Culture of speed?

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

I love how managers let some runners finish delivery early and then prep the D2D on their duty for the next day, giving them a head-start for the next day, instead of asking them to D2D prep the lapsed duties or duties covered by PT staff that arrive at ~0900 (often to a frame that is not ready to tie up) until their contract finish time!

[madmax1]

.

[bustedflush]

In my opinion, these postmen/women should be brought up for fraud, being paid for work they have not done. Seen plenty posties regularly being paid 10+ hours for sitting at home, finished their days work, yet some of us are being questioned over O/T and by being to slow, could potentially be brought on a disciplinary for willful delay!!

Probably a bit extreme - the cost budgeted for a round is a postman's daily wage and the docket is budgeted/costed similarly. If the OPG has completed either or both of those tasks and been paid accordingly without 'going over' then he/she is neutral to the DO's budget/costs irrespective of whether they have gone home early. That's why the DIMs couldn't care less and further to that these people who can go quick and do their round plus a bit of docket in their normal duty time are not questioned because they are 'beating the system' and therefore are always willing to take out docket work which greatly assists the DIM in hitting delivery targets and thus not having a failing office.

The fact is RM has been around donkeys' years and this is what has evolved, and persists because there is NO better or viable alternative. Crack down on ghost OT and the office will fail as nobody would volunteer often for the ever-present docket loops and the DIM can't employ more OPG's. Crack down on runners/early finishers and they will simply become uncooperative and needlessly stretch work out which frustrates them and doesn't reduce the DIM's costs anyway as they are still paid the same. In fact, the only action (as we see mentioned here sometimes) the DIM could or should be interested in is cutting unnecessary OT for some OPGs going over or extending on jobs 80% of the rest finish on-time or early on.

Remember the DIM cannot reduce a OPG's basic but can reduce OT hours, hence them questioning extenders on rounds they see done on-budget by most others. I ain't saying the situation is right but I can see why these discussion arise time and time again.

[Jpro747]

Every saturday when I get back to the office almost everyone else has buggered off home an hour before their time, and they've already put in the d2ds for monday sometimes even the whole frame is full up with d2ds...

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

Remember the DIM cannot reduce a OPG's basic but can reduce OT hours, hence them questioning extenders on rounds they see done on-budget by most others. I ain't saying the situation is right but I can see why these discussion arise time and time again.

The problems begin when in an office like mine, disparity between how the duty is done varies massively from one OPG to another...
Some do all of the 318 IPS time, others do part of IPS time, others stay on the frame prepping all morning
Some take or account for all their paid break, some take/account for part of it, some don't take/account for any break (and these same OPGs then regularly work their day off, having gifted the DOM 200 minutes on their standard rota! )
Some "filter" mail from the current mail bundle while stationary (as we should), many "filter" while walking to the next address
Some will only lock their HCT up and leave it unattended for 10 minutes on a light day when they can carry a bundle and a few parcels, many take a pouch out and leave the HCT unattended for well over 10mins and are prepared to put significant weight on their shoulder
Some will try Delivery To Neighbour when nobody is at recipient address, many will leave parcels at the recipient's address in insecure places like unlocked porches; wheelie bins; under plant pots etc.

I honesty don't think any two OPGs in my depot work to the same standard, making comparisons pointless, all because many duties have laughable 318s when you do the job anything close to how we are supposed to work. But instead of highlighting this most days by cutting off, they run round like headless chickens to one degree or another, trying not to be the head highest above the parapet that gets grief from lino/DOM.

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

Every saturday when I get back to the office almost everyone else has buggered off home an hour before their time, and they've already put in the d2ds for monday sometimes even the whole frame is full up with d2ds...

Because more than likely, most of them have saved time that morning, having no D2Ds to prep because they did the prep Mon-Fri. There's ~20mins saved.

Consequently, they then have no D2D "cold calling" either on the Saturday, saving them another ~15+mins.

But then you will also get the OPGs that will prep the D2Ds before going home Saturday for free, to reduce the odds of an over-running procedure conflict the next week, because the computer says the 318 is possible.

[eastie]

Don't give two hoots what anyone else does but at 12.30 I ring up the DOM evey day and cut off.
Why do people worry about anyone else.
I don't care who came in early or who rushed round .
I just do my job and go home

[mark.cup]

Biggest problem in Royal Mail is everyone being more interested in what everyone else is doing!

Let's be honest it's human nature to earn as much money in as little time as possible but if someone wants to go slow work every minute they are paid for or extend more often than not for the sake of it I couldn't care less....

I would consider myself a runner even after 23 years suits me and I hear the same idiots saying the same thing week in week out why are doing this why are you doing that? I just ignore them and do my own thing let's be honest if it didn't benefit me I wouldn't do it

[Pathfinder]

Biggest problem in Royal Mail is everyone being more interested in what everyone else is doing!

Let's be honest it's human nature to earn as much money in as little time as possible but if someone wants to go slow work every minute they are paid for or extend more often than not for the sake of it I couldn't care less....

I would consider myself a runner even after 23 years suits me and I hear the same idiots saying the same thing week in week out why are doing this why are you doing that? I just ignore them and do my own thing let's be honest if it didn't benefit me I wouldn't do it

Pretty much this! Whilst I wouldn't class myself as a runner but I certainly don't doddle, I get my round done I do everything I've been shown and get to go home when it's done regardless of time so it benefits me, why would I want to make it any slower than it could be, I swear some in my office would rather be in work than at home but each their own.

[bustedflush]

Eastie and mark.cup have pretty much summed it up. They do it their way and b*ll*cks to everyone else. Neither are breaking any rules and worrying about the rest.

[toomuchcoke]

Rounds cannot be done in an 90 minutes even by runners.

I did once complete an entire working day in under 3 hours ... (As in including IPS and prep!) However that was a particularly special case of a round that was about 25% student accommodation, 25% business park and 25% rural ... And it was a summer Saturday (so no students and no businesses!) and I got lucky on which farms I delivered on the rural part. Did mean I had to sneak around the mail centre trying to drop things like P739'd items and the van keys without meeting any managers from delivery.

I know it must p*ss people off slogging away at 13:45 in the rain knowing that OPG X would have been home an hour ago, or OPG Y has just driven past on his way home and tooted you.

I once had the dubious privilege of having a runner for a day off cover on a shared van delivery. They had the delightful habit of leaving all their delivery pouches at the village Post Office, taking the bus home if you didn't finish at the same time as them and expecting you to take their stuff back to the frame. I did get my revenge once by finishing at about the same time as them, but waiting around the corner until I saw them get on the bus! A quick load up from the PO and I then overtook the bus! Oh, how I laughed!

Conversely when it was my usual partner we'd text each other when we started our last bags, and whomever finished first would come over to help finish the other person.

[Lounge Lizard]

Every OPG is an individual and there are countless permutations of rounds, partners and workloads day-to-day. No runner ever intends to discredit 'average' or 'slower' posties - that to them is an unintended consequence if the DIM compares someone going over on X round with a runner who can do it early. The runner is merely out for himself, to minimize his hours of life spent working. In some ways a natural mindset.

Rounds cannot be done in an 90 minutes even by runners. The quickest (and I was considered a quick person to be paired with) I ever finished was a Saturday with a runner at 10:50. We did the Tuesday by half 10. Then what? We peed about for an hour driving about winding up some other lads still walking because we couldn't go back so stupidly early. Our next move was to park up a road near the office where we could spy unseen on those leaving. As soon as we saw any other OPG going home we knew it was 'safe' to go back so returned to the DO. Even Wed/Thu we were done between 12-12:30. One week a couple of older slower guys were placed on the duty and did a round each separately. One finished 16:30 and one at 15:45. They asked not to be put on it again. This demonstrates the potentially huge contrast in time taken between the quickest and slowest workers, literally twice as long in this case.

It was considered gentlemanly conduct to call the other 'runners' if you were say second to leave the office to inform them it was OK to drive back, or that there was no managers about so not to worry. If a runner wanted a favour he would meet up with us and ask us to take his packets so he could go home unseen without needing to enter the DO anyway, just in case on that day we were sent out again and he had somewhere to be. The best was to have an 'insider' a runner on light duties, as I was a few times before being IHR'd. About 11:30 my mobile would become hot with with guys asking if the 'office was clear' meaning there was no uncovered deliveries or loops not covered by docket, so they knew they couldn't be sent out again.

It's a bit of workers' capitalism, getting paid for being at home for an hour or two, much the same as 'ghost overtime' means getting paid twice for the same hour. It's not ideal, but is overlooked for the needs of the DO, to get people to do OT or cooperate in other areas. Most DIMs have a laissez-faire attitude because to intervene would ultimately make their jobs harder.

I know it must p*ss people off slogging away at 13:45 in the rain knowing that OPG X would have been home an hour ago, or OPG Y has just driven past on his way home and tooted you.

I work from home now online and I get e-mailed my jobs/editing etc. overnight and although I know exactly how long it will take me, I still have the tendency to start it as soon as, bash away until complete in one go knowing when finished the rest of the day is mine - even though I could spread it out over whatever hours I choose day or evening. Maybe I have an impatient personality and this could be connected to why I felt compelled to do my walk as quick as possible? Are the runners you people know impatient fidgety types and the 'slower' OPG's more laid-back? It could be part of the issue.

Whether you like runners or not, and whatever the managers think about them, it's simply a trait of human nature and to attempt to regulate that or control it would be futile.

You are wrong is suggesting "No runner ever intends to discredit 'average' or 'slower' posties". They often do because they can and out of resentment and spite.

[SpacePhoenix]

Runners screw part time staff over as with runners doing it in less time, why would a DOM increase the hours of a part timer? If DOMs were on the ball they'd be sending the runners back out with extra lapsing

[fishtank]

Runners screw part time staff over as with runners doing it in less time, why would a DOM increase the hours of a part timer? If DOMs were on the ball they'd be sending the runners back out with extra lapsing

How can you hold back mail on the off chance a runner might be back early?
Lapsing has to be resourced long before people return from delivery otherwise you run the risk of delivery failure.
You can't stop runners and you can't stop people finishing early unless you're going to hold them in the office doing next to nothing and there's zero gain for a DOM in doing that.

[SpacePhoenix]

Once the PDAs are fully rolled out there shouldn't be any runners then. Whilst DOM's can't use the tracking directly for conduct coding people that could use the tracking to see where the runners hide, then drive out at catch them red-handed or they could just dump more lapsing on the runners the next day