This is just the beginning, what dystopian world will be left

realitybites · Post by **realitybites** » 22 Mar 2020, 17:05

The worst is yet to come. After the world has discarded the flotsum and jetsum of life you can see the jobs and people that really run the world and who without, we would all be in deep sh#t. Most of the crap we deliver has do be deemed totally insignificant. Medicines, food, water, basically the essentials of life are all that matter and will become abundantly clear in the coming months.
The real essential personnel none of us could do without which, most significantly, earn the least amount of money are putting themselves at great risk. Admittedly, probably not aware of the risk they are putting themselves and their families at YET but deserve all the accolades thrust upon them at this moment in time.
The postal service is a non entity at this specific moment in time. Would be bettr to mobilise the workforce doing more constructive work within the communities as posting crap that nobody wants is such a waste of human resources.
When this is all over, the postal service will regain its status and probably be a big player in rebuilding the economy when this, NOW, "niche service" will come into it's own and the infrastructure can be exploited to apply in a different capacity (I have no idea what, but there must be something)
Along with clothes shops, furniture shops etc, you can see all the businesses AT THIS TIME that maybe should be cleared and bedded up for thecrisis that is imminent

Post by **Judgee** » 22 Mar 2020, 17:38

They have just advised that 1.5 million letters will be sent to the most vulnerable who will be asked to self isolate for 12 weeks. Not exactly crap is it? Although I do agree that much of what we deliver is mostly pointless crap! The fact remains that we are the only service that can get to every house in the UK and as such need to be on our rounds making deliveries! You can't phone every house, not every house has access to the internet, we are the only organisation in the country that can advise everybody that needs to be notified of anything. Let the supermarkets organise and deliver the food, let the pharmacists do the same with medical supplies. Surprising as it may sound our jobs are far more important now than at any other time in the past!

2yearpostie · Post by **2yearpostie** » 22 Mar 2020, 17:55

yeah those 1.5 million letters have put a spanner in Ricos let letters wither on the vine plan aint they!

hans solo · Post by **hans solo** » 22 Mar 2020, 18:24

where is our glorious leader anyway

DGH · Post by **DGH** » 22 Mar 2020, 18:28

Judgee wrote:They have just advised that 1.5 million letters will be sent to the most vulnerable who will be asked to self isolate for 12 weeks. Not exactly crap is it? Although I do agree that much of what we deliver is mostly pointless crap! The fact remains that we are the only service that can get to every house in the UK and as such need to be on our rounds making deliveries! You can't phone every house, not every house has access to the internet, we are the only organisation in the country that can advise everybody that needs to be notified of anything. Let the supermarkets organise and deliver the food, let the pharmacists do the same with medical supplies. Surprising as it may sound our jobs are far more important now than at any other time in the past!

I agree. But the 'pointless crap' needs to be stopped now. We should be concentrating on delivering the (relatively small number) of letters that are actually necessary given that the number of staff attending work is plummeting rapidly.

PostmanBitesDog · Post by **PostmanBitesDog** » 22 Mar 2020, 18:32

Judgee wrote:not every house has access to the internet

And the internet's bandwidth is currently under a lot of strain due to the high usage from self-quarantined workers around the globe. Come Tuesday March 24th, Disney+ was to launch its European streaming service, but France will be delayed to April 7th while seven other countries including the UK will see the bandwidth use by Disney+ reduced by 25%.

https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/d ... 203541425/

A bit upsetting for The Mandalorian fans.

PostmanBitesDog · Post by **PostmanBitesDog** » 22 Mar 2020, 18:35

If most of the residents in the UK were to stay indoors, it would be nice for the British police force to do what the Spanish cops are doing.

ssdd · Post by **ssdd** » 22 Mar 2020, 18:50

DGH wrote:
Judgee wrote:They have just advised that 1.5 million letters will be sent to the most vulnerable who will be asked to self isolate for 12 weeks. Not exactly crap is it? Although I do agree that much of what we deliver is mostly pointless crap! The fact remains that we are the only service that can get to every house in the UK and as such need to be on our rounds making deliveries! You can't phone every house, not every house has access to the internet, we are the only organisation in the country that can advise everybody that needs to be notified of anything. Let the supermarkets organise and deliver the food, let the pharmacists do the same with medical supplies. Surprising as it may sound our jobs are far more important now than at any other time in the past!
I agree. But the 'pointless crap' needs to be stopped now. We should be concentrating on delivering the (relatively small number) of letters that are actually necessary given that the number of staff attending work is plummeting rapidly.

This is not a direct dig at anyone but,

Who are we to judge what is 'pointless crap'?
Why do you think companies still post this 'pointless crap'?
Are they sitting there thinking, 'why are we doing this? It's pointless! It's crap!'
We've all got to make a living, especially in these times, and if they're posting it they're still in business, along with all the others involved in it's production.

So the other way to look at it is: It's not pointless! Especially in these times when people are struggling to keep businesses afloat.

[EDIT] After posting this, and in light of what's now happening, it's clear that some mail will have to be prioritised or postponed.

Dindin · Post by **Dindin** » 22 Mar 2020, 18:52

Judgee wrote:They have just advised that 1.5 million letters will be sent to the most vulnerable who will be asked to self isolate for 12 weeks. Not exactly crap is it? Although I do agree that much of what we deliver is mostly pointless crap! The fact remains that we are the only service that can get to every house in the UK and as such need to be on our rounds making deliveries! You can't phone every house, not every house has access to the internet, we are the only organisation in the country that can advise everybody that needs to be notified of anything. Let the supermarkets organise and deliver the food, let the pharmacists do the same with medical supplies. Surprising as it may sound our jobs are far more important now than at any other time in the past!

We should just be doing these essential letters which will probably come in the mech. No go outdoors letters. We could even deliver the food parcels without dominos leaflets

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 22 Mar 2020, 19:18

Judgee wrote:They have just advised that 1.5 million letters will be sent to the most vulnerable who will be asked to self isolate for 12 weeks.!

Everytime something important comes along , we are the people that deliver it. General Elections... Brexit ..... & Now Cov19 letters.

We are a fairly Low Tech way of contacting everyone in the UK. "Use E-Mail" ...... I can hear you say, but how many people ignore their E-Mail Accounts for Weeks, if not Months? And a lot of people are not Tech Savvy, and don't want to be! If the Powers that be decided it I'm sure we would be very effective at delivering Important Medical Supplies, even special diets... we're already doing it in a small way.

More importantly I all think Posties perform an even more important role in this crisis... we show all our customers there is still some normality ... just seeing us working in their communities will help to put their minds at ease. I've been chatting to quite a few Older Customers, and hopefully putting their minds at rest about some of the more Dramatic News stories (and Rumours) that are circulating.

realitybites · Post by **realitybites** » 22 Mar 2020, 19:19

ESSENTIAL mail, ESSENTIAL parcels containing medicines etc as I said. This could all be screened as it arrives. NOT the crap sent out by companies trying to monopolise the system while they have what will be, a virtually captive audience. The should keep their greedy hands out of the COVID 19 till. Do they not realise weeks, months from now, even now, there are far more things to prioritise for a scared public.

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 22 Mar 2020, 19:35

realitybites wrote:ESSENTIAL mail, ESSENTIAL parcels containing medicines etc as I said. This could all be screened as it arrives. NOT the crap sent out by companies trying to monopolise the system while they have what will be, a virtually captive audience. The should keep their greedy hands out of the COVID 19 till. Do they not realise weeks, months from now, even now, there are far more things to prioritise for a scared public.

I think it may well become a "Self-Selecting Process" anyway RB. We're going to lose a lot of staff with self isolation, and there's not going to be enough Posties left to deliver EVERY Duty EVERY Day. Therefore we're going to be prioritising the mail, and perhaps covering several duties a day (with perhaps just Parcels, Specials, Tracked , Stamped Addressed ... Who knows?

RM could even advertise that it was going to prioritise stamped addressed mail. You never know people might start to use their extra time at home to write to their Relatives & Friends to lift their spirits.

Post by **eastie** » 22 Mar 2020, 20:05

But RM still want us to deliver D2Ds about cheap mealdeals at pubs , gym membership etc next week

Post by **Judgee** » 22 Mar 2020, 20:14

eastie wrote:But RM still want us to deliver D2Ds about cheap mealdeals at pubs , gym membership etc next week

Would be nice if they said to just bin the damn D2ds until this thing is over!

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 22 Mar 2020, 20:18

eastie wrote:But RM still want us to deliver D2Ds about cheap mealdeals at pubs , gym membership etc next week

I understand what you're getting at but Household Deliveries have already been paid for by the customer. I'm sure RM would be in a shitstorm of legal action if they didn't deliver them at all. Perhaps we have a bit of wiggle room now with the current situation?

In my particular DO the Households have dropped off considerably over the last couple of weeks, I don't know if there's a connection?

I'm sure you probably only take them where you're going, so IF we end up Streaming Non-Essential Mail perhaps they'll just sit in the frame a while longer? What happens to them if that Dutie's not covered due to Staff Shortages? I've been in Offices were they sit there until the following week, haven't even been Thrown Off!

None of us know what's really going to happen I think we're just going to have to play it by ear.