Advice Please - Thinking of Applying

[Mysterio]

Hello all :-)

Absolutely pig sick of office work (work in IT Support) and at 38, looking to move into a Postie Role. Something with the kind of stress I can handle easier. Computers totally stress me out nowadays.

Generally, do you friendly neighbourhood Posties enjoy the Job?

Any tips please also on the application/Interview process?

The role is a 3 month Temp Contract Delivery Person with Driving - if I keep everyone happy am I likely to have this extended, or will I just be let go?

Assuming I am successful (how difficult is it to "get in"?) are there any things to watch out for (apart from Dogs!)

Any wise advice would be gratefully welcomed.

Thank you in advance

Mysterio

[demon]

no good been a postie stick to ya office job we get a lot more stress than you trust me

[coxie]

My advice is dont

[cobberwebb]

lol good god no. Stay where you are. These massive walks are going to kill us all!

[dre33dd]

give it a go mate.....it is slightly stressful tho so be warned.....
very physically demanding and under constant pressure from (alleged) management......
i been in it for 27 years now so it must be ok

[maisymoo04]

Go for it it's a good job I luv it

[fb1969]

25 years of office work ended for me with redundancy, followed by 11 months unemployment and now 14 months as a postie (my fifth 3 month contract). There are many bad aspects to the job and it will only get worse, but I enjoy the outside part of it (once you get used to it being in all weathers). If you can put up with some shite from the managers and get your head round things, they are worse jobs out there.

From my experience of the application process last year the first word I would use is "slow" followed by "impersonal". Everything was online apart from the interview and the actual interview as the only time I was able to speak to anyone!! The online application includes personality type tests so make sure you answer in a way that makes you sound outgoing and versatile, unafraid of change. Also some tests on accuracy, comparing 01002 696969 with 01002 696696 and things like that. The interview was giving proof of times you had worked in a team, and that sort of thing.

If I can get in and do the job - anyone can!

[Mysterio]

Thanks for the replies.

Scary differences of opinion.

I just can't stand being in the same office with people all of the time to be honest - hence why i'd like to be out and about.

I want something simple, able to work on my own a lot. I also want the exercise.

I take it it's not just a case of get up, get to work, get your post, post it, collect from PO's, deliver it to SO's, then back home?

That sounds a lot more simpler that "massage this person's ego, apologise on the phone all of the time, get frustrated and annoyed with computers all day, get stressed with workloads"

I was hoping being a Postman was a bit more "black and white" instead of all of the grey areas of working in a office and being consigned to a desk....

[penlanpostie]

personally i love the job , obviously you have bad days but i like working outdoors meeting my customers and the exersize , but be warned out in the cold , rain sleet hail and snow and the phyiscal challenge isnt for everybody and being a new recruit you will probably be messed about a bit but the change of job may be quite literally a breath of fresh air for you , so you wont know untill you try and whatever you choose good luck to you.

[Mysterio]

personally i love the job , obviously you have bad days but i like working outdoors meeting my customers and the exersize , but be warned out in the cold , rain sleet hail and snow and the phyiscal challenge isnt for everybody and being a new recruit you will probably be messed about a bit but the change of job may be quite literally a breath of fresh air for you , so you wont know untill you try and whatever you choose good luck to you.

Thanks for that.

Office work stresses and depresses me and I am hoping for exactly what you mention "breath of fresh air to you".

I like routine, and IT Support aint routine let me tell you - a different problem each day to upset your applecart.......My colleagues are all "techy" and genuinely interested in their job, but as mentioned I want routine and "knowing what I'm on with". I enjoy knowing what I'm doing and being good at it, not worrying about what will bite me on the backside tomorrow.

[eggraidonmojo]

I have done office jobs before but have been at RM for about a year - and I much prefer being a postie.

There are definitely difficult aspects to the job - workload and difficult managers being the main one (although actually I think my office is better than some - going by what I read on here) - but once I get out of the delivery office in the morning, I usually enjoy it.

I don't know what sort of office job you do, but my previous roles were pointless admin and marketing for pointless companies. At least in delivering letters and parcels, in your own small way, you are doing something that is actually useful to people.

Don't go into the job thinking it will be perfect, but as others have said, if you like the outdoors (be prepared to work in all weathers and make sure you bring the right gear and that RM get you the right uniform!) and a freedom from management and petty squabbles for most of the day, do it.

You'll probably be working with one other person most of the time as most duties are now shared - there are usually only a few duties to an office that are one postie with an HCT or van. It's not like in the old days of posties on bikes doing rounds on their own.

Hope that helps!

[k979aaa]

personally i love the job , obviously you have bad days but i like working outdoors meeting my customers and the exersize , but be warned out in the cold , rain sleet hail and snow and the phyiscal challenge isnt for everybody and being a new recruit you will probably be messed about a bit but the change of job may be quite literally a breath of fresh air for you , so you wont know untill you try and whatever you choose good luck to you.

Thanks for that.

Office work stresses and depresses me and I am hoping for exactly what you mention "breath of fresh air to you".

I like routine, and IT Support aint routine let me tell you - a different problem each day to upset your applecart.......My colleagues are all "techy" and genuinely interested in their job, but as mentioned I want routine and "knowing what I'm on with". I enjoy knowing what I'm doing and being good at it, not worrying about what will bite me on the backside tomorrow.

Well everyone thinks our job is bliss you are wrong mate you will be forced to work over your hours and probably will not be paid for those hours you will be passed around office to office your head will explode and some managers will do your head in. I would stick with computer's they are much more logical than royal mail management and it does not wreck your body as well.

[countyboy]

Spent two and a half years as a part time postie having lost my job in banking after 20 odd years. At the time it was a case of needed a job desperately and any job would do. The application process was, as has been said, ponderous and hit and miss but anyone with half a brain and bit of perseverance can crack it I think, unless its changed a lot..So having never done a manual job in my life in my late forties two stone overweight, off I went...December 2009...Xmas pressure...First walk (half a walk,,!) on 23rd December,,,sent out with a load of mail bags in my own car, knee deep in snow, no training, no hope and no idea what I was doing,,,!!
Six hours later, (finished at 8.30pm) I delivered my last letter.I went home,,half dead if I recall. The other new guy on the other half of the walk had long since gone back to the office and resigned on the spot with most of his letters and parcels...I thought the boss would have been pleased at my perseverance in the face of ridiculous odds,,,! WRONG...!!
Summoned to the office I was asked what the problem had been and why it had taken so long,,Well we had a frank exchange of views and I eventually got my docket knowing that at least it couldnt get any worse..!

To be fair it didnt and eventually I got to grips with it all and started to enjoy the job. I am now back in an office job. Ultimately I needed a full time job and there was never any chance of that happening. As for the stress of the job the biggest pain for me was working most saturdays having to book holidays a year in advance and needing permission of god to get any odd days off and the ridiculous attitude to sick leave (not that I had any but always worried at the prospect)
Also found myself working through niggling injuries as most posties do of course and despite the initial excellent fitness benefits I could not see myself cracking on until retirement and living with the pace, so account for your age. The pace incidentally which was increased by most posties still treating the job as task and finish,not using the right equipment, and thereby allowing managers to collapse walks and make the rounds even bigger and the posties (some) still battering it to get finished perpetuating the circle of doom.
So, as I sit in my office and its freezing outside I sometimes miss the lads, the banter, the fitness and the occasional early finish,,But your not that free if you can never untilise your free time because your too knackered and cant book a holiday. Its not that stressful in my opinion apart from the pressure to get finished brought on by your Park and look partner in some cases,and the job itself can make you a bit brain dead,,,and yes most (but not all) of the managers are failed ex posties and would kill their grannys to get on or get you to do unpaid docket
Like all jobs it has pros and cons and I would do it again if I had to,,,but not in place of my so called stressful full time office job,,, The vision people have of posties strolling about with a couple of bundles on a warm spring day having a brew with old dears,,,not quite how it is...

[Pat Ostman]

Spent two and a half years as a part time postie having lost my job in banking after 20 odd years. At the time it was a case of needed a job desperately and any job would do. The application process was, as has been said, ponderous and hit and miss but anyone with half a brain and bit of perseverance can crack it I think, unless its changed a lot..So having never done a manual job in my life in my late forties two stone overweight, off I went...December 2009...Xmas pressure...First walk (half a walk,,!) on 23rd December,,,sent out with a load of mail bags in my own car, knee deep in snow, no training, no hope and no idea what I was doing,,,!!
Six hours later, (finished at 8.30pm) I delivered my last letter.I went home,,half dead if I recall. The other new guy on the other half of the walk had long since gone back to the office and resigned on the spot with most of his letters and parcels...I thought the boss would have been pleased at my perseverance in the face of ridiculous odds,,,! WRONG...!!
Summoned to the office I was asked what the problem had been and why it had taken so long,,Well we had a frank exchange of views and I eventually got my docket knowing that at least it couldnt get any worse..!

To be fair it didnt and eventually I got to grips with it all and started to enjoy the job. I am now back in an office job. Ultimately I needed a full time job and there was never any chance of that happening. As for the stress of the job the biggest pain for me was working most saturdays having to book holidays a year in advance and needing permission of god to get any odd days off and the ridiculous attitude to sick leave (not that I had any but always worried at the prospect)
Also found myself working through niggling injuries as most posties do of course and despite the initial excellent fitness benefits I could not see myself cracking on until retirement and living with the pace, so account for your age. The pace incidentally which was increased by most posties still treating the job as task and finish,not using the right equipment, and thereby allowing managers to collapse walks and make the rounds even bigger and the posties (some) still battering it to get finished perpetuating the circle of doom.
So, as I sit in my office and its freezing outside I sometimes miss the lads, the banter, the fitness and the occasional early finish,,But your not that free if you can never untilise your free time because your too knackered and cant book a holiday. Its not that stressful in my opinion apart from the pressure to get finished brought on by your Park and look partner in some cases,and the job itself can make you a bit brain dead,,,and yes most (but not all) of the managers are failed ex posties and would kill their grannys to get on or get you to do unpaid docket
Like all jobs it has pros and cons and I would do it again if I had to,,,but not in place of my so called stressful full time office job,,, The vision people have of posties strolling about with a couple of bundles on a warm spring day having a brew with old dears,,,not quite how it is...

Says it all

[k979aaa]

Spent two and a half years as a part time postie having lost my job in banking after 20 odd years. At the time it was a case of needed a job desperately and any job would do. The application process was, as has been said, ponderous and hit and miss but anyone with half a brain and bit of perseverance can crack it I think, unless its changed a lot..So having never done a manual job in my life in my late forties two stone overweight, off I went...December 2009...Xmas pressure...First walk (half a walk,,!) on 23rd December,,,sent out with a load of mail bags in my own car, knee deep in snow, no training, no hope and no idea what I was doing,,,!!
Six hours later, (finished at 8.30pm) I delivered my last letter.I went home,,half dead if I recall. The other new guy on the other half of the walk had long since gone back to the office and resigned on the spot with most of his letters and parcels...I thought the boss would have been pleased at my perseverance in the face of ridiculous odds,,,! WRONG...!!
Summoned to the office I was asked what the problem had been and why it had taken so long,,Well we had a frank exchange of views and I eventually got my docket knowing that at least it couldnt get any worse..!

To be fair it didnt and eventually I got to grips with it all and started to enjoy the job. I am now back in an office job. Ultimately I needed a full time job and there was never any chance of that happening. As for the stress of the job the biggest pain for me was working most saturdays having to book holidays a year in advance and needing permission of god to get any odd days off and the ridiculous attitude to sick leave (not that I had any but always worried at the prospect)
Also found myself working through niggling injuries as most posties do of course and despite the initial excellent fitness benefits I could not see myself cracking on until retirement and living with the pace, so account for your age. The pace incidentally which was increased by most posties still treating the job as task and finish,not using the right equipment, and thereby allowing managers to collapse walks and make the rounds even bigger and the posties (some) still battering it to get finished perpetuating the circle of doom.
So, as I sit in my office and its freezing outside I sometimes miss the lads, the banter, the fitness and the occasional early finish,,But your not that free if you can never untilise your free time because your too knackered and cant book a holiday. Its not that stressful in my opinion apart from the pressure to get finished brought on by your Park and look partner in some cases,and the job itself can make you a bit brain dead,,,and yes most (but not all) of the managers are failed ex posties and would kill their grannys to get on or get you to do unpaid docket
Like all jobs it has pros and cons and I would do it again if I had to,,,but not in place of my so called stressful full time office job,,, The vision people have of posties strolling about with a couple of bundles on a warm spring day having a brew with old dears,,,not quite how it is...

All the best in the new job by the way I need to get out of RM but don't have your skills or the original posters but 25 years of this is killing me fast!