PDA problem today

villan · Post by **villan** » 06 Mar 2019, 20:15

A lot of PDAs at our office were up the spout today. You couldn't log in. I tried dozens of times at various points during the delivery, including powering off and taking the battery off and putting it back on again.

Does anyone know if there was a general problem and if it's likely to persist?

I had to use the old pen and paper method. Not much fun as these days most of the scannable items don't have peelable stickers. I heard that at least one postie was simply handing specials and tracked over to the addressees without recording it either on paper or electronically.

arnold cheshire · Post by **arnold cheshire** » 06 Mar 2019, 20:18

Handing over specials and tracked,? He will be in for it tomorrow

Nickvilla20 · Post by **Nickvilla20** » 06 Mar 2019, 20:20

Was a National problem by the sounds of it

Cedar_Room · Post by **Cedar_Room** » 06 Mar 2019, 20:23

It was a national problem. I went through 6 epod cards until my PDA finally connected around 13.30. Crazy to think that back in the pre- electronic days you’d only fill up two epod cards at the heaviest of times...

30+YEARMAN · Post by **30+YEARMAN** » 06 Mar 2019, 20:25

Mine crashed twice yesterday both times when I was on someones doorstep it is very embarrassing to say the least.

Post by **wacko74** » 06 Mar 2019, 20:34

Yeah I heard there was a nationwide problem... ironically today was the first day since I can't remember when that my pda actually DIDN'T crash and require a reboot!

Ren Hoëk · Post by **Ren Hoëk** » 06 Mar 2019, 20:38

wacko74 wrote:Yeah I heard there was a nationwide problem... ironically today was the first day since I can't remember when that my pda actually DIDN'T crash and require a reboot!

I also though that. Then on my very last scan of the day BOOM go F yourself posty. Customers must love it when we stand outside their house for 5 mins before we decide to give em a little knock. Just to really ramp up the excitement for them.

Seymour Buts · Post by **Seymour Buts** » 06 Mar 2019, 21:44

Mine wouldn't log on, partners did but wasn't sending jobs. We had no specials luckily. I took pictures of my tracked and used my partners pda back at the van to scan my phone. I did three recordeds on the old style slips. Writing everything down would've been a total nightmare!

noggin1969 · Post by **noggin1969** » 06 Mar 2019, 22:33

Same here , wouldn't log on 9.30ish so carried on in "not connected to net work" mode. Then completely crashed about 13.00 and would even accept pin code. Luckily S/D's and Tracks had been done by then and the 2D's went through the letter box unscanned. Tools for the job , my arse.

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 06 Mar 2019, 22:49

Logging in of PDAs was a bit problematic on Monday & Tuesday as well so connection issues I guess.

south London postie · Post by **south London postie** » 06 Mar 2019, 23:54

If the PDA won't scan a tracked, don't you photo the barcode and scan it back at the offfice off your phone ..

FirstPost · Post by **FirstPost** » 07 Mar 2019, 07:53

south London postie wrote:If the PDA won't scan a tracked, don't you photo the barcode and scan it back at the offfice off your phone ..

I know it might sound stupid but what if you dont have a phone? is it mandatory to have a phone whilst on duty? even a smart phone with a camera? It shouldn't be the job of the postie to take pictures on their own mobile if the system collapses!

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 07 Mar 2019, 08:04

FirstPost wrote:
south London postie wrote:If the PDA won't scan a tracked, don't you photo the barcode and scan it back at the offfice off your phone ..
I know it might sound stupid but what if you dont have a phone? is it mandatory to have a phone whilst on duty? even a smart phone with a camera? It shouldn't be the job of the postie to take pictures on their own mobile if the system collapses!

Could there even be a conduct code issue with someone using their own phone to photograph a barcode (data protection)?

south London postie · Post by **south London postie** » 07 Mar 2019, 10:13

As opposed to writing down the letters and numbers on a tracked? Maybe - if you capture the name and address as well. But if you only photo the barcode itself its exactly the same as writing it all down and entering it manually later.

Obv. it's a choice and people don't advertise it when it happens, but it's commonplace and some may choose to do that rather than have a palaver back at the office. Scan and delete. If you get back to the office and find it's not your pda but a wider technical problem then why even bother. Just delete.

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 07 Mar 2019, 10:41

south London postie wrote:As opposed to writing down the letters and numbers on a tracked? Maybe - if you capture the name and address as well. But if you only photo the barcode itself its exactly the same as writing it all down and entering it manually later.

The 2D barcodes have the address as part of the barcode