Plymouth:Later delivery times for post under shake-up

[POSTMAN]

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THE familiar sight of bag-toting posties is to disappear from many Plymouth streets.

And residents in parts of the city could see a longer wait for their mail to drop through the letterbox.

The change is part of a widespread Royal Mail modernisation programme.

From Monday postmen and women in the PL2 and PL3 areas of the city will be using electric trolleys as part of the nationwide modernisation programme.

Many households will see later deliveries as letter and parcel handling is combined and the working day is extended to 3pm.

The move is designed to cut costs as Royal Mail faces massive changes in the nation's letter-writing habits. Email has dramatically cut the number of letters posted, but at the same time online shopping has boosted packages and parcels.

Postmen and women are being asked to work longer hours as part of a 2010 agreement.

Chris Webb of the Communication Workers' Union said the 85 staff would see their working day brought into line with the national hours of 7am to 3pm.

At present deliveries from Plymouth's North Central office stop at around 2pm.

The changes have already been made in the West Park, Plymstock and Plympton offices.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "The overwhelming majority of customers will not see a difference in delivery times."

He refused to say how many households would see changes. The new rounds will be monitored for the first two weeks and tweaked if necessary.

But Mr Webb said that "on average" deliveries would be an hour later because of the later finishing time.

The Royal Mail spokesman said: "We need to modernise the way we operate. We are therefore making changes in Plymouth Central to maintain our services and to keep our prices as low as possible.

"The way in which we communicate with each other has changed dramatically. Fewer letters are now posted every day and Royal Mail needs to organise its delivery routes to be as efficient as possible."

Last year the number of letters handled by Royal Mail in the South West fell by a third compared with the year before.

"We also deliver an increasing number of larger items and so we are investing in new equipment to carry these items to customers even more securely," the spokesman said.

"The new equipment also reduces the risk of injury to our postmen and women from carrying heavier mail bags."

In the Plymouth Central area Royal Mail will continue to deliver in the morning and for a longer period during the day, he said. "Many customers will continue to get their mail by lunchtime.

"The time customers receive mail will depend on where they live on the new delivery route. This may be later or possibly earlier than current delivery times."

Royal Mail is three-quarters of the way through a four-year modernisation programme.

Among the changes have been phasing out of posties on bicycles, the introduction of electric trolleys, electronic navigation and a new delivery method called "park and loop".

Mr Webb said the areas which introduced changes in 2010 and 2011 had suffered some teething problems but most of these had been sorted out.

If customers have any queries after they have received a letter, they can call Royal Mail customer services on 0845 601 1399. Deaf and hard of hearing customers can use Textphone: 0845 600 0606.

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Mr Webb said the areas which introduced changes in 2010 and 2011 had suffered some teething problems but most of these had been sorted out.

Misquote?

[fishtank]

THE familiar sight of bag-toting posties is to disappear from many Plymouth streets..

We'll see...
Depends how desperate the managers get,how stupid the members are and whether anyone at both HQ's give a f**k.

[fishtank]

Mr Webb said the areas which introduced changes in 2010 and 2011 had suffered some teething problems but most of these had been sorted out.

Misquote?

Why would a Divisional Rep come out with a statement that is blatantly untrue?
Either someone has fed him these lies and he's gullible enough to buy it which is worrying enough or he's aware it's a crock of s**t and he thinks we're gullible enough to buy it..which is even more worrying.
It better be a misquote....