Looking for advice.

[Hoggy]

Hi all, newbie here looking for advice.
My background has always been factory work, I'm in my mid 40's and have been in the furniture/timber trade since leaving school.
Been made redundant a few times but generally been OK. Started at a company over two years ago, which was good at first until
the recession hit, work dropped off and we were grateful to get 39 hours. Left this company reluctantly as we were on short time,
and in July and got a job which turned out to be awful, but full time.
I applied to Royal Mail for a 23.5 hour, 4 month temporary job, for which I have been successful and have been contacted and told I will be
invited to an induction day in the next week or so.
Guess what?, the company I left in July phoned me today, they have plenty of work and would like me to return.
I'm in absolute turmoil over what to do, change my life and do something different for the first time or go back to
the environment I've always worked in...
Will it only be for 4 months?, how likely am I to get regular overtime to boost my earnings? I just don't know..
Any advice would be gratefully received.

[lenat]

go back to the firm you were working for previously. This is not a hard job as such, but you get shat on. You'll never get full time, overtime rates are appauling, you can forget double time or even time and a half. recently i worked on a sunday for a few hrs got about £12an hr!!!!! No loyalty or support from managers either. a lot of your colleagues will sink you for their own gain.

[baldrick]

recently i worked on a sunday for a few hrs got about £12an hr!!!!!

How did you get £12 an hour? Sunday OT rate is £10.87ph.

[lenat]

£12/10.87 does it really matter it's still an absolute disgrace.

[baldrick]

£12/10.87 does it really matter it's still an absolute disgrace.

Agreed. And we still get managers telling us to sort faster because we're on 'double time' - if only.
Weekday/Saturday OT rates are even worse as we are actually paid less than for our scheduled hours, in London anyway.

[Doone]

Dont be a fool...stay with what you have.....this job is the worst job ever these days....for a newbie....its a very streesful job, you will never be made up to fulltime......and the part time job you will be taking on for, will end up a 40+ with managers telling you to work faster.....and as some1 has said gettin payed for those extra hours is a joke.......

[Stormproof]

Go back to your old firm Hoggy. If they've got the work for you now in the current climate things are looking up and maybe you won't get laid off again. Its not worth the hassle for you to work for RM. You no doubt will get the job on promises of full time and a permanent contract but don't believe a word of it. Power crazed management will s**t on you constantly.

[Hoggy]

Thanks for the replies, its 24 hours later and I'm still undecided. I really am at the proverbial crossroads
I need to make a decision by tomorrow if I'm going back to my old place as I'll need to put my notice in on Monday.
To be honest, I have a friend at the delivery office who assures me it will be fine.
The one thing that concerns me is that if the hours do turn out to be 23.5 a week, I'll struggle with money.
If the hours get up to over 30 I think I will manage.
Surely it can't be worse than factory work, especially the hole I work in at the moment?

[redspartapost]

even though you may not get made up to full time i think you will be able to get over 30 hours easily,by either working your day off(when summer holiday period kicks in or sickness)or extra delivery for people who are streaming their walks.if you can get through the 1st 4 months of youre contract ,you should get it renewed or even get a reserve post as most offices are due to go through resigns soon.best off luck to you if choose to join us

[wiganpostie]

As a newcomer to Royal Mail you will be on about £8.50 an hour or thereabouts. When you start, your contract may state 23.5 hours a week, but your line manager will probably expect you to come in about an hour early each day and work for free for that hour, as he will be keen to take advantage of the fact that you are new and won't want to rock the boat. Unless you are very lucky, you will be moved from pillar to post and won't get settled on a regular 'duty', meaning that you won't know where you are going to be from one day to the next. From the moment you walk through the door into the sorting office it's pedal tot he metal stuff, and the job is repetitive and boring (just like factory work), although on the plus side you do get to go outside and meet the occasional interesting person, but most will just look at you as if you are something they have trodden in as you hand them their daily selection of unsolicited, unwanted garbage.

If all that doesn't put you off, welcome to Royal Mail

[NewPostieUK]

Don't join Royal Mail!

You don't get time and a half for overtime, in fact you just get standard rate, which is a con.

You won't get made full time, so if there is any alternative at all, take it.

[Hoggy]

If I go back to my old job, the pay is only £6.89 an hour. That gives a basic of £268 top line, take home around £222. If I could match that at RM I'd be more than happy, but would
obviously need OT to bump it up. Would it be reasonable enough to expect someone on a 23.5 hour contract to be able to get that?.

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

It is possible to get a decent weekly wage, despite having a part-time written contract...

I'm on a 22.5 on paper for about 10 months now, but since the re-sign around Easter I've been been on a "part time" walk that full-timers avoid like the plague, due to its size and the number of signature items (averages ~6 specials and ~8 recorded per day).

I get 1.5 hours prep overtime everday except Tuesdays, as the section does not have the spare full-time manpower to get the walk togther for me to arrive at 0930.

I typically get at least 30 minutes extended delivery overtime per day, as the round averages at least 4.5 hours plus my meal relief (which I do not have time in warehouse to use, so its all out on the road, another 30 minutes minimum, all paid by Royal Mail).

In recent months, I'm regularly offered and accept overtime on other rounds after completing my "monster," upto about half a round (today) or two seperate small bits (yesterday, another first). Often I'm doing rounds "blind," as in I've never done them before, so it is naturally going to take a bit longer to deliver (plus I have to get to and from the round). I always claim for my additional meal relief allowance when going over 7 hours in total.

Consequently, I've averaged ~35 or so hours per week, which has greatly relieved the income pressure for my household along with a nice Working Tax Credits topup until the end of the year (redundancy for five months last year meant last year's income was relatively low).

[taurus88]

If you can get a steady, permanent job with guaranteed hours elsewhere, especially in an environment you're accustomed to, I would say it's a no-brainer to go for that rather than the opening as a postman.

[Terry Butcher]

I'm surprised so many people are dumping on being a postie, it really isn't that bad of a job when you consider the other work people have to do for less pay. On a good day you come in, do a bit of sorting, deliver a few bags in the sunshine and get home 4 hours before most people begin to get stuck in rush hour traffic. That's a good day, mind. On a bad day you cart around multiple heavy bags in the rain and have to deal with a few dickheads (in and outside the office!), but still get home earlier than most.

I reckon you would be able to work 30 or more hours a week with a bit of overtime, especially if you agree to work your day off. We work with a skeletal staff and more often than not a few walks (rounds) can't be covered, meaning overtime is frequently available to whoever wants it. Judging by the pay you say is offered at the factory then i reckon you would/could earn more at RM with a bit of overtime. Easy. Basic pay isn't too bad for what the job entails.

Friends of mine used to do 12 hour shifts in a bread factory, loading crates of loaves into the back of lorries for half a day at a time. They said the long reigning staff were just souless shells of human beings . Don't forget that they were on (or close to) minimum wage, too. Give me an arse of a Lino, rain and a late bag drop anyday over that.

Once out of the office you do your own thing, it really isn't that bad. People have mentioned that it's repetitive, but no more so than factory work. It's up to you, you might enjoy a change of pace and being out and about instead of being stuck in a factory all day. I know which one i would choose, but that's just me. I don't think Posties realise how good they have it sometimes, yes we get crapped on, but so does almost everyone else to a certain degree. Grass is greener springs to mind!