Operation Xmas

[fishtank]

Operation Xmas
https://www.myroyalmail.com/mrm/appnews ... aspx?i=236" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Monday 7 November

We're investing £15 million to ensure we deliver Christmas for our customers.

This cash is on top of the extra money we normally spend at this time of year.

Much of it will go on nine dedicated packet hubs. They will be opening over the coming weeks in Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Nuneaton, Peterborough, Swansea, Swindon and Watford.

Permanent staff have volunteered to move to the hub sites and will oversee the work of Christmas casuals.

Postman Chris Morris, pictured, volunteered to work at Swansea this month.


He says: ‘Without a shadow of doubt, this is going to take the pressure off the Christmas challenge.

‘It’s good to see the business is making a massive investment.’

Busy, busy, busy
With internet shopping growing each year, we expect to deliver around two billion items in the run up to the big day.

On our busiest days we'll handle up to 130 million items - that's double the average daily mailbag.

We have recruited around 18,000 temporary workers to work across our operations. We had as many as 80,000 applicants.

We'll be putting on extra deliveries over the festive period and opening our enquiry offices for longer.

The extra investment also pays for 73,000 additional Yorks and rigid stackable containers
and more than a million trays for moving the mail.

It also means added capacity and flexibility in case there’s a repeat of the severe weather
conditions that hindered many deliveries in the run-up to Christmas last year.

Special Christmas stamps celebrating the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible go on sale this week.


Did you know...?
We introduced the world's first commercial Christmas card in 1843.

We issued our first Christmas stamp in 1966, following a Blue Peter competition. From the 5,000 entries, two stamps were issued, designed by two six year olds. They each got £20 for their design.

In November's Courier - out on the 17th - we celebrate our special role at Christmas time. It highlights the steps we're taking to ensure people know to post early and use the postcode.

All hands to the pump
As usual, thousands of managers will be out and about in operations to ensure a concerted effort to deliver Operation Christmas.

[Straight4ward]

Postman Chris Morris, - - - says: ‘Without a shadow of doubt, this is going to take the pressure off the Christmas challenge.

With optimism like this how could we possibly fail? - - - - Don't tempt me!

I mean this is all very well putting extra resources into the mail centres but all the DOs seem to get these days is the additional bodies created by stopping all leave during Christmas pressure.

If the MC's are all fired up and whizzing it through at a great rate of knots then the bottle neck will be the DOs. To improve the pipeline all parts of it have got to be able to keep up to speed with one another.

Or am I missing something?

[pinstripe]

"As usual, thousands of managers will be out and about in operations to ensure a concerted effort to deliver Operation Christmas. "

Well thank God or that! We could have been in real trouble there, but luckily a few thousand people who couldn't do a delivery even if it only consisted of 1 address are going to be on hand to bully and harass an already pressurised workforce into unpaid O/T, not to ensure that the public receive the level of service they used to, but to make sure their bonuses aren't jeopardised.

[hans solo]

sorry but i dont give a toss about xmas anymore or the customers
as far as im concerned it is now just another day due to the slaughter of santa elves and reindeer by corporate greed
8 hr day for me and i also hope we get 8ft of snow as well
god bless merry rm and all you sh** on

[red1968]

They better send a big postal order to Warrington Mail centre ,as I hear they cant cope with the mail now!!!
They might buy a bigger tent to house the mail then they had last xmas.......

[Stormproof]

Makes me laugh RM spend millions on hubs for all the extra packets but don't supply extra resources for DO's to deliver the stuff. Do they not realise that when it hits a delivery office its one big bottle neck..........not rocket science is it

[bedfordrl]

We have recruited around 18,000 temporary workers to work across our operations. We had as many as 80,000 applicants

Ha Ha Ha, we advertised in the local press for nine casuals and got the grand response of none.

[north london driver]

so staff in delivery offices have been cut all year with impossible revisions all year,
unless you work in london !. for 50 weeks a year our faceless managers tell us work is dropping off.
yet for two weeks of pressure royal mail think everything will run like clockwork and wont fail
like last year (bad weather) or was it something else.
if the work goes up the wall this year i will blame the offices up north for delaying mail due to
the fact they have been stiched up by cuts and revisions and dodgy deals in the majority of offices.
next year you can blame london when we will get slaughted by planning, thats if any are left.

[SpacePhoenix]

Makes me laugh RM spend millions on hubs for all the extra packets but don't supply extra resources for DO's to deliver the stuff. Do they not realise that when it hits a delivery office its one big bottle neck..........not rocket science is it

The bottle neck will probably before that stage when there is no equipment (boxes, sleeves and yorks) to transport the mail in from the inward MCs to DOs (and it wouldn't surprise me if we find that there aren't enough vans and lorries around the country).

[wiganpostie]

I'm actually looking forward to Xmas Chaos, not getting out 'til about 11.30, doing about three quarters of a walk and bringing a york-load of packets and a full duty back.

[krussel]

Once again its more investment in the Hub network and then, as always, it all ends up on the posties back, out on the street while the Managers sneak off 2 hours early.

We have been offered 20 hours SA. Thinking about it walking around, once you take of all deductions for it works out about £13 per day. Now that is for taking out a workload which is around 200% of a normal day. Would anyone take out a whole delivery for £13

[Jimmcguinn]

RM can spend all the money they want,but lets be honest if the weather is anything like last year,we're f*****.

[hubbahubba]

As usual,we are getting hit in november,but told casuals not in til first week in dec,when it will be way too late.Failed by over 15000 items today on our shift alone,as did the other 2 yesterday.You'd think Christmas was a new idea every year the way these idiots resource for it............

[krussel]

As usual,we are getting hit in november,but told casuals not in til first week in dec,when it will be way too late.Failed by over 15000 items today on our shift alone,as did the other 2 yesterday.You'd think Christmas was a new idea every year the way these idiots resource for it............

Its the same every bloody year it takes them by surprise.

Bit like your sig they just "letting the days go by"

[POSTMAN]

As usual,we are getting hit in november,but told casuals not in til first week in dec,when it will be way too late.Failed by over 15000 items today on our shift alone,as did the other 2 yesterday.You'd think Christmas was a new idea every year the way these idiots resource for it............

Silly question alert:When you and other MCers say you fail,does that mean the work does not get done till the next day,especially if it's a night shift.
So us guys get extra mail on one day on top of the normal days mail.