Later starts

[ernieshoe]

Saturday's are the biggest issue for many , weekends are short enough as it is . Work / life imbalance if 9-5 comes in

That would be horrendous and make our weekends pretty non existent !

Now that would be worth striking over !

[Gangham_style14]

I only do this job as it's suitable for picking up my kids from school, the day the hours change I'll be gone, I've been with RM for five years (almost 6) it started off well but has got worse in the last few years, I for one don't want to work 9-5 especially on a Saturday that for me is cutting into my family time !!! Gonna be interesting to see where we are at come end of August !

[Lounge Lizard]

I only do this job as it's suitable for picking up my kids from school, the day the hours change I'll be gone, I've been with RM for five years (almost 6) it started off well but has got worse in the last few years, I for one don't want to work 9-5 especially on a Saturday that for me is cutting into my family time !!! Gonna be interesting to see where we are at come end of August !

Yes, indeed, I don't know anyone that doesn't want to Finnish well before 5pm every working day.

[lee70]

So what will happen with SAs? Most of them start around 3 -4 o'clock in the afternoon. Will this mean the end of them for full time posties?

[Binsey]

So what will happen with SAs? Most of them start around 3 -4 o'clock in the afternoon. Will this mean the end of them for full time posties?

They will be all gone. Flat rate of overtime or built into your duty.

[taurus88]

The issue with later starts isn't the later starts themselves - I understand that there are people who cannot stand the idea of later starts (and finishes), but the simple fact of the matter is that, if Royal Mail wants there to be later starts, there will be later starts. The issue with later starts for me is Royal Mail's track record of modernisation, starting with the planning, all the way through to the implementation (followed up by assessing the efficacy of the implementation 12 weeks down the line, 1 year down the line, etc.). Royal Mail has a poor track record when it comes to evolving its business. Generally, they have an idea, and they either get bored of the idea, or else they run with it to the point of madness, disregarding all reasonable criticism and refusing point-blank to iron out the kinks in the process so that the next idea can actually work. My theory is that a lot of new ideas could be pioneering if people were only prepared to accept that, to some degree, they are wrong.

In Royal Mail, the acceptance of wrongdoing from the higher-ups is non-existent. What usually happens is that something new is brought in, it doesn't work for a while, then the postmen (who are paid considerably less and should not be expected to micro-manage) tweak it by fair means or foul so that it appears to work. The efficiency of said postmen then grows until they are accustomed to the new idea, and all the big-wigs congratulate themselves while calling the postmen underworked and overpaid. The problem with later starts, therefore, is going to be the same problem as with every means of progression that Royal Mail has tried to introduce. Their plan will be atrocious, it will fail to take into account basic ideas of health and safety, of work-life balance, of health and wellbeing, and of getting letters and parcels from Door A to Door Z across the timespan that they choose. The postmen will, again, be expected to pick up the slack and make it work.

In all likelihood, what will happen is that we will each be given an unmanageable workload, and be expected to fit a massive square peg in a tiny round hole. And the sad thing is, given our track record, we will somehow find a workaround that allows it to happen. Royal Mail will get its big boost in profits to report to the shareholders, our terms and conditions will have deteriorated (again), and somebody somewhere will be a little bit less unhappy when they fold themselves into their mountain of money at the end of the day. If, indeed, we are to get later starts, we have to demand that the planning stage is based on real-life data, that the people who are involved in the planning have some manner of expertise not just in planning but in the logistics of the area in which they are responsible for the planning. We must demand that basic needs are taken care of - years after their revisions, many offices feature numerous walks that do not have a toilet stop, FFS.

Everything needs to be done by the book, instead of allowing Royal Mail to wield its power tyrannically in a quick grab that sees us on inferior Terms and Conditions for the sake of an inferior work-life, while being persecuted for our inability to turn 0 into a prime number. Royal Mail has set out its stall by comparing our current situation to those companies who work in the gutter of the economy - companies who are under investigation for (possible) illegal practices. If that doesn't give us an idea of where we're heading, then nothing does. We might surrender some of our privileges along the way, through force rather than choice, but it is essential that we retain some basic pride and dignity at work, that we are able to work in comfort and not suffer in a high-stress environment where we are bullied for our inability to run 10 miles in 1 hour. If we cannot have that, then it doesn't matter what time of day we start and finish work, it will be the same sh*t either way.

[bmccoll]

If RM push for and get a 9-5 (which I honestly do not think they will get) then a bargaining chip must be a M-F week and Saturday and Sunday off. Anything else and we should hit the cobbles. At Christmas. With work to rule beforehand.

[SierraOscarBravo]

If RM push for and get a 9-5 (which I honestly do not think they will get) then a bargaining chip must be a M-F week and Saturday and Sunday off. Anything else and we should hit the cobbles. At Christmas. With work to rule beforehand.

There is no way that Royal Mail is not going to deliver mail on Saturdays or continue to offer caller's office services on Sundays. The idea that we are all going to get a Monday to Friday 35 hour week is fanciful. It isn't going to happen.

Like it or not businesses and residential customers want their mail delivered 6 days a week and people increasingly want their parcels delivered next day. The hours we work and when we work have to be built around what our business and residential customers demand. It can't be the other way around.

[superports]

In Royal Mail there is open disregard and disrespect for management which we see everyday stirred up by the union agitators. No other employer would put up with this nonsense. You would be out on your ear.

Disregard and disrespect for management is not stirred up by union agitators. Managers (and I use that term loosely) are solely responsible for any disrespect they garner. Never in my working life have I encountered management like it, and I've served in the forces and been to war. I have managers that I refuse to even talk to because of their numerous and repeated lies, threats and intimidation, I used to let the lies etc go at the start, but how many times should I turn the other cheek. It's water off a ducks back nowadays but I had it daily for years because they couldn't manage. In fact if some of them spoke to me outside of RM the way they have spoke to me in work and expected me to just take it, they'd be very much mistaken.

[clashcityrocker]

So what will happen with SAs? Most of them start around 3 -4 o'clock in the afternoon. Will this mean the end of them for full time posties?

Perhaps it would be a better idea to build those hours into the current part time duties to increase their basic contracted hours, rather than focus on providing overtime for people already on full time contracts.

[walkthewalk]

Collection drivers will lose their duties as posties will have this function built into their duty, example: a timed collection at the back end of duty will stop posties finishing early which will mean everyone working their full hours which is something RM have been wanting to achieve for a long time, what other job allows you to finish early?

Just saying

[Postie45]

I use to work 9.00 -5.30 in retail & I hated going home in the dark in the winter months, suppose its ok now but in the winter months massive Health n Safety issues. Falls, safety etc

But we all used to be delivering in the pitch black early winter mornings. Not a soul out in the streets if you had an accident to help.

What's the difference.

Millions and millions of people have to come home from work in the dark.

You can't be wrapped up in cotton wool all your life.
Jesus you're meant to all be adults not 7 year olds !

youve clearly missed the past 10-15 years of H&S tightening due to people becoming aware of their rights to sue companies who overlook this.

[ernieshoe]

I use to work 9.00 -5.30 in retail & I hated going home in the dark in the winter months, suppose its ok now but in the winter months massive Health n Safety issues. Falls, safety etc

But we all used to be delivering in the pitch black early winter mornings. Not a soul out in the streets if you had an accident to help.

What's the difference.

Millions and millions of people have to come home from work in the dark.

You can't be wrapped up in cotton wool all your life.
Jesus you're meant to all be adults not 7 year olds !

youve clearly missed the past 10-15 years of H&S tightening due to people becoming aware of their rights to sue companies who overlook this.

You clearly don't know the number of staff I do who would jump at the chance to work in the pitch black at 7am in winter to finish early.
Mention working in the dusk and Health and Safety is shouted from the roof tops !

[Postie45]

oh im aware of them, im talking about what RM need to consider before they make changes

[jaybee1618]

by the time they have finished with no bonus at xmas no real sick pay no payment for d2d etc and no pay rises for a couple of years this will be a minimum wage job and frankly not worth doing oh yes and a pitiful pension will people still be queuing up to do it