I've got a feeling

[Postmangit]

Royal Mail is running out of ideas how to run the place. 30 years ago I was doing walk delivery where you emptied post boxes on your way round, then some super dipper guy decided it was a good idea not to do that, now what are we doing, emptying boxes on your way round, what a joke this job is, what goes around come back around.

[collierrow]

absolutely my friend.all about cost savings cut the distribution budget and plonk it on the good ole scapegoats deliveries

[Zicomurphy]

I know let’s get rid of all large packet duties, give all postmen vans and get them to take everything for the area they cover.

A few years pass.

We have this wonderful new idea. We’re going to take all large packets off postman and introduce dedicated large packet duties.

[norris9]

There are some obvious things I can see on a day to day basis that could easily be done better.

- You get managers who will bully and harass you into taking more post out that you know you can deliver. It might be that they are totally cool with you for month and then at the flick of a switch they change their tune and you see them for what they really are. They speak to you like you are an idiot, they claim they have no problems when other posties do the round, which is all nonsense when the posties they are referring to leave the depot at 9.15am, yet it's 9.15am right now and the frame hasn't even been prepped. It's cr@p like this which annoys posties, puts them in a bad mood, they then don't put as much effort in or start refusing to ever go over their time. What use is this tactic when it inevitably ends up like this? you are going to lose productivity. You as the manager should be fair and the postie will be fair with you. This terrible way of managing will cost the company, not benefit it.


- Stamps aren't voided. Sort out the voiding machines...whatever they are called. I come into sorted frames and on average about £20 worth of postage isn't voided and I have to do it out on the round as I deliver.


- Instead of writing out dockets....can't it all be digitised. Customer gets text or email telling them to collect parcel.


- Managers leave new posties to fend for themselves....send them out blind, no info, no map detailing postboxes, where to park.......postie ends up being inefficient, claims a load of overtime or brings back a tonne of post.


- RM should leaflet all UK residents about parcel boxes, sell them, make money and make the delivering process more efficient.


- RM should get a better clothing supplier, these clothes fall apart too quickly.


There you go.....saved / made RM £ millions right there.

[k979aaa]

Royal Mail is running out of ideas how to run the place. 30 years ago I was doing walk delivery where you emptied post boxes on your way round, then some super dipper guy decided it was a good idea not to do that, now what are we doing, emptying boxes on your way round, what a joke this job is, what goes around come back around.

The only feeling I get Is management is inept and the one's above would have more insight shoving their head up Rico's Ass at least they will have Brown Nose's!

[hothothot]

It won't be long before we go green and use bicycles , again!

[Dorset Plodder]

There are some obvious things I can see on a day to day basis that could easily be done better.

I think you're confusing Royal Mail Higher Management with people that actually want to Improve the Company, and make it Better Norris.

All your points are very relevant... But only to us. IMO RM Higher Management just want to parachute into the Top Job ... Make Loads of Savings/Get rid of Lots of Staff ... Push the Short-Term Profits Up .... Take a Big Golden Handsake and then piss off to do the same somewhere else.

Makes my Blood Boil ... I wouldn't mind if I thought their "Solutions" would actually make an improvement to the Business Long-Term, and give us better job security and improved T&Cs. They seem totally incapable of generating New Business, just grizzle about how Business isn't as good as it used to be ... well you're in Charge do something about it!

[Lincox]

It won't be long before we go green and use bicycles , again!

By far the best way of getting around the walk, very quick if you have made a mistake or missed a delivery. Bikes can easily be upgraded to be capable of carrying reasonable size parcels/pkts. Better for the environment. Better for the operators physical well being. Cons are that they can be a bit scary in inclement weather, but even that can be overcome by making them 3 or 4 wheeled. By all means use vans plus trolleys on very hilly walks but not on flatish walks. Job was never the same when they removed the bike.

[97gaz]

Royal Mail is running out of ideas how to run the place. 30 years ago I was doing walk delivery where you emptied post boxes on your way round, then some super dipper guy decided it was a good idea not to do that, now what are we doing, emptying boxes on your way round, what a joke this job is, what goes around come back around.

While I agree with all the sentiments on this post, let's not forget that when we used to empty the boxes on the round years ago they still got emptied again on the late collection. Now the boxes we empty on the round don't get another collection that day. So we've gone from two collections from a box to one.

[Marshamp11]

There are some obvious things I can see on a day to day basis that could easily be done better.

I think you're confusing Royal Mail Higher Management with people that actually want to Improve the Company, and make it Better Norris.

All your points are very relevant... But only to us. IMO RM Higher Management just want to parachute into the Top Job ... Make Loads of Savings/Get rid of Lots of Staff ... Push the Short-Term Profits Up .... Take a Big Golden Handsake and then piss off to do the same somewhere else.

Makes my Blood Boil ... I wouldn't mind if I thought their "Solutions" would actually make an improvement to the Business Long-Term, and give us better job security and improved T&Cs. They seem totally incapable of generating New Business, just grizzle about how Business isn't as good as it used to be ... well you're in Charge do something about it!

I cannot remember which successful buisness entrepreneur it was but they said something like "You dont make money by saving money, you have to go and make it"
Its the sales dept they should be cracking the whip at IMO.

[Lincox]

There are some obvious things I can see on a day to day basis that could easily be done better.

I think you're confusing Royal Mail Higher Management with people that actually want to Improve the Company, and make it Better Norris.

All your points are very relevant... But only to us. IMO RM Higher Management just want to parachute into the Top Job ... Make Loads of Savings/Get rid of Lots of Staff ... Push the Short-Term Profits Up .... Take a Big Golden Handsake and then piss off to do the same somewhere else.

Makes my Blood Boil ... I wouldn't mind if I thought their "Solutions" would actually make an improvement to the Business Long-Term, and give us better job security and improved T&Cs. They seem totally incapable of generating New Business, just grizzle about how Business isn't as good as it used to be ... well you're in Charge do something about it!

I cannot remember which successful buisness entrepreneur it was but they said something like "You dont make money by saving money, you have to go and make it"
Its the sales dept they should be cracking the whip at IMO.

The problem is the past 3 to 4 Chief Executives have not been entrepreneurs. They have been put in to the business to cull staff in order to reduce costs. It is a short term non ambitious mode of making short term profits. It will always produce this but will always mean that the business is imploding in on itself. It is very similar to the austerity programme that this government have embarked upon the last ten years. A true entrepreneur will look at how the company can increase sales, improving the bottom line by increasing the turn over, which in turn means increasing staff rather than laying them off. Unless Royal Mail change tact and look at an alternative programme for growth and profit I am afraid that they will end up in the same mess that the Tory Government have got themselves in.

[k979aaa]

There are some obvious things I can see on a day to day basis that could easily be done better.

I think you're confusing Royal Mail Higher Management with people that actually want to Improve the Company, and make it Better Norris.

All your points are very relevant... But only to us. IMO RM Higher Management just want to parachute into the Top Job ... Make Loads of Savings/Get rid of Lots of Staff ... Push the Short-Term Profits Up .... Take a Big Golden Handsake and then piss off to do the same somewhere else.

Makes my Blood Boil ... I wouldn't mind if I thought their "Solutions" would actually make an improvement to the Business Long-Term, and give us better job security and improved T&Cs. They seem totally incapable of generating New Business, just grizzle about how Business isn't as good as it used to be ... well you're in Charge do something about it!

I cannot remember which successful buisness entrepreneur it was but they said something like "You dont make money by saving money, you have to go and make it"
Its the sales dept they should be cracking the whip at IMO.

The problem is the past 3 to 4 Chief Executives have not been entrepreneurs. They have been put in to the business to cull staff in order to reduce costs. It is a short term non ambitious mode of making short term profits. It will always produce this but will always mean that the business is imploding in on itself. It is very similar to the austerity programme that this government have embarked upon the last ten years. A true entrepreneur will look at how the company can increase sales, improving the bottom line by increasing the turn over, which in turn means increasing staff rather than laying them off. Unless Royal Mail change tact and look at an alternative programme for growth and profit I am afraid that they will end up in the same mess that the Tory Government have got themselves in.

Austerity has been a twenty year program of 5% savings a year 5 x 20 = 100% yet the CEO's of the company have had 1000's of percent increase and share options. While post persons pay has increased the workforce has been more than halved in that time and yet they expect more it is not going to happen!

[kinew]

It won't be long before we go green and use bicycles , again!

By far the best way of getting around the walk, very quick if you have made a mistake or missed a delivery. Bikes can easily be upgraded to be capable of carrying reasonable size parcels/pkts. Better for the environment. Better for the operators physical well being. Cons are that they can be a bit scary in inclement weather, but even that can be overcome by making them 3 or 4 wheeled. By all means use vans plus trolleys on very hilly walks but not on flatish walks. Job was never the same when they removed the bike.

I'm not sure, my office is one of the few that still uses bikes (though they're taking them out in the next few months and moving half the office), I've only been in the job a year so I don't know what it used to be like, but they're really not fit for purpose any more. Some duties work ok if they're located around a central large drop box, so you ride out, then do loops from the box, occasionally using the bike to cut down on dead walking, but most duties you end up with either ridiculously heavy bags or having to wheel the bike 10 yards at a time while you dart in and out of driveways, making it just a less efficient trolley that you can't lock and leave.

Add to that that the bike duties are mostly about 800-1000 calls compared to 600 or so each side of a shared van duty, so they just try lump you with more mail, and then you're arguing with the packet drivers about stuff you've thrown out to them because you can't cram it in your bags/Dropbox, and it just doesn't really work, I'll be glad to see the back of them!
Whenever I've done a bike duty on overtime and been able to nick a van to do it in, you always finish a good hour quicker unless it's one of the few you can't rearrange to avoid huge amounts of dead walking.

However, those electric trikes they talked about honestly seem like a pretty good idea, they take away a lot of the issues I've had with the bikes, being secure, quicker and a bit more spacious, and I could see them being a good middle ground between vans and bikes.

[Jeppol]

It won't be long before we go green and use bicycles , again!

I used to love working off a bike, no weight on your shoulder, you can scoot inbetween calls saving loads of walking , only downside was having to prop the bike up against something all the time, really miss them.

[CharlesSpooner]

I know let’s get rid of all large packet duties, give all postmen vans and get them to take everything for the area they cover.

A few years pass.

We have this wonderful new idea. We’re going to take all large packets off postman and introduce dedicated large packet duties.

But while taking the larger packets off the postman they'll also be putting around 15-20% of another duties calls onto them. And the definition of a "large" packet will surely be very different to what it was back in the day. There'll be no bundling up packets for the same drop and chucking them out for the driver - even if there's dozens of them.

The change to shared vans ensured a lot of duties were cut from offices. This new change is done when there are far more larger packets to deliver and will not see an increase in duty numbers.

Plus the re-introduction of packet duties is to accommodate next-day delivery demands from potential customers. It has nothing to do with the old system of packet drivers and isn't being done for the same reasons we used to have those duties.