What's it like to work as a Royal mail postman?

[muffingg]

Could someone also explain how it works in the morning? Do you go to an office and then go by foot to the area you need to deliver?

How far is the office? Do you need a car to get from the office to your area?

[Judgee]

No way is this forum balanced . People will always make the most noise if they are unhappy . Customer complaints departments of the most sucssessful and respected businesses will always deal more with people who have a complaint than people who are happy . People posting on this forum 90% unhappy if you go out on the street I would say something like 50/50 . That's just my opinion.

Well I find these forums a pretty good respresentation of the feeling within my office. The vast majority are fed up to say the least and these forums do seem to reflect that!

[skull]

Well I find these forums a pretty good respresentation of the feeling within my office. The vast majority are fed up to say the least and these forums do seem to reflect that! [/quote]

Yes I suppose it does depend on the office and area ,so I suppose it's best to let new or potential starters make their own minds up . If you had your memory of working for RM erased and you were a new starter would you think it was crap ? . That's the question .

All I would say is it's not as good as it use to be and you have to work dam hard but for a job which is unskilled you could do a lot worse . Again only my opinion .

[skull]

Could someone also explain how it works in the morning? Do you go to an office and then go by foot to the area you need to deliver?

How far is the office? Do you need a car to get from the office to your area?

No you will be transported to your first delivery point by van or the use of a bike or you might start your delivering right outside the office . Don't think as I did that you only waltz round with one bag of mail , depending how the office works you refill at numerous points . I nearly fell through the floor with shock on my first day when I saw how much posties deliver .

[krussel]

Could someone also explain how it works in the morning? Do you go to an office and then go by foot to the area you need to deliver?

How far is the office? Do you need a car to get from the office to your area?

Ok, this is a little different per office but here’s how it works at mine.

Part time staff come in a 9am. The delivery should be prepared in the frame waiting to be bundled up into bags and taken out. Sometimes (dependent on sick level) the round is not fully prepared and a manager will still be working on it at 9am.

At our office all the part time rounds are within cycling distance from the delivery office so you take your first bag with you on a bike and off you go. Your other bags (up to 7) are then dropped off at various points around the delivery route normaly in those green bins on posts which you see on street corners etc.

You deliver the mail bag by bag until you finish. At our office you return to the delivery office(some offices let you go straight home) and drop off your empty bags and any docket left packets etc, then you go home, hopefully before 2pm.

Sometimes the round will need you to prepare it for an hour before you can take it out and in this case you book overtime if your out beyond your paid hours.

A couple of rounds use a large trolley which saves you messing about with loads of bags being dropped off etc.

I will say that a few choose to use their own cars to take themselves out to their deliveries and back but this is a grey area if something goes wrong or the mail gets stolen and is at YOUR risk, so I would advise against it.

Finally Posties love to moan (me included) so we are never the happiest bunch in the world but we still do it day in day out so it cant be all that bad.

[skull]

If you read this forum you wouldn't go anywhere near RM but go in with a open mind and you might be pleasantly surprised . Only you and the posties you work with can help you decide wether it's been a good move .

[RedBagMan]

Spot on Skull

[skull]

Spot on Skull

I'm on a roll for Positive posts I think I could be getting into double figures .

[RedBagMan]

On the negative side ... it's "whether" not "wether"

[skull]

On the negative side ... it's "whether" not "wether"

Sorry himaggen posts have driven me nuts tonight .

[sheff postie]

The thing about getting to see women in skimpy things or nowt at all, it does happen occasionally sometime you might even get invited in for a cuppa . You also have to be prepared to see 80 year old women who have been washing there hair in the sink with no top on answer the door on a saturday morning after a good session on the beer, i speak from experiance and the sight haunts me to this day

[krussel]

i speak from experiance and the sight haunts me to this day

Arrrhhhhh in my head now

[scrapsaturdays]

For young fit people this is still a reasonable job.Problems start as middle age creeps up .I never had a slipped disc before I started this job. If you want to go home brain dead work in a factory.This is a good job on the whole. Most posties have a good sense of humour and work well together so there is great comradeship. Wages are well above minimum,but beware privatisation is not far away and this will bring many changes.Although there have been many over the years. If you can take a bit of hassle from managers you'll be ok .Good Luck

[wannabe]

That why you are only getting 4.92 per hour our pay is much higher than that if you want the job try and get it without the agaency, although it might be good for you to say you have already worked at RM with an agency when you apply.

I would do that, but I'm currently so desperate for a job really. I've been looking for one for 5 months and this is only my second interview ever. (The first one didn't hear back since) So I'm kinda desperate because of so much failure. I would really do almost anything now to not waste the rest of my gap year and to earn some ££

Funnily enough I'm in exactly the same position. Wasted a huge chunk of my gap year trying and failing to find work (had 2x 3 week temp positions, one at Royal Mail - hoped that would become permanent as I knew someone, but alas...), now I've been offered a job at RM, but the hours per week make it barely worthwhile - there's not enough time left for me to earn anything substantial and make a use of the next 6 months. The pay is much higher than yours though, £8/hr. How old are you? £4.92 is well under minimum wage for an 18-year-old.

I've got a whole new dilemma now as I may be able to take part in a clinical trial and get £1600 for a week's 'work', but it means turning down the job and starting the jobhunt all over again...

[RedBagMan]

Don't turn it down - tell 'em you've got a week's pre-booked holiday ...