No return d2d policy rant

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

Reading this just shows me the differences in offices. In our office we frame up 1/6 a day - delivering to all addresses that day. We were told that this is how it's done nationally.

There is no national D2D standard, as long as they go out each week, duty holder decides schedule.

Most of my depot puts in extra RM2000 boxes and take where they are going with other mail, Monday to Friday, leaving just a few to mop up on Saturday. A few put in 1/6th and take the lot each day. Even fewer put in extra Mon-Fri and take the lot each day.

There were some imaginative trails going on (in the south west?) where they were trying other ways, like throw in the whole lot on Monday and take where you are going each day. The result of that trail was kept quiet.

Personally, I don't see the point of walking up to a door and simply delivering D2D, taking up to ~1 minute on the longest drives. Especially when you have a short Tuesday, when the mail call rate should be much lower than the rest of the week.

[maisymoo04]

In our office since a couple of weeks ago we now have a zero surplus refurns allowed on d2d, this is causing havoc. I generally have at least half a box left over every week and am now told to double up on them on a few different roads each week. Also people are hiding them all round the office or putting them for someone else and an announcement was made today saying anyone found doing that would face instant dismissal. To make things worse my rest day covers will not touch them and even if I throw them off the day before most will still be in the frame when I get back. I get that it's a part of the job but it's quite demoralising when you have 2 or 3 sets almost every week and only get payed a few quid for something that actually takes a few hours in total to do.

why wont rest days cover them

[97gaz]

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[Celgar]

In our office since a couple of weeks ago we now have a zero surplus refurns allowed on d2d, this is causing havoc. I generally have at least half a box left over every week and am now told to double up on them on a few different roads each week. Also people are hiding them all round the office or putting them for someone else and an announcement was made today saying anyone found doing that would face instant dismissal. To make things worse my rest day covers will not touch them and even if I throw them off the day before most will still be in the frame when I get back. I get that it's a part of the job but it's quite demoralising when you have 2 or 3 sets almost every week and only get payed a few quid for something that actually takes a few hours in total to do.

We did the doubling up with spares a long time ago but I think now the spares get returned. When we did the doubling up the most noticeable affect was an immediate increase in the amount of customers 'opting out' of D2Ds. Therefore it isn't a good idea to double up and I doubt the contractors for D2D would like their leaflets to be treated this way as it could be detrimental to their business.

[robbertwhitton]

Yes I have similar problems ( though no threats from management as yet );-

More leaflets than needed for the 2 walks I prep ( part-time but I am usually needed in early for prepping as we appear to be understaffed again ).

On days that I am not in or not prepping, it's either not done at all or only about 60-80 slots done.

Having just had my long-weekend, came in today to find some of last weeks' leaflets still in frame even though they should have been cleared Saturday by the cover...

Agree it's demoralising when all these things are added up ( together with bags going missing, kill-offs just dumped, rubbish in vans etc etc ) - some people seem to get away with doing the bare minimum week after week.

Miss management at its finest,some wouldn’t worry about it ,others it knors away at you,and deflates you,and at times you simply don’t have the energy to challenge it,you either leave it or go full on and name and shame and go for it

[kookoo32]

Reading this just shows me the differences in offices. In our office we frame up 1/6 a day - delivering to all addresses that day. We were told that this is how it's done nationally.

Excluding rural deliveries it is by far the most sensible and the best way to ensure quality and if management had any courage at all it would be the only way but it is only a guideline, not a nationally agreed process. Hence the pathetic way both management and staff treat D2D, as if it's their decision whether to deliver it or if they can't be arsed...not.

Can't believe we have been lied to regarding this. So unlike RM managers

[Navalron]

But how can you go to every door every day as that would mean 100% all rate and RM and the union agree that on average most walks are about 78%. You can't have it both ways. You'd haven't even got the wage rise yet and the sh***s hitting the fan already with more local agreements. I'm out the job and I read the lot, 3 times and can't believe you'd but it is democracy.

[toomuchcoke]

If you continually have more D2D than addresses then there are 2 possible causes.
1. You only put one leaflet into each door even if there are multiple flats inside.
If, for example, 2 Acacia Avenue has flats A to D entered on the A plus it will need 4 D2D at that address.
2. The A plus is wrong - in which case somebody needs to update it.

I could be wrong, and maybe it's changed, but aren't D2Ds actually allocated by weight? As in they weigh a set quantity of each D2D, and from that work out how much the correct number of D2Ds for each round would weigh and then give you that many grams of D2Ds. In which case it would be easy to have an excess depending upon how accurate the scales are. Given that there's almost always a small excess[1] and very rarely a shortfall I suspect they probably err on the side of caution.

[1] Well except that time a couple of years ago when I got to Friday and had about 500 excess D2Ds on a round with ~400 calls!

[Dorset Plodder]

I cannot understand why so many Posties get stressed about Households. They are part of your workload, and should be treated the same as Live Mail. I always prep mine before I start throwing off in the morning IN ROYAL MAIL'S TIME and I therefore get paid not only the Delivery Supplement (£23.96), but also the amount of time it takes to do them, say on average an hour a week (£10.57). I take great pleasure in saying this to one of my colleagues who stays behind late on Saturdays and throws off all his households IN HIS OWN TIME! He even comes in if he's on Holiday to throw them off for the next week!

I'll throw off a column for Monday, and also Saturdays. Do approx. a column a day and just take them where I'm delivering mail. They are normally all gone by Saturday. It's not rocket science and it's not too stressful. If you've got a block of flats, or similar, do them in one hit to avoid confusion. I'll leave a column for the Reserve to throw off, just to include that time element in his days work, but I'll tell him just to take them where he's going. Plus of course he has to take anything I've thrown off IF they've got mail.

I know Households can become a contentious issue within a DO but that's mainly down to working with Lazy Bastards that don't want to do what they're paid for.

We have a sheet where you have to record how many of each contract are surplus. All surplus households are thrown in a box with your walk number on, and the PHG returns them to the Mail Centre for disposal. This Zero Returns is obviously just Bullshit from your DOM. Perhaps they're now getting it as another element of their Bonus?

[LaggyBand]

Ah...once again it all boils down to job n knock vs work your time...

[SpacePhoenix]

We have a sheet where you have to record how many of each contract are surplus. All surplus households are thrown in a box with your walk number on, and the PHG returns them to the Mail Centre for disposal. This Zero Returns is obviously just Bullshit from your DOM. Perhaps they're now getting it as another element of their Bonus?

I think there was a thread a few years ago that mentioned MCs sending any returns back to the DOs so it might actually be true

[cpsteve]

D2Ds are a very important part of the workload without them we would lose revenue and jobs. Managers should be checking that you have put them in the frame and none are left in the frame. As for RDC not doing them its the managers job to check they do them as the duty holder i would be telling the RDC do them or i will be informing the manager.

[westham000]

Heard 2 Dom’s got sacked in London a couple of weeks ago for regularly returning 3 or 4 York’s every week. Apparently there is a big crackdown!

[Dorset Plodder]

Heard 2 Dom’s got sacked in London a couple of weeks ago for regularly returning 3 or 4 York’s every week. Apparently there is a big crackdown!

Households are taken VERY seriously indeed. I know a DOM who was busted down to a Postie because he was found to be condoning the "Binning" of Households by his Delivery Office. It was caught on CCTV so there really wasn't an option.

However I expect there's quite a few DOMs who just turn the Blind Eye to this kind of thing. I once reported a guy who was coming in early putting his Households in a black bin bag and then sticking them in the Office Wheelie Bin. Later on I asked the DOM if he'd checked the Bin, because the binmen were due, and he said," There was only one contract in there". I thought FFS what have you got to do in this Business before you get disciplined? Obviously just tell the DOM you can't take your lapsing.

[cpsteve]

Heard 2 Dom’s got sacked in London a couple of weeks ago for regularly returning 3 or 4 York’s every week. Apparently there is a big crackdown!

Households are taken VERY seriously indeed. I know a DOM who was busted down to a Postie because he was found to be condoning the "Binning" of Households by his Delivery Office. It was caught on CCTV so there really wasn't an option.

However I expect there's quite a few DOMs who just turn the Blind Eye to this kind of thing. I once reported a guy who was coming in early putting his Households in a black bin bag and then sticking them in the Office Wheelie Bin. Later on I asked the DOM if he'd checked the Bin, because the binmen were due, and he said," There was only one contract in there". I thought FFS what have you got to do in this Business before you get disciplined? Obviously just tell the DOM you can't take your lapsing.

Binning D2Ds and not sacked thats what you call being looked after.