your fighting off the said earlier bull mastiff.
If you get to be really good and survive you might get offered a job in management,this is a truely great moment in anybody`s life where you get to wander around with either a clipboard looking gormless or hold onto a yorkie trying to look busy or hold a coffee cup,sometimes if your really good at it you can do all three.
Hope this helps.

I can relate to all of this, except the baby whale.
Where the f**k do you work?

[General Mannerheim]

Where the f**k do you work?

I work for The Courier.

[clashcityrocker]

Where the f**k do you work?

I work for The Courier.

Excellent. I will be going to Papua New Guinea over the holidays to look for rare and endangered species but what I'm more interested in is getting a picture of " me and my Courier in exotic places " in the paper.
Do you think you could pull some strings for me?

[Jevster]

I've been doing this job 2 and half years and am still looking for something else!

The main problems as I see it are that they are piling more and more work on you - but still expect you to do it in the same time, and that when you do go over they try their best to make you feel like you are taking the piss and have no right to expect to be paid more.

The job itself would be ok if not for the shambolic way the company is run and the bullying approach of the managers.

[smelly_cat_lady]

BTW you may be asked at your induction to lift a post bag with 16kgs of neatly cut newspapers off the floor and on to a desk. Easy. What's not easy is carrying the same bag rammed with eleventy million amazon items of all shapes and sizes on your back for half a mile in torrential rain / 27 degree heat / 2 foot of snow in uniform that was designed by Stevie Wonder and David Blunkett whilst being chased by Granny Smith's yorkie that wants to sh*g your leg. That's if your bag doesn't fall apart after 2 months

I really admire your enthusiasm but you need to stay open minded about the job and don't allow yourself to be bullied by management or colleagues. Once you're out on delivery you will understand why your own postie is happy and smiling. She's on drugs Or very strong pain killers

Seriously, you will probably never be fitter and you will find some benefits if you look hard enough
And the banter is good so expect some serious p*** taking

[dohnut]

Once you're out on delivery you will understand why your own postie is happy and smiling. She's on drugs Or very strong pain killers

made me laugh, I used to smile doing this job a couple of years ago but to be honest, it has all gone tits up, revision after revision diferent walks every week and sometimes every day , I really am not seeing any of the benefits of doing this job any more, you are either stressed to the max in the office rushing about trying to prep a frame you havent seen before and get the bags out to the driver who doesnt give a s**t, and leaves with out you, then you get out and you have the 3/4 hours of slogging it round some sesspit of an estate being asked what time do you call this and were is my giro?, There has to be better ways of making a living that dont require a labotomy.

[jaylime]

I smell a troll.