Royal Mail cuts half its later collection times

[TrueBlueTerrier]

i think this will be another instance where some are affected more than others. Our office is mainly walking duties with a few van shares, i use a HCT and the only post box i pass is 30mins into my walk, without radically changing our walks (causing another resign) i can't see how it can be done here at least.

If you had to colect from that box it would have to be on your way back to the office as boxes aren't allowed to be scanned early

Easy enough change the last collection for the box to 9am. In fact isn't that part of the plan.

[clashcityrocker]

Let's say the final collection time for these boxes is set at 12 noon.
Anything first class posted after that will fail to be delivered the next day.
Are they so sure that so little first class mail is posted in these boxes that it will not impact on our overall quality of service?
Or is this simply the start of the erosion of the USO?

[chrisj]

If the collection times are to be set around 9am to 3pm, it means that you walk could be planned to collect from boxes as soon as you start your delivery. Most of the boxes will be collected well before 3 pm - it should not make too much of a difference collecting at 12pm and 2.30pm; the customer just have to be more organised with posting their letters.

Your walk should not have to be re-planned. If the last mail for the customer is, lets say 10.00am then you can scan and collect anytime after 10.00am - the collections will be unlikely be as strict as the real deadline you have when you do proper collection with scan times specified.

Given that most social mail might be second class, post cards and non-urgent first class, most customers will know that the mail will most likely be collected the next day. And if a customer really need the mail to be collected then he/she will have to go to the nearest 1.5 miles late afternoon/evening 5.30-6.00m collection.

Most people will not even notice the change. On top of that RM will be putting in more post boxes on areas of high 'footfall' according to Sue Whalley - shops, stations, schools etc.

The only issue now is dealing with SA collections especially from (most) firms that want their mail collected around office closing times - 4.30-5.30pm. There is also going to be issues of keys for the pillar boxes - lots more keys now have to be cut. Also training on Ad-Hoc collection using PDA...

* I think it will take less time to do one collection than it will take to try delivering to neighbours on either side and then going back to the original house to post a P739.

[A2B]

That was partly my point, my walk and plenty of others would have to be planned out again from scratch as to fit in with collection times. Also if i was to finish at the collection box it would take me well over the 1 mile limit from the office and so would require transport back to the office making it a pointless exercise

I might be wrong here but I think the 1 mile limit is not the end of the round but the beginning - some of our deliveries are way off a mile when they finish.

Almost certain it's start and finish within a 1 mile radius of the office, that's certainly the way our duties have been planned and anything over the mile is done in a van

Oh and another thing, if they were to change collection times to enable it to be collected at or near the beginning of the walk where do you put the mail in an already full HCT?

[chrisj]

But the same happens even if the collection is set at 3.30pm; people will still put letter in the post box to be collected the next day. The post mark on those later posted letters will be for next day when they go through the IMP.

I do not see how this will affect QOS - re: first class rate.

* A minority might be hacked off because the miss the cut off but I do not see many people worrying about posting letters from 2pm to 4pm; who are these people?

** Actually, RM is not going to take away post boxes but adding a lot more...

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Here is one to ponder. Will we be able to take mail from residents when this starts, officially at the moment you are not.

[clashcityrocker]

Oh and another thing, if they were to change collection times to enable it to be collected at or near the beginning of the walk where do you put the mail in an already full HCT?

Given that the boxes due to be cleared by delivery postmen are those that get less than 50 letters, then by simply taking your first bundle out, you will have room to put the collection in.

[A2B]

That will obviously be fine "IF" they have the correct figures

[dvbuk55]

25 years ago when I started the foot soldier also collected from boxes I had two to collect from and sometimes quite a bit but I collected on the way back - which was well over a mile.

[music4essex]

25 years ago when I started the foot soldier also collected from boxes I had two to collect from and sometimes quite a bit but I collected on the way back - which was well over a mile

Me the same , to think we are going backwards ALSO REMEMBER WHEN THE COLLECTION FROM BOXES WAS LAST ONE 5PM AND THEN CHANGED TO 6PM AND THEN 7PM , AROUND MID 90'S , Now they are going backwards again

Essex mum

[dvbuk55]

25 years ago when I started the foot soldier also collected from boxes I had two to collect from and sometimes quite a bit but I collected on the way back - which was well over a mile

Me the same , to think we are going backwards ALSO REMEMBER WHEN THE COLLECTION FROM BOXES WAS LAST ONE 5PM AND THEN CHANGED TO 6PM AND THEN 7PM , AROUND MID 90'S , Now they are going backwards again

Essex mum

Wish I was going backwards M4E I'd be a year younger

[Mr_Pink]

I work in collections in a largish town, and we also cover the collections for 3 smaller D.O.s so not sure how thats going to work, as the smaller D.O.s have no M.C lorry to fetch their collected mail, it all goes back to our D.O. So that would mean someone in the smaller offices having to stay on and bring all the mail over to us (or direct to the M/C) which would just be a case of taking hours out of one D.O. to give to 3 other D.O.s which seems like a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul

Seems typical of Royal Mail trying to implement yet another one size fits all policy, and we all know how well that has worked with P&L...

[bigcol]

Seems typical of Royal Mail trying to implement yet another one size fits all policy, ...

Well made up.

[thegreatestfreddy]

union line on this is that it will be great for deliveries as will be doing collections instead of lapsing

[dvbuk55]

union line on this is that it will be great for deliveries as will be doing collections instead of lapsing

You have to laugh at their naivety. At least it would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic.