Park and Loop

[Phantom]

Ours has now been put back by 2 years which in my opinion, it is on its way out!!!

Bag of shite!

[rhino49]

Ours came in on Monday and at the end of the first week, I'm not as worried as I was last week about the park and loop part of the system but feel for my mates using HCT's as they are a very different prospect with far more physical effort required.

I got a good partner, a young lad who I had barely spoken to before last week as he would usually be coming in as a late part timer as I was prepping my bags to go out. He drives well (I don't) and if he finishes his sections before me comes and helps out. We both had input into the loop formations and walk layout, me doing the one I had kept (plus quite a few additions) in the revision, and him taking the lead on the walk that he got.

We have had mixed days with a couple going slightly over (15- 20 minutes) but finished 20 minutes early today. We have had support on prep and for the the bedding in period I am being paid to come in an hour early (in fact my original time) to get up to speed on the revised IPS walk sorting. The DOM says he will introduce PDA's and special deliveries as we get used to the walks rather than throw everything at us at once so I don't really expect us to get quicker overall which means the duty we are doing as a pair seems to fit quite snugly. I get time for a decent break before going out but my legs feel a bit tired after the duty as walking the whole lot with a lightweight trolley is harder than using a bike but more stress free - and I don't have to wear a bloody helmet :)

Our office has been done in two section - the second part of the revision will go live approximately 4 - 6 weeks after the part I have been involved with, presumeably when they have checked out any problems with the first part.

Feedback from the other people involved indicate that the van pairings doing loops are settling well but the HCT walks are much more difficult and are physically very demanding so maybe the estimates of their viability were a bit way out. Our revision was delayed a few times but I'm glad it's in now and hope (probably stupidly) that they will leave us in peace for at least a couple of years just to get on with the job.

Whatever happens in your offices - make sure you get input into planning - don't leave it to someone else to do it and especially don't let the managers do it all. Ours are okay but the nature of the beast is to take advantage where there is a weakness.

Good luck guys.

[andy2007]

It's good to hear that it's actually working somewhere. I was beginning to think that it was a total loss, from what I've been reading on here.

[Danelectro]

We have had mixed days with a couple going slightly over (15- 20 minutes) but finished 20 minutes early today. We have had support on prep and for the the bedding in period I am being paid to come in an hour early (in fact my original time) to get up to speed on the revised IPS walk sorting. The DOM says he will introduce PDA's and special deliveries as we get used to the walks rather than throw everything at us at once so I don't really expect us to get quicker overall which means the duty we are doing as a pair seems to fit quite snugly. I get time for a decent break before going out but my legs feel a bit tired after the duty as walking the whole lot with a lightweight trolley is harder than using a bike but more stress free - and I don't have to wear a bloody helmet :)

So do you not think once you stop coming in early and no longer have support on prep plus give you specials(and trackers) where you have to break off from your loop to deliver them in time and have to share a PDA is gonna put you well over time on the busier days from weds to sat?

[rhino49]

We have had mixed days with a couple going slightly over (15- 20 minutes) but finished 20 minutes early today. We have had support on prep and for the the bedding in period I am being paid to come in an hour early (in fact my original time) to get up to speed on the revised IPS walk sorting. The DOM says he will introduce PDA's and special deliveries as we get used to the walks rather than throw everything at us at once so I don't really expect us to get quicker overall which means the duty we are doing as a pair seems to fit quite snugly. I get time for a decent break before going out but my legs feel a bit tired after the duty as walking the whole lot with a lightweight trolley is harder than using a bike but more stress free - and I don't have to wear a bloody helmet :)

So do you not think once you stop coming in early and no longer have support on prep plus give you specials(and trackers) where you have to break off from your loop to deliver them in time and have to share a PDA is gonna put you well over time on the busier days from weds to sat?

Fair points Danelectro. My going in early is to support all the walks involved not just my own, and the prep support for the two walks I am involved with will not be neccessary within a week as I become quicker on the new frame layouts which have changed considerably. We have had three pretty heavy days, especially wednesday, on the last week and after 16 years I am well aware of what constitutes a heavy day.

The walks are designed to incorporate an extra loop for me whilst my partner does the SD's and large items and at this time I am taking the larger areas of foot delivery to prepare me for that. I can understand that you would think we are living in cloud cuckoo land at the moment but that is why an unusually sensible manager is increasing workload only as we become more familiar and quicker at what we are doing. I will only have a PDA (we will have one each) for recorded deliveries, all SD's will go in the van for a single drop period to keep them more secure and will be done at the beginning of the duty while I do the first loop.

I would like to think that we have covered every eventuality but no doubt we will have missed something. We do want to make it work, for our sakes as much as for any other reason and so far we are happy, the boss is happy and the customers are getting their mail on the day they are supposed to which is a considerable improvement from some revisions I have seen mentioned.

[fishtank]

Is your park&loop based on pegasus and the IWT rhino or is it a table-top?

[rhino49]

Is your park&loop based on pegasus and the IWT rhino or is it a table-top?

Pegasus and IWT but we have all spent time with the planner and he has been (for the most part) very accommodating. The DOM has insisted that staff have time to check, discuss and if neccessary tweak the walks and loop layouts. Frames have all been marked up for DTD coverage and comprehensive information folders provided for all staff involved. We have had trainers in for every aspect of new equipment from PDA's to trolleys and driving courses for people new to the RM vans we will be using.

I know the office and area pretty well after the years I have been there and if not choosing the walk I was already familiar with in the revision, I wouldn't have been too worried about any others apart from the delivery method to be used. They have removed some walks but kept all the staff and the office favourites(easy walks) are now balanced up to be the same as any others. I did my new walk alone on the first day while my partner did the other half of the duty so that we could suss them out and compare notes and whilst they have added 40 delivery points, I did it in 20 minutes less, so the layout is more efficient.

I think the most important thing in all of this is not to LET it happen but to MAKE it happen - if we had just sat on the sidelines and let someone else make all the arrangements it would have been asking for problems.

I'll post again on this when we are doing the full monty and the rest of the office goes live but for the moment I am certainly feeling better than I was before Christmas about it.

Oh, and another thing - the first changes have triggered the bonus payments for all the staff and we have all moved to 39 hours, even though the second half will not come in for a few weeks yet.

[POSTMAN]

What a great write up rhino,you never let us down on here,cheers mate.
Keep us posted.

[not me]

theres nothing wrong with P&L
its possible and can make the job easier in some ways
its the implementation that causes the issues

[rhino49]

theres nothing wrong with P&L
its possible and can make the job easier in some ways
its the implementation that causes the issues

Spot on Custard !!! We have now completed our second week of the new revision, although it is only half the office so far.
As Heapsy says in the How was your day thread, "there have been mixed results" in implementing the changes. The paired van park and loops seem to generally work well but the HCT duties seem to be suffering from two main problems - oversized walk allocation on the assumption that they would be easy to do nearer the office (a mile away is NOT near the office when you are pushing a small tank !!!), and also the fact that the method of delivery has not been made clear to the operators in that the HCT's are a mobile base that can be secured and don't have to be manoevered around every car and bin in every road.

As far as planners go - if you want it right - you go in and tell him what you want - you don't wait for him to ask you. I know that you will do this Heapsy as you have now realised that you should not have been so accomodating with the layout you were given.

I am now prepping both walks on three of the days with my partner starting earlier to do it on the others and it just about fits in as my IPS time adjusts accordingly. Pretty certain of most of the IPS changes and at my request the DOM published a "splits only" sheet showing roads that are shared by two or more walks so that has helped. Only going in on IPS support on the busier days now but must sadly admit that there are still a huge amount of missorts from some who just cannot be bothered to learn.

Another problem has arisen with the van pairings - personal needs clashes and mismatches of abilities - so we still have people using cycles or other methods because they "cannot make the duty fit" - make of that what you will :)
I have derived some pleasure from the changes in that I can watch the abject misery of those who for years have passed me, still delivering, on their way home from their early started, no breaks, run like the clappers walks as they struggle with a 4 hour delivery span that I am well used to already - welcome to the real world boys.

Don't really know how the other half will adjust to the changes - there are some real pro's in there but an equal number of moaners and doubters who have written it all off before it starts. We have had a couple of spare lads come in from a local D.O. to support absences but no floods of managers or conscripts to do deliveries simply because we have coped so far with not a great deal of extra time required, apart from Heapsy - who likes it out there, and a few other HCT jockeys who have culled or taken the extended as they sort things out. We expect the second half to come in immediately after the census week as that will give us a quite abnormal workload for one week, then the race will be on to normalise everything before all the tax year end mailings fro ISA's, accountants and others who awake briefly at this time of year.

BONUS !!!! - I got part of my old walk back in the revision so missorts I have been getting for the last three years are now all in the right place.

[POSTMAN]

Rhino,are you doing the reg/tracked/packets yet on your van.

[rhino49]

Rhino,are you doing the reg/tracked/packets yet on your van.

Been doing large parcels/packets all this week and working okay. I do three loops on the first walk area and partner does two. While I do my first loop he goes round with the van deliveries - only had to wait for him one day and then only a couple of minutes. We start specials using the PDA's week after next - the boss is giving us a couple of dummy ones to play with next week along with the instruction book.

[dvbuk55]

Oh, and another thing - the first changes have triggered the bonus payments for all the staff and we have all moved to 39 hours, even though the second half will not come in for a few weeks yet.

Have you had the WSM and sequenced mail revision at the same time then.

[rhino49]

Oh, and another thing - the first changes have triggered the bonus payments for all the staff and we have all moved to 39 hours, even though the second half will not come in for a few weeks yet.

Have you had the WSM and sequenced mail revision at the same time then.

Yes

[dvbuk55]

Oh, and another thing - the first changes have triggered the bonus payments for all the staff and we have all moved to 39 hours, even though the second half will not come in for a few weeks yet.

Have you had the WSM and sequenced mail revision at the same time then.

Yes

So what is the 2nd half?