The Mail is Down

[Straight4ward]

Do they actually record the quantity passing through the machines? Obviously they have the means to do this, but is it done
or is everything just based on averages?
Can someone from a mail centre enlighten me?

I would agree the 'letters' are down from say 5 years ago but bearing in mind that at that time over 35% was generated by the financial sector it's hardly surprising. (When the banks recover will we see a return to the levels of 5 years ago?)

But I've not noticed any reduction in flats. Catalogues, brochures and magazines appear to have been unaffected up until now.
Some companies have switched to smaller formats but others, surprisingly given the cost, seem to have increased the size or page count.

The number of letters may have declined by 5 or 8% depending on who's figures you use.
Very crudely, lets say I'm shifting 1500 items per day (letters, flats, packets), even at an 8% reduction in letters then it is only around 80 letters a day, spread that over say 8 bags per duty and we are talking about 10 letters per bag. Huge difference in revenue to RM but little discernible difference for the individual postie.

[fishtank]

I'm not even interested in whether the mail is up,down or sideways.
I just wanted to know why the figures from the M/C were....wrong.
Is it the machines...the software...the operators...does all of the mail get counted by the machines?...that sort of thing.
Jelly babies FFS.

[Steviea34]

I'm not even interested in whether the mail is up,down or sideways.
I just wanted to know why the figures from the M/C were....wrong.
Is it the machines...the software...the operators...does all of the mail get counted by the machines?...that sort of thing.
Jelly babies FFS.

It's not the machines mate, in our neck of the woods its the M.C staff cant be bothered
to record it properly if at all before sending out onto the loading bay.
Then we suffer cos the figures sent from the M.C bear no reflection on reality

[wiganpostie]

I'm not even interested in whether the mail is up,down or sideways.
I just wanted to know why the figures from the M/C were....wrong.
Is it the machines...the software...the operators...does all of the mail get counted by the machines?...that sort of thing.
Jelly babies FFS.

It's not the machines mate, in our neck of the woods its the M.C staff cant be bothered
to record it properly if at all before sending out onto the loading bay.
Then we suffer cos the figures sent from the M.C bear no reflection on reality

Don't be too harsh on MC staff. It must be a stressful job, sitting on your arse all day, pushing the occasional button and watching stuff fly past on a conveyor belt, like on that Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game.

[Tman]

It's not the machines mate, in our neck of the woods its the M.C staff cant be bothered
to record it properly if at all before sending out onto the loading bay.
Then we suffer cos the figures sent from the M.C bear no reflection on reality

At last, someone with a grip on reality.....

Do they actually record the quantity passing through the machines? Obviously they have the means to do this, but is it done
or is everything just based on averages?

No, the total count is recorded down to the individual letter through the machines....that's how the tag code can be used to bring up on screen when, where, and how any particular letter was processed.

[fishtank]

It's not the machines mate, in our neck of the woods its the M.C staff cant be bothered
to record it properly if at all before sending out onto the loading bay.
Then we suffer cos the figures sent from the M.C bear no reflection on reality

At last, someone with a grip on reality.....

But....if that is the reality and M/C staff aren't recording the mail properly...how does anyone know whether the mail is up,down or sideways....forget it i'm not interested.
Our figures are sent by the MCM....so why is he accepting "underaccounting".

[Tman]

Tman,what part of,'the figures the MC gives us is much lower than the real figure when counted properly' do you not understand?

Oh and i refer you to a previous post of mine that i have posted many times in the now infamous mail volume dropping poll thread and you have yet to answer!!!

I've said it before and i'll say it again.........
When a DSM stands in front of me and tells me the traffic figures of the day and it works out about 500 letters per frame and the frames we're having the conversation in front of (average 550 calls) are bulging with mail.....................
Then summin aint right!!! FFS!

Postie, what part of " the figures the MC may give you bear no relationship to the total mail traffic processed by RM" do you not understand?

Oh and I refer you to many similar posts when I've said much the same before, but obviously you have yet to understand the point!!
What is it with you DO blokes? FFS!

[fishtank]

I don't get it Tman you seem to be implying that although every item is counted and accounted for in Royal Mail's total traffic when it comes to sending it out to the D.O.s RM suddenly use a different auditing system relying on M/C staff to come up with a figure that the machines cannot.
If that is the case then the figure a D.O.M receives from the Mail Centre Manager is entering into the chocolate fire guard,fishnet condom ashtray on a motorbike area of usefulness.

[Tman]

So, you are still interested then...

Whatever inaccurate, archaic and CWU-pleasing method RM use to inform DOMs what's coming there way is of no interest to me whatsoever. When it's removed from the last mech's stacking boxes (it's last true count) I couldn't care less what they do with it.
I'm just agreeing with the poster who said the mail was down by 8% or so. Sadly he's right...

[axeman]

And as misguided as you are the all seeing bullshit beleving 'tman' who knows nothing of deliveries and therefore will utter any spin he thinks will redeem him to his master And he's also willing to forego the truth to appease them even if he is on his knees at the time ......'' jobsworth ''

[clashcityrocker]

I'm just agreeing with the poster who said the mail was down by 8% or so. Sadly he's right...

No one has disputed overall traffic has declined.
All we wanted to know is why the figure the MCM sends to the DOM is continually proved wrong when tested in a live environment.
If you don't know, just say so.
No need to be ashamed.

[BELIAL]

[quote="Tman"]So, you are still interested then...

Whatever inaccurate, archaic and CWU-pleasing method RM use to inform DOMs what's coming there way is of no interest to me whatsoever.

Uhmm, don't exactly light up our CWU reps pleasure zones Still they can tell me I got 200 letters that day but if I really got 2000 ,I'm still cutting off

[Tman]

No one has disputed overall traffic has declined.

Really?

All we wanted to know is why the figure the MCM sends to the DOM is continually proved wrong when tested in a live environment.
If you don't know, just say so.

No idea; should I care? Was that the original point? The headline above says "The mail is down" which has FA to do with what you've just written, or the DOM's mail quantities, so I don't reckon it was.
Keep up CCR

[POSTMAN]

Tman,what part of,'the figures the MC gives us is much lower than the real figure when counted properly' do you not understand?

Oh and i refer you to a previous post of mine that i have posted many times in the now infamous mail volume dropping poll thread and you have yet to answer!!!

I've said it before and i'll say it again.........
When a DSM stands in front of me and tells me the traffic figures of the day and it works out about 500 letters per frame and the frames we're having the conversation in front of (average 550 calls) are bulging with mail.....................
Then summin aint right!!! FFS!

Postie, what part of " the figures the MC may give you bear no relationship to the total mail traffic processed by RM" do you not understand?

Oh and I refer you to many similar posts when I've said much the same before, but obviously you have yet to understand the point!!
What is it with you DO blokes? FFS!

You've never said that to me. What is wrong with you engineers (wtf it's got to do with you lot anyway) anyway.

[blue1873]

I'm not even interested in whether the mail is up,down or sideways.
I just wanted to know why the figures from the M/C were....wrong.
Is it the machines...the software...the operators...does all of the mail get counted by the machines?...that sort of thing.
Jelly babies FFS.

It's not the machines mate, in our neck of the woods its the M.C staff cant be bothered
to record it properly if at all before sending out onto the loading bay.
Then we suffer cos the figures sent from the M.C bear no reflection on reality

GMC mech mail figures are checked hourly by SPRTS team and recorded on the night shift (don't know about the other shifts) Manager tells staff the following evening the amount the MECH AREA processed(like they are really that interested )Manual areas are different a lot of that mail is an estimate given that there are allsorts .... no not the sweeties you greedy bassa!of mail in those trays so sometimes a tray has 15-20 bulky letters and another has 500 cards in it but each is recorded as a full tray, some managers will tell you to record the bulky items as maybe as a 1/4 full tray but some don't and then again sometimes the staff forget or just can't be ars@d but hey cut to the chase "do you trust RM with the figures they hand out"