PDAs the end of Job and Finish at Last ?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Unashamedly Lifted from a FaceBook post - as they say in all the good debates - Discuss (hopefully with some decorum)

Standing in front of delivery staff telling them to do the job properly over the last few years has been incredibly frustrating because they simply believe the job and knock culture will never change, so they'll continue to come in early, not take a break etc. The majority do understand what is being said and the implications to the bad practices they do on a daily basis which are ignored by management to get the job done, but they'll continue to do it as they are accustomed to 'making time out of the job'.

The difference this time whilst addressing delivery members about the proposed new deal is the impact of PDA's once they are fully rolled out and in operation. The days of sitting down with a DOM and planner to negotiate duty sets or a revision, either by Geo-route or a table top will be gone. The information from PDA's is based on fact whilst you are out on delivery and will be used to change how deliveries work. There WILL be no point in coming in early, there WILL be no point in not having a meal relief, there WILL be no point in not weighing out. You will be utilised for the paid hours of your contract. There WILL also be no point in having countless Planners or countless Line Managers to introduce revisions, the PDA's technology will do that very simply. Do I now believe that the penny is beginning to drop, we'll see.

[rhino49]

I have always exited the PDA after delivering last letter - maybe I should now wait until handing it in at the office on returning.

[fishtank]

http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/royal-m ... -reps.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On delivery, assistant secretary Bob Gibson said: "Absorption remains high on our agenda but Royal Mail doesn't share the reach of that problem. So we have agreed workshops of managers and reps that will assess the problem and put us in a strong position to tackle outdoor absorption.

"The review is key to finding and agreeing the solution," said Bob, adding: "We have achieved ending annualised hours and stopping increased flexibility and increased monitoring.

[Lincox]

Who has he achieved that with then. If anything there is more monitoring going on than ever.

[DGP1]

We all knew this was coming, the worst thing is the union wont be able to do anything because RM will just say that it's about quality of service and they need to monitor the PDAs to ensure we're delivering the packets to spec.

[asap]

what happens if you log off your pda after you last item that needs it you could still have loops to go ? or am i not getting this.
i log off as soon as i have done the last item that requires the use of the pda

[dazzlin72]

Doesn't seem to make a difference in our office, we use pdas & management still let people go home sometimes upto 2.5 hrs before their time, even tho have facts to hand when they log off. Managers too weak to tell them they need to do extra work to even things out with those who do job properly.

[dazzlin72]

You log pdas off when you get back to office, but again this can be abused by those that know they could be back earlier but drag it out/park up somewhere, before going back to office.

[dazzlin72]

The only way for management to get totally accurate figures is to have tracker on vans & pdas, to see where you are at all times, don't know if allowed to do this, invasion of privacy etc, but do know some councils have trackers on their vehicles.

[janitor]

The trackers are fitted for security reasons, that usually gets round the invasion of privacy argument, am sure RM would use the same one.

[chrisj]

The trackers are already there and parking up will show up and you could be done for fraud...

The Trackers according to those in the know might be used to allow customers to track the parcels. And also there is idea that as soon as the postie is nearby or have delivered - the system via the PDA will send a text message to customers.

So it is not just about Privacy or tracking posties, RM can cover themselves as it is for operational reasons. Some couriers do something similar already.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

The Trackers according to those in the know might be used to allow customers to track the parcels. And also there is idea that as soon as the postie is nearby or have delivered - the system via the PDA will send a text message to customers.

Happening already I got a tracked item delivered and then got an email confirming delivery. Thats was only a few weeks ago.

[chrisj]

Was this email from RM or another courier?

So people be warned about parking up...

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Was this email from RM or another courier?

So people be warned about parking up...

email from the sender, but generated by Royal Mail tracking. The time stamp of the email was the exact time of the scan.

[chrisj]

From the customer's point of view the email or txt confirmation could also be used as a substitute P739 - so customer does not need to go home then out again to delivery office...

There is also an implication for those posties that scan all Tracked Items before leaving the office