Some strange goings on.

[LucasLCC]

Where I live, post tends to be delivered around midday, sometimes an hour or so later, and on odd occasions a little bit earlier. I'm typically out when it arrives, so always get a collection of the "We have something for you" cards through the door, and make frequent trips to the delivery office, which is thankfully only a five minute cycle ride away.

Last week this changed. Every day the delivery was before nine in the morning. This was great, because I could actually sign for the post I received. The odd thing, was that the postman delivering the mail was the normal fellow who opened the door at the delivery office (literally every time I visited), and he had one of the larger trolleys compared to the smaller ones they normally had.

This week the mail has reverted to it's midday delivery. Yesterday it arrived sometime after lunch, and it's just arrived today. But was delivered by one of the delivery offices managers, without a pouch or a trolley.

Me being of the hopeful sort was hoping that the 9am deliveries would remain. Obviously not my luck!

Any clues to what's going on?

[arnold cheshire]

Where I live, post tends to be delivered around midday, sometimes an hour or so later, and on odd occasions a little bit earlier. I'm typically out when it arrives, so always get a collection of the "We have something for you" cards through the door, and make frequent trips to the delivery office, which is thankfully only a five minute cycle ride away.

Last week this changed. Every day the delivery was before nine in the morning. This was great, because I could actually sign for the post I received. The odd thing, was that the postman delivering the mail was the normal fellow who opened the door at the delivery office (literally every time I visited), and he had one of the larger trolleys compared to the smaller ones they normally had.

This week the mail has reverted to it's midday delivery. Yesterday it arrived sometime after lunch, and it's just arrived today. But was delivered by one of the delivery offices managers, without a pouch or a trolley.

Me being of the hopeful sort was hoping that the 9am deliveries would remain. Obviously not my luck!

Any clues to what's going on?

when it was before 9am the walk was probably being lapsed or absorbed . cutting costs on overtime

[ysbrydtawel]

when it was before 9am the walk was probably being lapsed or absorbed . cutting costs on overtime

Yeah. that would be my guess.

OP: Just in case you didn't know, lapsing / absorption is where on a quiet day, a round is split up into equally sized segments, and each postman in the office takes a chunk of that round and delivers it before he starts on his own. In my office, it tends to be the DO Manager who sorts these rounds.

They're only supposed to do this when it's so quiet, that even with the lapsing nobody goes over their time. So for example on a Tuesday in my office, when we are meant to finish at 14:30, maybe because it's quiet we would finish at 14:00 (but still get paid to 14:30 because of the contracts). If 'Town South' is lapsed (a 5 hour duty), each of the 11 remaining postmen take 27 minutes worth of lapsing. That way we all finish at 14:30, and the manager has saved 5 hours delivery time, plus 1.5 - 2 hours sorting time (so about £70).

[LucasLCC]

Thank you both for the explanations. With lapsing, what happens to the shift that is lapsed. Is the original worked transferred to a new shift, or is it to cover holiday etc?

This week I saw the postman load his trolley into the back of a car, no less than twice. I thought using a private car was a big no no? Perhaps I have quite a lax postman, as I had a Signed For item through my door yesterday with no signature.

[ysbrydtawel]

At our office we tend to lapse when the duty holder is on their day off (we get one day off a week in addition to Sunday). But yeah, rounds can be lapsed when they're on holiday or off sick too.

It's inadvisable (and illegal) to use your own car, but some managers overlook it. In my office we have enough vans for the van rounds, and the 3 trolley rounds we have wouldn't be made any easier with a car anyway. Sometimes I cover people's holiday at a local DO, and they all use their own cars. Other than being illegal for insurance reasons, and against RM policy, it's stupid because you can't claim the fuel back, or wear and tear on the car. So yeah, sounds like you have a lazy postman!

Posting Signed For items with no signature is also a big no-no, of course. Some people do it because they think they're helping the customer out, some do it because they're lazy and can't be asked to write out a P739 card and take the letter back - but it's stupid because the real customer is the sender who's paid for the service. And they might as well have sent it as normal mail, because that's the service they're getting. If I were you I'd ask him nicely to leave a card if you're not in for a Signed For (or deliver to a neighbour).

Out of interest, try going here, and seeing who signed it (if anyone):
http://www.royalmail.com/track-trace" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Buttner]

Last week this changed. Every day the delivery was before nine in the morning. This was great, because I could actually sign for the post I received. The odd thing, was that the postman delivering the mail was the normal fellow who opened the door at the delivery office (literally every time I visited), and he had one of the larger trolleys compared to the smaller ones they normally had.

Just a thought seeing as you received mail the whole week pre-9am, maybe the usual postie had a week off?

[LucasLCC]

Posting Signed For items with no signature is also a big no-no, of course. Some people do it because they think they're helping the customer out, some do it because they're lazy and can't be asked to write out a P739 card and take the letter back - but it's stupid because the real customer is the sender who's paid for the service. And they might as well have sent it as normal mail, because that's the service they're getting. If I were you I'd ask him nicely to leave a card if you're not in for a Signed For (or deliver to a neighbour).

The odd thing was is that I was in the house at the time. It was quiet enough that I heard the post come through the letterbox, so would have certainly heard the doorbell or if the knocker was used. I have a feeling it wasn't one of the usual postmen (but they change often here). It's a pet hate when sending stuff, and I've filled out countless forms for when a signature hasn't been obtained. As if you have someone who's dishonest, then you have to repost anyways..

[/quote]Out of interest, try going here, and seeing who signed it (if anyone):
http://www.royalmail.com/track-trace" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;[/quote]

Nope, apparently it's still being processed through the network, and trackdetails just shows the usual scan at POL.

Code: Select all

Date	    Time 	Status	         Track point
21/08/13	08:54	ACCEPTED AT POL	19 - 21 Connaugh LE16 7NG