First Day Tommrow, Any Tips/Advice?

[General Mannerheim]

Have they offered you a position in management yet?

[brykins]

How did the first day go? I've been on casual for six weeks now and loving it. Helps that I am in a good team of five that cover a big residential area here and we all get on and help each other out.

Best advice that I have seen here is defo the one about going to the loo before you go out, and to not stress about being slower than others. I take two and a half hours to three hours to cover my round, whereas others can do it in under two hours on the busiest day. I just go about it at the best speed I can manage.

TRY and get yourself on the same route as much as you can. Maybe I have been lucky but I've been on the same walk for four of my six weeks and now know the shortcuts and the best way to bag up the frame. Even getting to know some of the people who live on the walk makes the day more pleasant.

Only other thing I'd mention is to make sure you have arranged, or know who to call to arrange, your pick up at the end of your route. Most office staff go home at 2pm so if you finish after that then you may have trouble calling anyone to arrange a llift back! I had to wait over an hour one day.

But stick with it, get over the first week and it's a really good job I think.

[POSTMAN]

Is he still out there!

[anTi]

Is he still alive?

[baldrick]

Is he still working for Royal Mail?

[RedBagMan]

might be moving his car ...

[stokes11eg]

Mabye still out on his walk!!!

[BettySwollocks]

My guess is the job proved too much for him, and he's done a Michael Douglas out of the film "Falling down",
totally flipped his lid and went on a rampage,
he's now locked up for attempting to shove 6 lots of door to doors up his gaffa's ringpiece.

well ...... thats what i'd like to do at my office.

[POSTMAN]

It's been 48hrs,and no sign.
Can we have a minutes silence please.

Seemed such a nice bloke as well.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

December 13th, 2010, 3:55 pm was his last visit - must have had an easy day to finish that early on first day

[Stormproof]

They've probably had him bag tipping. Not many casuals at my place have been sent out on delivery, one was sent out with a packet driver the other day to be a runner.

[plainpat]

If you are doing eight hours a day then chances are you will be prepping your own mail. As you've suggested, there's a set order for doing things, which runs roughly like this:

1. Prep your sequenced letters into your frame. This involves taking the letters that have been sorted in sequence out of their boxes and sorting them in the frame first (before anything else, such as magazines etc), as they are arranged in exactly the same order as the frame and can be thrown in the fastest).

2. Next, collect your loose letters from the IPS sorting frame (the large lattice-like frame where everyone is sorting) and prep them into your own frame.

3. Then, collect your magazines, brochures and and A4-size envelopes (we collectively call these things "flats") and prep them into your frame.

4. Collect the large sack with all your parcels (known as "packets") from the packet frame and sort them into your own frame. Some of the smaller ones like DVDs and games you can place directly into the frame's slots, but larger ones you will have to place on top of the frame. In the latter case, you should turn a letter for the intended recipient of the parcel so that it is facing the opposite direction, such that when you come to that part of the delivery the reversed letter will trigger a light-bulb above your head that will say "zounds!!, parcel delivery for this house!". or in other words, it's just a little reminder. Also,since there are four rows in your frame you should use the compartments above the frame to correspond to different rows (for example, the left hand compartment could be used to hold the parcels for the top row, the second from the left compartment could be used to hold the parcels for the second top row, etc) - this makes things a little easier when it comes time to tie up your bundles as you can easier see which parcels correspond to which bags.

5. Special Deliveries and Recorded Deliveries - everyone tends to do these differently. If it's a letter or magazine sized special delivery I tend to turn it so it's facing the opposite direction in the sorting frame, so that when I'm out on delivery and notice this letter that's the wrong way round I get time to register in my head that it needs a signature (delivery zombie mode: activated ) Larger sized Specials and Recordeds I just treat like larger parcels- put them on top of your frame and turn a letter for them.

6. Go and see the fat bloke sitting in the "cage" (small boxy room, usually near the large IPS sorting frame). He will have your special deliveries. YOU will need to sign for them. Ask him for a plastic wallet and a delivery card, as well as some p739's (the red "sorry you were out and I've got your parcel" cards).

7. Check your boxes on the large IPS frame to make sure they are clear. If not, gather up the letters & flats and prep them into your frame.

8. Do your redirections and kill-offs. Redirections are exactly what they sound like - a service that someone has paid for to have their mail redirected somewhere else. Usually, they will be located on the frame, each one consisting of plastic wallet containing a yellow card and a number of stickers with the new address. Make sure you check the expiry date on the redirection, because if it has expired then you should just deliver the mail as normal. Also, make sure you only redirect the EXACT names on the yellow card - any other names should still be delivered to the old address.

KIll-offs are unwanted/undeliverable bits of mail that need to be endorsed with a little square red sticker before they can be returned to their place of origin - any piece of mail you encounter that has something like "addressee unknown" or "no longer lives here" needs one of these stickers. If you don't have any of these stickers in your bench or on your frame then ask someone around you for some "kill-off stickers", or go and see the fat man in the cage again and ask him for some. The sticker itself has check boxes with different reasons why the item was not delivered. You should tick the correct one, then sign and date it in the space provided,then ask someone around you where to put your "Kill-offs" (chances are, the fat man in the cage will be the recipient and will have a receptacle for them nearby).

9. Prep your duty for delivery. Someone who knows the delivery you are on will usually help you with this, but if not, more often than not there will be a prep guide written down, either in the walk log (the nice shiny folder on the frame that no-one ever looks at) or in the compartment set into the bench (just lift the lid for instant enlightenment). General points to remember are that most frames should be prepped starting from bottom left and working to top right. Don't forget to check the top of your frame for the large parcels, and make sure that your bag weights conform to the matrix (maximum of 16kg for the first bag, 14 kg for the second, 12 kg for the third, 10kg for any others thereafter I believe).

10. Work out your replenishment with your van driver - depending on the duty you are on, you may have 'pouch boxes' where you can pick up your next bags, or you may have to meet your van driver at specified times to collect your next bags)

11. Deliver the mail! Take your time, don't rush as it's easy to make mistakes when you are new and unfamiliar with a particular duty. Don't become flustered if you lose track of where you are, ask a friendly face or even knock on a door and ask for the street name. If you put mail through the wrong door, be prepared to knock, apologise and ask for it back.

12. Finish delivering the mail! Any mail that you haven't been able to deliver will need to be endorsed with a reason why, for example, "gate frozen", "dog loose" (never go into a garden where there's a dog loose, even if it appears benign) before you stick it in a postbox or return it to your delivery office. Any parcels you haven't been able to deliver should be endorsed with the letters "F/L" (meaning "form left"), and the you should also put your initials and the date on the parcels before taking them to the most convenient PO (or your delivery office if it is required that you return there when you are finished). The previous sentence also applies to any specials/recordeds you haven't been able to deliver, and you should also get the nice lady behind the counter at the PO to sign for them when you hand them over.

13. Go Home.

14. Rinse, repeat from stage 1.

Brilliant post WiganPostie (Loved the fat bloke in the cage bit )

How about making it a Stickie POSTMAN?

[wiganpostie]

Cheers pat, that's pretty much the way I do it day-in, day-out, all year round. I've been thinking about trying to spice it up a bit, though, by doing some other stuff during the course of my day, such as learning to play the piano, mastering the tricky art of ice sculpting, saving a tramp's life or trying to get inside Andy McDowell's knickers.

[BELIAL]

I've been thinking about trying to spice it up a bit, though, by doing some other stuff during the course of my day, such as learning to play the piano, mastering the tricky art of ice sculpting, saving a tramp's life or trying to get inside Andy McDowell's knickers.

That'll spice it up alright ,making sexual comments about our glorious SAS hero

[dvbuk55]

Cheers pat, that's pretty much the way I do it day-in, day-out, all year round. I've been thinking about trying to spice it up a bit, though, by doing some other stuff during the course of my day, such as learning to play the piano, mastering the tricky art of ice sculpting, saving a tramp's life or trying to get inside Andy McDowell's knickers.

Sounds a bit groundhoggy to me