Asking to do afternoon packets instead of a duty with SA payments.

Post by **postiewhite** » 23 Oct 2017, 19:07

Im on a PT contract and for the past few years in Nov/Dec Ive always done afternoon xmas packets starting around 1pm til 7pm instead of a walk but now I have my own duty I was asked today if I was to come off my duty and to be given a temp full time contract and could also get me SA payments but that would be a Monday to Friday, every saturday off but it would be on an afternoon doing packets. Ive sort of vowed this year not to work afternoons because I actually find doing 100+ packets a day a lot more knackering than doing a round and in reality I would probably get full time hours anyway by clearing my own packets at xmas so is this just a managers tactic to make a "temp FT contract plus SA payments" sound better than it actually is??? And is SA an increase on our hourly rate and if so how much more is it per week based on full time?

Also what is your preference, a duty or afternoon xmas packets with a guaranteed Saturday off?

Rumple · Post by **Rumple** » 23 Oct 2017, 19:28

Saturdays off? Take it.

Post by **CPTNemoUK** » 23 Oct 2017, 19:46

Very tempting just think at Christmas you will get sat, sun mon and tues off. Plus after Christmas you will be back on your duty. So if your lucky you will have a very short week depending when your day off falls.

Post by **Judgee** » 23 Oct 2017, 22:41

Saturdays off definitely. Also working afternoons you can go down the pub every night and still sober up in time for work!

Dexydog · Post by **Dexydog** » 24 Oct 2017, 15:27

Not a good idea, someone is going to mop up your tips.
I did this last year and didn't see a penny, despite being very friendly with a lot of customers on my walk.
Already been asked and no chance am I doing it again.

Post by **CPTNemoUK** » 24 Oct 2017, 19:20

Dexydog wrote:Not a good idea, someone is going to mop up your tips.
I did this last year and didn't see a penny, despite being very friendly with a lot of customers on my walk.
Already been asked and no chance am I doing it again.

But what will work out more SA payments or Tips. How generous or the people on his round.

Post by **eastie** » 25 Oct 2017, 08:19

RM have cancelled our usual hire vans we get at Christmas to do the large parcels in and are expecting the 25 hour part time staff to use the vans after delivery finish their rounds.
The problem is going to be that the office is run by a lot of stupid people coming in early to make their rounds achievable but as the office has O/T for sorting for 2 hours in the morning for the 2 weeks before Xmas these early starters will now be starting at their proper start time. Cue everyone finishing later and going over and no vans for parcel delivery.
You can just see it happening

Post by **postiewhite** » 25 Oct 2017, 19:26

To be honest ive done the last 4 years of afternoon packets and I got less overtime doing that then I would do any other normal week because they had me starting at 1pm until 7pm (6hrs a day). This time iam offered a temp full time contract but thinking about it I think doing in excess of 120 packets a day (half in the dark) is more knackering than doing a morning duty. I dont think the full time contract is a tempter really because im sure if I stuck to my duty id get the extra hrs anyway. Its a toss up between getting a guaranteed saturday off for 6 weeks (doing pkts) or finishing at a reasonable time for 6wks and not getting a guaranteed saturday off if I was to choose to stick to my own walk. I also heard the SA payments are only about 30p an hour extra but none of this is confirmed.

wannabeek · Post by **wannabeek** » 25 Oct 2017, 21:33

I'm never tempted by SA rate. It's only a bit higher than normal rate and there's no paid break allowance in SA hours.

I've never understood why it's used as an incentive to work extra hours at xmas cos I don't think it really is.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 26 Oct 2017, 15:42

wannabeek wrote:I'm never tempted by SA rate. It's only a bit higher than normal rate and there's no paid break allowance in SA hours.

I've never understood why it's used as an incentive to work extra hours at xmas cos I don't think it really is.

It used to be an incentive because they offered set SA hours over Christmas in some units but posties rarely worked the full shift or even went over. It was used as a sort of Please don't cut off bonus.

matt_1983 · Post by **matt_1983** » 26 Oct 2017, 16:17

SA is one of those terms that ive heard so many times in my years at Royal Mail but never understood what it actually is. I know it stands for scheduled attendance, but what does that mean???

Post by **Navalron** » 26 Oct 2017, 17:11

I know I've been out of the job for several years now but I can not believe some of these posts and others of how staff these days don't seem to know about scheduled attendance (SA) night duty allowance (NDA) meal relief(MRE) ect ect. I know some have changed but surely all the old boys haven't all left. The doms must be getting away with murder if the guys don't even know what o/t rate their on. Ffs where is the union. The offices sound like ball breaking camps now. So sad.

wannabeek · Post by **wannabeek** » 26 Oct 2017, 18:51

Normal overtime in RM is voluntary. SA isn't.

By signing up for a Scheduled Attendance from, for example, 4pm to 7pm, you have to do that overtime, whereas normal overtime you can just say no to if you want to be elsewhere instead.

In real life though, many would do 3 hrs or so of SA at the slightly higher rate knowing full well that the compensation for that slight increase in pay rate is that the work required is often just sitting in a van for a large part of it, and maybe being able to knock off 20mins early when the last lorry departs.

robbertwhitton · Post by **robbertwhitton** » 27 Oct 2017, 08:11

Your lucky it’s just packets,colleagues being told to do part of failed delivery whilst on sa collections,they said they wouldn’t do it,he said come off sa collections then,priceless piece of man management,,,

antcpfc · Post by **antcpfc** » 29 Oct 2017, 10:18

Can you be moved of your permanent duty at Xmas to do a different one? I am quite happy doing my own but they want to put me on a packet duty.