Help needed with loops.

[Mark1968]

Hi guys, first day on the job today and enjoyed it. One problem..How long does it take to remember a walk? It was very overwhelming today. I am delivering half of the walk with a full time postie, while the other half is completed by another full time postie. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thx

[yellowbelly]

Depends what you mean by 'remember'. After a day or so you will remember 'oh the letter box for this house is this side of the house' because
once you've walked pointlessly round the other side once or twice you'll soon remember.

Or after taking parcels back to the office for Mrs Smith at number 20, next time she sees you
she says you can leave parcels in the greenhouse (at your risk of course!!)

Or you can't see the letterbox for number 28 because it fell off the wall and is now hidden in the hedge next to the
garage and had to take the letter to meet up with you partner at the end of the loop and the regular postie then told you where it was.

To become really familiar with a round so you can efficiently reshuffle the round when you've got specials spread all over
might take a few weeks/months on the same round.

In the meantime numbering your letter bundles on an unfamiliar round can help.

When I started I found the biggest issue was forgetting to deliver a parcel (particularly the small ones which are too big
to put in a bundle but are small enough to hide at the bottom of the delivery pouch!). Best way to sort this was to mark
the letter for that house with a 'P' or if no mail for that house stick a red 739 card in the frame slot with the house number on.

Good luck - if you can hack Christmas the rest of the year should be fine - honest!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Don't try to remember the walk in the first day, just remember the operational stuff, scanning, time limits, form lefts, leaving with neighbour etc.

Even remembering the walk is pointless for the first week or so, take it in small steps. As long as you know (or a colleague does) the start and finish points of each loop, then its really a case of following the addresses on the letters.

Remembering a walk completely, as in where the letterboxes are, where you can use legitimate shortcuts, where is best to park etc, that will take about 6 weeks. To know the delivery intimately that will take about 2 - 5 years.

[Mark1968]

The guys. I'm delivering in unfamiliar roads and they are like a rat run...I'm ok with a PDA and cards for when nobody is home to take a parcel. It literally was a really fast walk with no time to take stock, if you know what I mean

[fb1969]

Is it on roads, or paths in an estate? If roads then Google Street View is a help for getting to know an area, or just use Google Maps from above to see the layout of an estate. You will get to know the walk, but it will take a while so don't worry about that side of things.

[Seymour Buts]

A warning about using 739's to mark parcels, it's easy to miss 'em and put a blank one threw somebody's door. Said person then appears in the callers with said card and no parcel to collect or phones a complaint that they don't know where their parcel is. We've been banned from doing it at our office.

[South_London_Postie]

Yep, what postie tom says.instead of using a 739 to remind yourself there is a parcel, flip the front letter for that property.

[twoloops]

Work to the fitting & follow your nose & you'll be fine, these logistic guys know their stuff, until some postie decides we pull it out like this

[The Postman]

Yep, what postie tom says.instead of using a 739 to remind yourself there is a parcel, flip the front letter for that property.

Beat me to it! ;)

I've covered a few times at another office, it's invaluable when you start your first bag to find out someone's flipped the letters for you. Makes it so much easier to deliver without missing packets.