Royal Mail is BROKEN

miles_peters · Post by **miles_peters** » 16 Sep 2017, 16:08

first class post and parcels being left undelivered in offices for days
tracked parcels left undelivered in offices for days and recipients being lied to as to why there tracked parcel was not delivered
special deliveries failing on a daily basis
delivery staff openly encouraged to fake signatures
managers forcing delivery staff to take out absorption

VOTE YES.

gone postal · Post by **gone postal** » 16 Sep 2017, 16:34

At the moment we have got planners in doing a revision to our indoor work. We have this new system of Resource to Workload where instead of just prepping your duty we all do bits and pieces of other duties. Now instead of everyone knowing what they are doing everyday the manager has to micro manage all of it. As you can imagine this leads to a lot of confusion with people being asked to prep manually sorted letters into frames they are not familiar with. This happened to me the other day when I got told to box in the mail "it should take you 14 minutes".... 30 minutes later I'm still there trying to find my way around the frame

DB1100 · Post by **DB1100** » 16 Sep 2017, 18:26

gone postal wrote:At the moment we have got planners in doing a revision to our indoor work. We have this new system of Resource to Workload where instead of just prepping your duty we all do bits and pieces of other duties. Now instead of everyone knowing what they are doing everyday the manager has to micro manage all of it. As you can imagine this leads to a lot of confusion with people being asked to prep manually sorted letters into frames they are not familiar with. This happened to me the other day when I got told to box in the mail "it should take you 14 minutes".... 30 minutes later I'm still there trying to find my way around the frame

We've had similar,imagine if the clowns who dream up these idea's had to do something important like organise relief aid for the Caribbean.

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 16 Sep 2017, 18:57

DB1100 wrote: We've had similar,imagine if the clowns who dream up these idea's had to do something important like organise relief aid for the Caribbean.

Good Point DB. When anyone starts to lose it and is getting visibly stressed (i.e throwing boxes about & gobbing off) I normally tell them, "Don't worry mate. nobody's going to die if you don't deliver their parcel"!

Although perhaps that punishment is on the table under Royal mail's new T&Cs?

rubberbond · Post by **rubberbond** » 17 Sep 2017, 07:10

Royal Mail is indeed broken,but who broke it? We certainly didn't. Though they've tried every which way to break us.
Vote Yes!

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 17 Sep 2017, 12:15

rubberbond wrote:Royal Mail is indeed broken,but who broke it? We certainly didn't. Though they've tried every which way to break us.
Vote Yes!

Agree with that RB.

How many times does the DOM give everyone a lecture along the lines of, "We're really busy and short of staff. We've got to lapse three duties and if anyone can help out by working their day off or doing some overtime, we've got to get all this mail out"and you're sitting there thinking,"Why is that my problem? I'm not the one who stopped recruiting Staff after someone retired, or who only recruited Part Time to replace Full Time Staff". I think you've just got to listen to their Bullshit and then focus on your own job. We get messed about a bit, with double prepping and throwing of Households etc, and I'll simply say to the DOM, "I'm quite happy to do whatever you want me to do within the office but if you make me do an hours extra indoor work I'm going to have to leave an hour of my duty behind".

world class male · Post by **world class male** » 17 Sep 2017, 15:47

Royal Mail is not just broken, it is well and truly kaput. I honestly don't think anyone or anything can fix it now,
who's to blame?
The Tories for privatisation, linked with the lust of greed from the executives?
The shareholders for wanting good returns on their chance to make a fast buck?
Labour who 1st sort the idea to sell the company?
The management who have driven the heart and soul out of the workforce?
The CWU for years of neglect in fighting for its members?
Us for giving them years of going against the correct working procedures?

take your pick from any above, even add to the list

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 17 Sep 2017, 18:29

world class male wrote:Royal Mail is not just broken, it is well and truly kaput. I honestly don't think anyone or anything can fix it now,
who's to blame?
The Tories for privatisation, linked with the lust of greed from the executives?
The shareholders for wanting good returns on their chance to make a fast buck?
Labour who 1st sort the idea to sell the company?
The management who have driven the heart and soul out of the workforce?
The CWU for years of neglect in fighting for its members?
Us for giving them years of going against the correct working procedures?

take your pick from any above, even add to the list

I think a lot of Posties (probably many who don't read this site) have to put their hands up for this one. Years of cutting corners and not taking breaks have given the impression that a lot of duties are "Do-Able".

Some colleagues were talking about Why Strike? Can't we just work to Rule? I said, "You don't have to work to rule you just have to work CORRECTLY"! If we did RM would grind to a halt without a strike.... But we all know that'd never happen so it takes a strike to get them talking seriously about agreements.

Plod · Post by **Plod** » 18 Sep 2017, 13:14

gone postal wrote: We have this new system of Resource to Workload where instead of just prepping your duty we all do bits and pieces of other duties. Now instead of everyone knowing what they are doing everyday the manager has to micro manage all of it. As you can imagine this leads to a lot of confusion with people being asked to prep manually sorted letters into frames they are not familiar with. This happened to me the other day when I got told to box in the mail "it should take you 14 minutes".... 30 minutes later I'm still there trying to find my way around the frame

Similar scenario to the office where I work. It's daily chaos as people are constantly given menial tasks to do which they are not trained for. Common sense tells you that a person who has never thrown out a particular duty before and is not familiar with the said prep frame will obviously not be able to do the task in the allotted time.

Absorption started off as a 10 or 12 week chore during the so called "light" summer period. This period includes plenty of bulk postings as well as election material. It quickly escalated to a 52 week a year scenario where even if a person has 10 bags full of mail and 85 knock the door items, they are still expected to absorb at least half a loop of another persons duty. This in reality is at least 20 minutes of additional delivery PLUS the time to travel there and back so can end up being 40 minutes all told. Royal Mail are just taking the P***.

RM are obsessed with becoming just like McDonalds, Hermes, Yodel and Amazon...EG pay the least possible and give the worst terms and conditions they can. That's fine for the top cats making big bonus payments on top of their huge over inflated salaries such as Moira. Not so good for the average postman and postwoman though. There's supposed to be a part time to full time jobs ratio. That went long ago...our office is now packed with 24 to 34 hour part timers many only on short fixed term and temporary contracts. Now we have "Awaysiders" where the full time driver picks up the part timer from their house or at a fixed meeting point. No wonder so many people are disillusioned with the company.

Cut costs by all means but if you want to deliver a quality service you won't get it by copying 4 of the worst big name employers in the UK. Rant over as you were please...

Post by **CPTNemoUK** » 18 Sep 2017, 14:11

Been with RM 4 years. Yeah i like the job for the most part, but even i have started looking for a new job. Something tells me i need to get out RM feels like a sinking ship.

cpsteve · Post by **cpsteve** » 18 Sep 2017, 21:12

It can be fixed with better management better use of and more staff.

Alexei · Post by **Alexei** » 18 Sep 2017, 21:27

CPTNemoUK wrote:Been with RM 4 years. Yeah i like the job for the most part, but even i have started looking for a new job. Something tells me i need to get out RM feels like a sinking ship.

It's such a shame, because RM has massive potential. It needs to get worse, before it can get better. Surely it will start getting better soon?

Interested-seeker · Post by **Interested-seeker** » 18 Sep 2017, 23:08

DB1100 wrote:
gone postal wrote:At the moment we have got planners in doing a revision to our indoor work. We have this new system of Resource to Workload where instead of just prepping your duty we all do bits and pieces of other duties. Now instead of everyone knowing what they are doing everyday the manager has to micro manage all of it. As you can imagine this leads to a lot of confusion with people being asked to prep manually sorted letters into frames they are not familiar with. This happened to me the other day when I got told to box in the mail "it should take you 14 minutes".... 30 minutes later I'm still there trying to find my way around the frame
We've had similar,imagine if the clowns who dream up these idea's had to do something important like organise relief aid for the Caribbean.

Targets and times given are just ridiculous and we are made to feel rubbish if we can't meet them. Not good for mental health

Interested-seeker · Post by **Interested-seeker** » 18 Sep 2017, 23:10

CPTNemoUK wrote:Been with RM 4 years. Yeah i like the job for the most part, but even i have started looking for a new job. Something tells me i need to get out RM feels like a sinking ship.

Yes, think it is going downhill. Only thing that will save it is a Corbyn government that wants to renationalise it.

Currently, it is heading towards route ownership and self-employment. Older staff will leave and be replaced by a younger, more flexible workforce.

Depressing really.

Ricardo44 · Post by **Ricardo44** » 19 Sep 2017, 00:12

I see they are now advertising on Indeed for agency staff to work for RM through a national recruitment agency called Driver Hire or something similar. Rate of pay £7.65 per hour.

This is on delivery..not mail centres.