National Update

[citypostie]

Can we have a 4 day working week, please.

For letters and flats that'll probably happen at some point.Don't know if we could see Sunday deliveries of SDs and Tracked (for a premium) eventually

Not sure I could handle this job for 20+ years on a 5 day working week. Need more rest than 1 odd day at a time. Muscles constantly aching. Maybe it's just me.

I think in general the 4 day working week has been mentioned in the media over recent months, so maybe in time it might be something that happens nationwide.

You could do six days a week like I did in this job!

Yeah but we weren't out till 4pm back then, yes, six days a week but Saturday was done by 11 not 3 or later as it is now. Yes we were in earlier but didn't do 9 hr days.

You must have had a bad round I never saw anything later than 8.30 on a Saturday unless I was doing overtime!

[SpacePhoenix]

I've not seen anything yet about what changes (if any) will be made with Network 19, but if arrivals into Inward MCs get any later then dispatches to DOs will have to be later by a similar amount

[norris9]

You could do six days a week like I did in this job!

Couldn't bare thinking about this.

I'd be sleeping the single day off due to being cream crackered, then straight back to work the next day for the fun to begin again. Would be a non-stop exhausting working life until old age.

I am sure not everyone feels exhausted in this job because they have very active lives outside of the job, or even do regular overtime. I must just not be up to it or it's going to take a bit longer for the aches and tiredness to disappear.

[postmanzach]

Four day week is the only thing that keeps everyone going in my office. We do two 5 day weeks [with wednesday then thursday off] and then its two four day weeks making a very long weekend. [friday and saturday off and then monday and tuesday off]
I think other offices should adopt this as although days are longer, we have a decent amount of time off to rest and enjoy life, and if you can work days off theres plenty of extra money there.

[Woody Guthrie]

I've not seen anything yet about what changes (if any) will be made with Network 19, but if arrivals into Inward MCs get any later then dispatches to DOs will have to be later by a similar amount

Not if it's headed for LAT hubs.
If a great deal of work currently destined for mail centres is rerouted to superhubs it will free up the network to advance arrivals of what's left.

Collection on delivery should also in theory have the same effect. We're dispatching the bulk of our collections to the MC about 3 hours earlier than we were.

If anything our feeds from our MC are getting earlier.

[SpacePhoenix]

I've not seen anything yet about what changes (if any) will be made with Network 19, but if arrivals into Inward MCs get any later then dispatches to DOs will have to be later by a similar amount

Not if it's headed for LAT hubs.
If a great deal of work currently destined for mail centres is rerouted to superhubs it will free up the network to advance arrivals of what's left.

Collection on delivery should also in theory have the same effect. We're dispatching the bulk of our collections to the MC about 3 hours earlier than we were.

If anything our feeds from our MC are getting earlier.

With less work, my gut feeling is that they'll move the start and finish times of night shifts back a couple of hours to save on night rate

[CharlesSpooner]

Can we have a 4 day working week, please.

For letters and flats that'll probably happen at some point.Don't know if we could see Sunday deliveries of SDs and Tracked (for a premium) eventually

Not sure I could handle this job for 20+ years on a 5 day working week. Need more rest than 1 odd day at a time. Muscles constantly aching. Maybe it's just me.

I think in general the 4 day working week has been mentioned in the media over recent months, so maybe in time it might be something that happens nationwide.

You could do six days a week like I did in this job!

I remember those six day weeks....those 1.5 - 2 hour walks were killers And then you had to tuck your 2nd delivery away in the inside pocket to bring back the next day! None stop aggro!

They were that hard I used to do nights on OT as well as my walk.

[norris9]

I remember those six day weeks....those 1.5 - 2 hour walks were killers And then you had to tuck your 2nd delivery away in the inside pocket to bring back the next day! None stop aggro!

They were that hard I used to do nights on OT as well as my walk.

ahh lol, I assumed this 6 day week was a recent thing.

Well, I am sure some postie's do 6 days right now, if they do they are nuts. I had a whole week off and even after that week off, waking up for first day back to work I was still aching.

[k979aaa]

Can we have a 4 day working week, please.

For letters and flats that'll probably happen at some point.Don't know if we could see Sunday deliveries of SDs and Tracked (for a premium) eventually

Not sure I could handle this job for 20+ years on a 5 day working week. Need more rest than 1 odd day at a time. Muscles constantly aching. Maybe it's just me.

I think in general the 4 day working week has been mentioned in the media over recent months, so maybe in time it might be something that happens nationwide.

You could do six days a week like I did in this job!

I remember those six day weeks....those 1.5 - 2 hour walks were killers And then you had to tuck your 2nd delivery away in the inside pocket to bring back the next day! None stop aggro!

They were that hard I used to do nights on OT as well as my walk.

Well I always did my second delivery Charles but if the guys get stopped tomorrow bringing the last few lapsed signed for back don't blame me. Still took a tole on some in them days we did not have vans to f**k off home in time for loose women!

[Celgar]

Despite all this potentially happening...

1. Surely they are sooner or later going to have machines that can sort all walks into order and that probably will also bundle the post up.

2. Employ owner-drivers.

3. All medium to large parcels end up being delivered by owner-van drivers or Parcel Force.

4. They won't need as much depot space as they do now, therefore will sell off a lot of land.

5. Once bank statements, tickets, payslips, etc.. all go digital....then there will be far less post.


I'd assume this job will be a lot different 10+ years from now. There will likely be no sorting, just part-time hours / zero hour contracts and a lot more time spent walking....if you want the hours.

RM are already starting to downsize the amount of machinery devoted to sorting letters & flats. If those mail volumes continue to decline there will not be any more machinery developed to sequence further mail and certainly not bundle it up. Even the option to bundle up D2Ds into sets for each slot has been dropped.
The majority of RM sites were sold off and immediately leased back. There are a lot less physical assets left in the business now. It's all short term with no long term plan!
The internet is not secure hence why for example the NHS uses taxes to send patient information internally. Most people would not want to receive their bank statements via the Internet unless I suppose they have no money then it would just be their identity that would get stolen and misused.
I doubt the RM will exist in ten years time or if it has it will be a shell of what it now is. A more likely outcome would be it will be bought up cheap by another country and the remaining assets stripped away. Or it will get taken back by the government on reasons of national security.

[Celgar]

You could do six days a week like I did in this job!

Couldn't bare thinking about this.

I'd be sleeping the single day off due to being cream crackered, then straight back to work the next day for the fun to begin again. Would be a non-stop exhausting working life until old age.

I am sure not everyone feels exhausted in this job because they have very active lives outside of the job, or even do regular overtime. I must just not be up to it or it's going to take a bit longer for the aches and tiredness to disappear.

We finished a lot earlier on the six day week. The good old days. Although years before that the job was supposedly even better!

[clashcityrocker]

The majority of RM sites were sold off and immediately leased back.

You keep repeating this.
When were they sold and who bought them?
And how much for?
Surely all that information would be in the public domain.

[SpacePhoenix]

Despite all this potentially happening...

1. Surely they are sooner or later going to have machines that can sort all walks into order and that probably will also bundle the post up.

2. Employ owner-drivers.

3. All medium to large parcels end up being delivered by owner-van drivers or Parcel Force.

4. They won't need as much depot space as they do now, therefore will sell off a lot of land.

5. Once bank statements, tickets, payslips, etc.. all go digital....then there will be far less post.


I'd assume this job will be a lot different 10+ years from now. There will likely be no sorting, just part-time hours / zero hour contracts and a lot more time spent walking....if you want the hours.

RM are already starting to downsize the amount of machinery devoted to sorting letters & flats. If those mail volumes continue to decline there will not be any more machinery developed to sequence further mail and certainly not bundle it up. Even the option to bundle up D2Ds into sets for each slot has been dropped.
The majority of RM sites were sold off and immediately leased back. There are a lot less physical assets left in the business now. It's all short term with no long term plan!
The internet is not secure hence why for example the NHS uses taxes to send patient information internally. Most people would not want to receive their bank statements via the Internet unless I suppose they have no money then it would just be their identity that would get stolen and misused.
I doubt the RM will exist in ten years time or if it has it will be a shell of what it now is. A more likely outcome would be it will be bought up cheap by another country and the remaining assets stripped away. Or it will get taken back by the government on reasons of national security.

If letter volumes keep dropping, there will come a point where RM will have to decide if it's worth bothering having letters sequenced by machine

[Celgar]

We watched a WTLL video today on the current dispute. The title of it made out the CWU had some say in it but it was mostly lies, half-truths, and greywash from the Borg......... erm I meant RM. They mentioned something about additional mediation after the current months worth of mediation ends so I think they are trying to drag it out as close to Xmas as they can. They will then hope that we will be less eager to strike & upset ' our customers '.
They also harped on about the poor shareholders who are going to receive less dividends now. Nevermind the fact that the majority of the financial press have always said our profit ratio does not relate to the amounts of dividend paid out. It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul or some kind of Ponzi scheme. They didn't mention the posties who were encouraged to buy RM shares at the supposedly knock down price of 360p only for Rico to crash them down to nearly less than two quid. The guy is a joke and should probably retire.

[Celgar]

The majority of RM sites were sold off and immediately leased back.

You keep repeating this.
When were they sold and who bought them?
And how much for?
Surely all that information would be in the public domain.

It would fall under business confidentiality. We only found out it had happened to our DO because people aren't very good at keeping secrets. We don't own the Vans either. The main assets RM has are the posties and the knowledge the posties have of their walks but RM attribute no value to that do they!!