Special delivery concerns

[Lincox]

Not on P&L but we refuse to take out specials that are one end of the walk if we also have specials at the other end. They have to be taken out by parcel van.

[postality]

I don't know how it works in other offices but in mine if I get a special that I won't make by 12.45 I inform management and let them make the call.
If they still want me to do it,I do it first and if that means I can't get finished I give them something back,usually something with stairs.
In 99% of cases they take the special off me and give it to some random guy,usually on rehab.
I just wouldn't fail a special.

I adjust my duty on the fly to make sure I get all my Specials done, if it means doing the entire last bit earlier then I do it, it only takes a few minutes extra to travel back and do the missed bits. It's just how I work because that's how I was told to do it.

would not work on my duty.

theres differences walk to walk, office to office and they cannot be compared like for like

[UnhappyGremlin]

It the same answer as with most 'problems'. And that is, it isn't your problem, and it isn't your responsibility to sort it out.

If you won't get there by 13.00, inform boss, ask him/her to decide, if they say break off and go deliver it, do so, but point out you will have to cut off and return some mail, or if you want, will require some O/T to finish delivery, or they may give it to someone else. There is no point in you worrying about it, it's kind of beyond your control, and certainly out of your sphere of responsibilities.

To answer your earlier query, yes, it is wrong for specials to be confirmed as delivered when they are unaware of what has actually happened in regards of the item. In my office, posties are told to ring and confirm the item as delivered/form left by 13.30, otherwise they will be scanned as delivered on time. Failure to do this drops us in trouble, whether right or wrong.

[DGP1]

I don't know how it works in other offices but in mine if I get a special that I won't make by 12.45 I inform management and let them make the call.
If they still want me to do it,I do it first and if that means I can't get finished I give them something back,usually something with stairs.
In 99% of cases they take the special off me and give it to some random guy,usually on rehab.
I just wouldn't fail a special.

I adjust my duty on the fly to make sure I get all my Specials done, if it means doing the entire last bit earlier then I do it, it only takes a few minutes extra to travel back and do the missed bits. It's just how I work because that's how I was told to do it.

would not work on my duty.

theres differences walk to walk, office to office and they cannot be compared like for like

I understand that all offices are different but the fact remains that you have a PDA and a van..........unless your duty covers many, many miles then you can always adjust your delivery to deal with your specials.........and as has been said before, if you're going to be over your time because of it, then it's up to your manager to deal with that, that's why they get paid the big bucks

[OnAFlyer]

Surely it's common sense, you deliver all specials before 1pm as a priority over everything else. If that means breaking off and you can't complete elsewhere then so be it.

[DGP1]

It the same answer as with most 'problems'. And that is, it isn't your problem, and it isn't your responsibility to sort it out.

If you won't get there by 13.00, inform boss, ask him/her to decide, if they say break off and go deliver it, do so, but point out you will have to cut off and return some mail, or if you want, will require some O/T to finish delivery, or they may give it to someone else. There is no point in you worrying about it, it's kind of beyond your control, and certainly out of your sphere of responsibilities.

To answer your earlier query, yes, it is wrong for specials to be confirmed as delivered when they are unaware of what has actually happened in regards of the item. In my office, posties are told to ring and confirm the item as delivered/form left by 13.30, otherwise they will be scanned as delivered on time. Failure to do this drops us in trouble, whether right or wrong.

How do you call the office? Use your own mobile at your expense? If I were instructed to do that I'd leave my mobile at home.

The PDA has a phone function..........should be using that

[pyphon]

Get yourself better contract then ;) I get 1200 minutes, unlimited texts, and 1gb of data for £12 a month, more than enough for what i need!

[UnhappyGremlin]

It the same answer as with most 'problems'. And that is, it isn't your problem, and it isn't your responsibility to sort it out.

If you won't get there by 13.00, inform boss, ask him/her to decide, if they say break off and go deliver it, do so, but point out you will have to cut off and return some mail, or if you want, will require some O/T to finish delivery, or they may give it to someone else. There is no point in you worrying about it, it's kind of beyond your control, and certainly out of your sphere of responsibilities.

To answer your earlier query, yes, it is wrong for specials to be confirmed as delivered when they are unaware of what has actually happened in regards of the item. In my office, posties are told to ring and confirm the item as delivered/form left by 13.30, otherwise they will be scanned as delivered on time. Failure to do this drops us in trouble, whether right or wrong.

How do you call the office? Use your own mobile at your expense? If I were instructed to do that I'd leave my mobile at home.

The PDA has a phone function..........should be using that

They do? We were shown how to log in / out. How to scan and gets signed etc and that is it, training took about 2 minutes. The poxy things rarely upload, we can have over a weeks worth on it.

I have asked about phoning the office and am always told the same - use your mobile. When I point out it is not RM's bill etc., I pay it, they have no right to insist I use it, threatened, and subsequently received counselling, for refusing. I told them if they want us to call in, they should provide us the means to do so. One boss told me to use Phone boxes , I said fine, provide me a list of the 28(random number) that are left in the country. He then told me to go door to door to ask a resident, or ask at a business, I asked why they should foot the bill? In future I would recommend all to use their own mobile, but reverse the charges.

PDA's do have a phone on them, but you can only ring pre-programmed numbers, and I think you'll find the office isn't one of them. At least, our isn't. It has IT helpdesk, RAC, about 4 in total, but not the office. Would require thinking ahead, that one.

[Haitch P]

Had a special delivery today for an address towards the end of my duty, i turned up at the guys house at 2:30 to find him on the phone chasing it up and very worried.
It was his passport and when he traced it online it showed as being delivered before 1pm, he in turn contacted passport office who also said it was showing as being delivered and must be with a neighbour.

I apologised and explained that i would never have left a special with a neighbour and advised him to make an official complaint.
My point is that my office is scanning specials every day as delivered on time regardless wether they have been or not, this is the third time ive had this kind of complaint and im getting a bit pissed trying to explain that i have no time to break off and do them before 1pm to customers and managers alike..

Our performance figures show a high 90's % success rate on specials which I know is bollocks when it comes to time delivered...

Are the management wrong to be doing this? surely they must be fiddling it , and what can I do about it? not just for me but for my full office, our most expensive product being treat like it dont matter, it stinks.

Advice appreciated

This goes on at my office too (Confirmation By Default) despite having P&L/PDAs.

We've had members of the public phoning up customer services & the office worried because the Track & Trace shows their mail as "delivered" when it hasn't!!!

Before P&L the Specials were delivered by the accelerators so they could a) meet the 1pm deadline & b) would be scanned with the PDA.

Now fast forward to P&L and we have "confirmation by default" and some staff not using the PDAs to scan the Specials What a farce!

[Hitcher]

The driver should go off and any specials that you haven't done before 1pm - problem sorted.

[dvbuk55]

There is no excuse for a P&L not to deliver a special by 1 pm - as for being delivered by a parcel van in our office the P&L IS the parcel van both their own parcels and HCT walk parcels divided between them. Rural vans take their own and regardless of where they are - they break off to deliver by 1.

[janitor]

My old office won't break off to deliver specials, since the assistant DOM threatened to conduct someone for not delivering to the frame, told him it was a breach of health and safety.

[fluffysnow]

ou

[plymouth3]

We been doing P&Lfor 2 years and all van drivers have a PDA each. Only HCT exempt for now but not in future.

Our manager expects us to do all SD by 12.30 and we have to alter our route or do a special trip to achieve this. More than 1 failure is conduct route.

You can suspend comms on your PDA and the battery lasts a lot longer, then unsuspend at end of delivery. We are not allowed pen and cards anymore.

[dvbuk55]

We been doing P&Lfor 2 years and all van drivers have a PDA each. Only HCT exempt for now but not in future.

Our manager expects us to do all SD by 12.30 and we have to alter our route or do a special trip to achieve this. More than 1 failure is conduct route.

You can suspend comms on your PDA and the battery lasts a lot longer, then unsuspend at end of delivery. We are not allowed pen and cards anymore.

Well you should always carry one just in case the PDA is dropped or dies for whatever reason - it's hardly sensible to get to a customers door with a required signature item only to have a dead PDA proffered and go to find your partner for his.