Working - advice ?

[jonno]

Hi
(Not sure if I should have posted this)

I admit being a postman is hard work, not quite what I imagined.
I’m ok getting up at 5am – early nights though not keen working on a Saturday but will do it.

Although it’s early days still and has been told it gets better although with Christmas coming up ?.

But we feel in some ways we are being exploited in some way
Saturday I finished 2 hours after when I should have done and today didn’t finish untill till 4pm and I still hadn’t done my entire round.
I have no such break at all and that goes for the other starters, from 6am in the sorting office then does my round.
We better get paid for those hours
Surely working like this breaks some rules ??

There has been lack of information, for instance today where you have the collection point on my round and I hadn’t finished by 3.50pm I wasn’t sure if to leave the mail at the collection point or 2 take it back to the office so I had one sack on my bike and carrying my bag on my shoulder.

Simple things like providing a local map of your round would help, code numbers to get into flats etc

On my round I must have about 20 3 storey flats with all those steps
We have had no contact phone numbers in case we need to get in contact with the office in case of any emergency or accident etc
Often the mangers don’t speak and just walk past you , though the other workers are ok
I think a good idea is not to take packages as today I had to carry a number of largish packages (put in the sack by a manager)around with me for a few hours as the addressee was not at home, you can see how so many items get damaged stuck in our bags with loads of letters.
These should be on a van saving us time

Nothing said about union

So far we are taking it day by day but are thinking - Is It Worth It - for the early mornings/nights wasted Saturday because of being tired and with it getting colder and were sweating like mad doing our rounds

But will see how it goes

[baldrick]

Hello Jonno. It's OK to post this though it probably should have been in the Blue Shirts section. I expect Postman will move it.
Can't give you any advice as I work in a Mail Centre, but I expect you will get plenty of replies and advice tomorrow (most of the delivery posties will be in bed by now). What you describe don't seem right to me, and managers usually take advantage of new startes not knowing what they are supposed to do. Hang on in there and someone on here will put you right. And find out who your Union Rep is at work, and have a word with him/her. Good luck!

[jemima]

Hi jonno, you need a RM survival guide. RM don't supply these. However, you can make your own. If you had any RM training, you will have some basic info to start from. Make a list of questions for your manager and write down the replies. Repeat the process with a colleague who's been in the job for some time, and also with a Union rep (there should be a notice board somewhere in your office with Union info and contact details). You will then have a better idea of how complicated the work system can be, and there will be many local variations. You will know what is important for you.

You will be slow to start with but you'll get faster . You should however get a meal break and you should be paid for your time. It's normally a good idea to tell your manager if you think your workload will take longer than your contracted hours. There are basic safety regulations you should follow, including how to carry mail on bikes, and your manager should supply you with copies of these as if you don't follow them you will be responsible if anything goes wrong. He may not know you need the info if you don't ask. Good luck!

[Lounge Lizard]

jonno. You're not alone. I had a very similar lack of information about nearly everything.

[pinstripe]

You will have to book your overtime, make sure you get paid for every hour you do, your manager won't be in too much of a rush to ensure you do. Find your union rep, join the union and just ask any of the older guys, most of them will be happy to spend a few minutes explaining the score. If you can, pass on the info you get to the other new starters. It does get easier and after the first few weeks Christmas will seem a doddle. It's been a nightmare in my office after the strikes and I'm looking forward to a nice break from the mailsort backlog for a few weeks over Christmas.
On the subject of packets, in my office anyway, any packet bigger than a shoe box goes to the driver, if you have load of packets that are too small to give to him, find your manager and explain the situation to him, remembering that you have to keep re-filling you bag. There should be a bag weight matrix at the weighing scales, stick to it. 1st pouch max 16kg, all other bags max 11kg. Don't take overweight bags! Management will let you do it until something goes wrong, then you'll get blamed. It's up to management to ensure that the delivery is completed, if you don't think you will complete in your time, tell them. If you want to do the overtime make sure you claim it, if you don't, tell them, stick to your guns and don't give up. If you don't get the answers you need, use this board. The guys on here just love passing on advice, and I'm not being sarcastic, we were all new starts once and we all remember our first few weeks. I remember when I started, I was still doing the first delivery when another guy was finishing the second delivery! That's how long I was taking and I'm still here.

[Regal]

Jonno mate , when i first started only 2 years ago i had the exact same problems your facing now , which made the job seem quite lonely , BUT dont fret , things will get better , as i found out and am now enjoying the job.
It may seem you are being hard done by but you will get faster it comes naturally which you will soon find out.
The managers are too socially retarded to help you out getting settled and the rest of the postman probably work fast to gat out and finished thats why i found it harder to get on with people at first , that and because many people who join soon leave and so new starters are ignored because we know many wont last , but if you do you will gain trust and find you make freinds very easily as most post people are freindly and sociable.
Id suggest getting your own map from google maps , thats what i did and it helped.
Personally as far as packets are concerned if its two large to go through a letter box i dont take it, yes the van driver will moan but stand your ground and he'll take it eventually.
The overtime book will be in the office , when you get back late , fiil this in. ALWAYS BOOK YOUR OVERTIME. plus 30mins if you never had a break, Not stopping for a break felt weired when i started as i had worked in a factory before hand, but you get used to it and now its winter i dont fancy stopping in this cold weather but for a smoke.
If your sorting take your time , feel no pressure and get it right , unlike me i just put them in anywhere , its a bad habit to fall into.
Anymore questions ask whoever is at the side of you , im sure they will help you.
Well pal all i can say is bide your time and very soon you'll get the hang of it. Hope this helps.
Best of luck.

[jonno]

Thanks guys for your advice

At the moment I am taking it from one day at a time
I don’t think I would stick with the job for a long time as of the hours and working Saturdays are not for me, but I'll stick with it until find something better.

Yesterday I didn’t finish and get back to the sorting office until 3.50 pm, left the office and started my round at 10.20am with 1 drink that I brought with me and had no breaks just pushing myself all day long
And twice this week I have been approached by a Line manager etc asking me why I am not finishing my round within the time I should be and saying it is an easy round, then later while speaking to the people in the office they tell me it can take up to 6 weeks before my time will get better.
Could this be considered as bullying?

I would imagine Health & Safety goes out of the door with Royal Mail
I know that the sorting office I work at has lots of problems behind the scenes maybe it’s the people in their warm office having plenty coffee breaks that need sorting out.
It could be a nice job when you get in the routine of it.

Thanks

[norbet colon]

Hello Jonno. It's OK to post this though it probably should have been in the Blue Shirts section. I expect Postman will move it.
Can't give you any advice as I work in a Mail Centre, but I expect you will get plenty of replies and advice tomorrow (most of the delivery posties will be in bed by now). What you describe don't seem right to me, and managers usually take advantage of new startes not knowing what they are supposed to do. Hang on in there and someone on here will put you right. And find out who your Union Rep is at work, and have a word with him/her. Good luck!

It is bullying and it's the usual RM hoping you're daft enough to believe it all. They select them carefully .

[MartinMail]

"But we feel in some ways we are being exploited in some way
Saturday I finished 2 hours after when I should have done and today didn’t finish untill till 4pm and I still hadn’t done my entire round. "

I started about two months ago and felt the same way. You probably think I'm just saying this, but check my post history.

Anyway, it gets easier after a while, the bags, are as heavy, but don't feel like it, you get familiar with the walk, the names, the bumps etc. everything fits into place. I am starting to finish, on a reasonably bad day, around 30-60 minutes early with D2Ds. On Tuesday with no D2Ds I finished at 12:05pm, leaving the office at 9:30am after a couple of games of snooker/pool...

It will get better.