Delivering to a neighbor (officially)

[arnold cheshire]

Delivered some of those door to doors on a walk i was on last week, and one woman came out her door waving it saying "Oh did you have a parcel for me??" She saw the photo and the words 'are you out and about' and thought it was some kind of 739 card.

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

if in office of 10 posties 9 cant be bothered therefore it appears as no issues with the new method,

It is time for a reality check zx.
What do you think members should do in this situation?
Bearing in mind that Royal Mail have completed trials and believe that any extra time should be absorbed into workload do you think that
a) Members should have yet another fight with managers over the timing and completion of their duties using an argument for more time that managers are going to laugh at because they have the trial data to back them up and reps will have difficulty backing them up because their is no counter argument or guidance from HQ.
Members are not martyrs..they come to work...to work.

b) Members should use their "discretion" over a system that is unpopular with staff and not proven with the customer.

Do not forget one of the main reasons for this is to remove resource from the caller's office.
What if doing the job properly results in job losses?

so what your saying is its ok for these posties to only think about themselves in this case? well what about the times they only think about themselves and cut bigger corners that lead to more oppertunities for hours to be cut? coming in early and PCOD gives doms scope for removing hours?

so its ok to think about themselves depending on the circumstance? stinks of double standards to me

[fishtank]

so what your saying is its ok for these posties to only think about themselves in this case? well what about the times they only think about themselves and cut bigger corners that lead to more oppertunities for hours to be cut? coming in early and PCOD gives doms scope for removing hours?

so its ok to think about themselves depending on the circumstance? stinks of double standards to me

This is not about cutting corners,there are no corners to cut because Royal Mail do not believe it takes any extra time.
This fight should have been fought by HQ before an agreement to run a trial was endorsed by the union,it wasn't and the result is what it is...
Now for some reason you and probably HQ believe and expect that members should take on management individually,risking confrontation,bullying and harassment and possible conduct charges to prove that the trial data is wrong.
All without the help of any guidance for reps from the union.

If Royal Mail come to their senses and allocate time for delivery to neighbour or if some guidance for reps from the union is forthcoming then i would re-assess the situation but until then basically if Royal Mail don't want to pay,i don't see why our members should play.

[justdeno]

I was delivering today, saw lots of the op out stickers. Spoke to people they asked me if I was ok with this, I told them it is wonderful and to tell everyone to do this otherwise jobs will be lost.

[wookie]

It's only a matter of time when a postman is asked it's okay to leave a parcel/packet with the neighbour next door on the left, but not on the right! Over a period of time you're going to need a litle notebook to keep track on what to do. Not ALL neighbours get on.

[BingBong]

I have some issues with this new system.

With customers being told we will try to deliver to a neighbor, what happens when I don't have time to run around knocking on houses, or if I am on a rural delivery and the neighbor is a 5-10 minute drive back on myself.. Does the customer ring up the office and complain that I didn't try to deliver to a neighbor? Does the customer get the impression that I am a lazy postman?

How can Royal Mail expect us to try and deliver to a neighbor every time nobody answers the door, without giving us more time on our deliveries to allow for trying a neighbor? It's just something else extra Royal Mail are expecting us to fit into our delivery spans.

Some of you may turn around and say that I don't have to deliver to a neighbor and that it is optional, but when all of our customers have been told that we will try to deliver to a neighbor, what happens when I can't because of time constraints? The customer is just going to think the postman didn't try and that he is lazy.

Do what you are meant to do, go back deliver to the neighbour and cut off once your time is up.

[SF]

We've been told we only have to deliver to a neighbour if we have time, so management won't accept us cutting off for that reason.

My point is that when I don't try and deliver to a neighbour because of lack of time, the customers are just going to think I'm lazy and couldn't be arsed. They'll be under the impression that we have to try and deliver to a neighbour and the postman will start getting a bad reputation with that customer.

[BingBong]

We've been told we only have to deliver to a neighbour if we have time, so management won't accept us cutting off for that reason.

My point is that when I don't try and deliver to a neighbour because of lack of time, the customers are just going to think I'm lazy and couldn't be arsed. They'll be under the impression that we have to try and deliver to a neighbour and the postman will start getting a bad reputation with that customer.

but officially it doesn't say only if we have time...

[fishtank]

but officially it doesn't say only if we have time...

It says that the Delivery Officer should use their judgement to ensure that it doesn't take extra time.

None of our delivery postmen and women reported any additional time being taken on walks in conducting their delivery tasks, and this is reflected in no additional cost being incurred at the Trial offices.
The absence of any additional cost in the Trial was supported by the discretionary element of the Delivery to Neighbour Trial process that enabled postmen and women to exercise their judgement about the appropriateness of delivering items to neighbours.

[BingBong]

but officially it doesn't say only if we have time...

It says that the Delivery Officer should use their judgement to ensure that it doesn't take extra time.

None of our delivery postmen and women reported any additional time being taken on walks in conducting their delivery tasks, and this is reflected in no additional cost being incurred at the Trial offices.
The absence of any additional cost in the Trial was supported by the discretionary element of the Delivery to Neighbour Trial process that enabled postmen and women to exercise their judgement about the appropriateness of delivering items to neighbours.

so basically its up to me to decide if I have time to take it to the neighbour? Shame RM didn't put it on that leaflet to the customer explaining only if we have time. if that's the case im not taking any to a neightbour because I already know I won't have time. Sorted.

[Mr Rush]

None of our delivery postmen and women reported any additional time being taken on walks in conducting their delivery tasks, and this is reflected in no additional cost being incurred at the Trial offices.
The absence of any additional cost in the Trial was supported by the discretionary element of the Delivery to Neighbour Trial process that enabled postmen and women to exercise their judgement about the appropriateness of delivering items to neighbours.

I read that as placing the burden on delivery personnel to determine whether offloading the packet at another address is balanced against mail integrity. It's all very vague, so if you attempt to follow these guidelines and a complaint about a missing/damaged/etc package is lodged it's your judgement that may come into questioning.

[arnold cheshire]

so if you deliver to a neighbor and they steal it your sacked ?

[monkeymutha]

You would be under suspicion of stealing it yourself.

[fishtank]

One of the problems is that Royal Mail is promising to maintain liability until the intended recipient gets it.
That means compensation for the recipient if the neighbour steals it and that means an investigation and the possibility of your word against the neighbour's.
This is obviously possible under the current system but only involving the recipient,now it's double the fun with the chance of you being caught in the middle of a neighbour conflict.

[justdeno]

I'm going to have a sign saying"All packets excepted, going on Ebay later".!!!!!