Mail delivery in the dark might be the brightest way forward

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/M ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

OTTAWA — A new mail delivery system has been phased in across Ottawa, from May to mid-October. The result, says the postal union, is bad to awful.

We sat down with four union leaders one afternoon last week and heard a litany of complaints, the group sounding dispirited and bitter on behalf of 1,900 members.

“The new ‘postal transformation’ is not working for the public, it’s not working for the customers or the employees,” said Ian Anderson, president of the Ottawa local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers.

“There’s no such thing as a happy mailman anymore.”

Briefly, faced with a serious decline in mail volume in the last decade, Canada Post has streamlined the way mail is sorted, then delivered. Instead of having separate workforces of letter carriers, parcel drivers and pickup personnel, it has created a new position of “delivery agent” that combines much of the work.

So the traditional mailman is now working from a small van, delivering mail and parcels, but along a longer route. Shifts have changed, with a so-called “second wave” working 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

There were two immediate effects many residents noticed: almost everyone in the city had a new carrier; and mail was being delivered after dark, sometimes as late as 8 or 9 p.m.

The Citizen has heard from many readers, seniors especially, who don’t take kindly to hearing thumps on the front porch at 9 p.m., nor do they want their mail sitting in the box overnight.

“We had a lady last Friday delivering mail at one o’clock in the morning. I couldn’t believe it,” said Anderson.

“We’ve had them out there at 9, 10, 11 o’clock at night. Why? Because they’re scared to bring the mail back. If they bring it back, they get tuned up by management.”

In order to make the longer, combined routes work, Canada Post has invested $2 billion, much of it in sophisticated mail sorters that are supposed to “sequence” the mail in the order of delivery. This, in theory, means less manual sorting at the depot and more time on the road.

But the union leaders say the sequencing is often faulty or incomplete, the number of daily flyers as high as 20 to 30 and, from the new vans, they’re delivering everything from televisions to car tires.

The sequencing, too, has created a so-called “two-bundle” delivery method that requires the carrier to read and sort from two piles, while walking. Now throw in slippery ice conditions, darkness, a headlamp that only lights part of the way, and the union argues it’s a recipe for stress and injury.

“We’ve had more than one case of workers with 25, 30 years experience, breaking down and crying, right on the floor, in front of their colleagues,” says Anderson.

“I would say it’s a complete mess,” said Dave Woods, the local’s second vice-president. He tells the curious story of getting his mail at home “early” at 5 p.m. one evening then, four hours later, of hearing a second drop through the mail slot, causing the “dogs to go berserk.”

Secretary-treasurer Bev Collins said she’s not asking, she’s “begging” residential customers this winter to keep their porchlights on, keep their dogs in a safe place and keep the walkways clear and ice-free while the new system gets up to speed.

She’s heard from some single parents, now on a later shift and forced to do occasional overtime, who barely get home in time to tuck their kids into bed.

Canada Post, meanwhile, paints an entirely different picture. It says the new system has worked well during its rollout, which began two years ago in other Canadian cities.

“The response has been positive, from customers and the majority of our employees,” said spokesman Jon Hamilton.

“We still have some folks within the union that want to make out a story because they don’t want Canada Post to change.”

He said mail per address is down 20 to 25 per cent in five years and destined to decline even more. The old delivery model simply wasn’t sustainable, he pointed out.

Hamilton said the “two-bundle” method is tried and true in many jurisdictions and there was wide consultation with the union about the new delivery model.

He said “safety is absolutely key” in the changes and adds that many carriers like having their own van as a warming station in cold weather.

“Safety numbers improve every time we implement this delivery model.”

He said late-night deliveries are quite rare and should be reduced as the system matures and carriers get used to new routes or those routes are adjusted.

Well, one can only hope. For the moment, something sounds seriously amiss out there.

[fishtank]

Two different countries..two different postal systems.....roughly the same shambles.
One thing in common....



I hope she gets head hunted by TNT next.

[POSTMAN]

Can't believe they are still doing the 2 bundle thing.

[Sharkeyes]

Two different countries..two different postal systems.....roughly the same shambles.
One thing in common....



I hope she gets head hunted by TNT next.

"Gissa job, I can do dat! Go on, I can deliver letters, I can do anything! Go on gizza job then!"
'I'd rather Yozzer Hughes be in charge'