Snowed Under! Like Christmas Pressure!

[josetork]

I am a Part-time and a Reserve. Owing to Corona etc, some of us have been starting at 1100 so that we can all have a van to ourselves. In that respect it has worked well. On the flip side however, today was my fifth day running where I have been put on a round that was not taken out the previous day!

The amount of letters and parcels has been ridiculous and today in particular I had to split all of my loops/bags into two and every bag was still full. My issues have been compounded by the fact that I have only ever done each of the walks a couple of times at best and obviously with a driver and so therefore only half of the loops etc.

I made it very clear to my Manager that I wasn’t happy that this was how my working week has gone, especially when I know many of my colleagues have simply worked their normal duty and so have had just the normal amount of mail each day. He seemed genuinely apologetic and to be fair has paid me for going over approximately one/two hours each day, however, it still infuriates me that they are happy to do it a small minority of us until we are basically at breaking point.

[Munchboii]

I am a Part-time and a Reserve. Owing to Corona etc, some of us have been starting at 1100 so that we can all have a van to ourselves. In that respect it has worked well. On the flip side however, today was my fifth day running where I have been put on a round that was not taken out the previous day!

The amount of letters and parcels has been ridiculous and today in particular I had to split all of my loops/bags into two and every bag was still full. My issues have been compounded by the fact that I have only ever done each of the walks a couple of times at best and obviously with a driver and so therefore only half of the loops etc.

I made it very clear to my Manager that I wasn’t happy that this was how my working week has gone, especially when I know many of my colleagues have simply worked their normal duty and so have had just the normal amount of mail each day. He seemed genuinely apologetic and to be fair has paid me for going over approximately one/two hours each day, however, it still infuriates me that they are happy to do it a small minority of us until we are basically at breaking point.

Wow youre a super trooper. If they are doing that to you it means you're one of their best postmen. Well that's what my old boss used to say.

I've been there where it's been a different walk every day. My worst day was half a rural with only 1 day training and then straight into half a walk blind back to back. When that was going on my stress was through the roof. That was at an earlier stage in my career and I saw it as something I had to crack on with to progress. Worked out okay in the end, but still I was in a very low place while that was going on.

[tractorboy2]

Then the CSS machines run on the late shift and sequenced mail is brought down in the afternoon ready for us in the morning.

I wonder how long it'll be before MCs and MPUs all revert to walk sort only. It would mean less staff needed on wave 1 at least, if wave 2 were made to finish later then they could do the same on wave 2, freeing up more staff for the packets and Tracked (maybe SD lockers if some of the mech staff are also SD locker trained)

We will only be doing wave one as from last night.

[HTPostman]

I am a Part-time and a Reserve. Owing to Corona etc, some of us have been starting at 1100 so that we can all have a van to ourselves. In that respect it has worked well. On the flip side however, today was my fifth day running where I have been put on a round that was not taken out the previous day!

The amount of letters and parcels has been ridiculous and today in particular I had to split all of my loops/bags into two and every bag was still full. My issues have been compounded by the fact that I have only ever done each of the walks a couple of times at best and obviously with a driver and so therefore only half of the loops etc.

I made it very clear to my Manager that I wasn’t happy that this was how my working week has gone, especially when I know many of my colleagues have simply worked their normal duty and so have had just the normal amount of mail each day. He seemed genuinely apologetic and to be fair has paid me for going over approximately one/two hours each day, however, it still infuriates me that they are happy to do it a small minority of us until we are basically at breaking point.

Similar here only it’s by choice I start a bit later (usually midday) and I’m on 5 hours a day.

On the plus side, there’s not often a van available, all the HCTs rounds have gone to the non drivers and I’m usually stood around till gone 1pm for a van to be ready.

I’m told to just take what I can, I’m a reserve and I struggle to look at a round and remember how long a loop will take (unless it’s a round I really know inside out) so I just use the HTPostman calculation which is a loop usually averages 30mins.

End result is I do my first letter about 1.30pm, my last 4.15pm so I’m doing 4 or 5 bags plus packets

I don’t think it’s the best use of my time but I’m not responsible for van shortages and due to the current situation I’m only doing my hours. Management are happy I’m at least helping out and I’m happy avoiding the crowded indoor sorting office at peak time.

I’m about £150 a week down because I’m not doing my usual overtime but I’m a lot less stressed about things.

[steve1873]

Apparently Aylesbury Vale are telling the MC to hold onto the mail and not deliver any more to their DO. In short it's getting bad out there.....

That's going to be down to how much storage capacity the MC has. If they don't have the storage space then they'll have to send it to the DO anyway and if it carries on too long then they'll run out of storage space and again will have to send it to the DO

Well they will need to rent more storage space. Beacuase DO's most definitely do not have the space!

[SpacePhoenix]

Apparently Aylesbury Vale are telling the MC to hold onto the mail and not deliver any more to their DO. In short it's getting bad out there.....

That's going to be down to how much storage capacity the MC has. If they don't have the storage space then they'll have to send it to the DO anyway and if it carries on too long then they'll run out of storage space and again will have to send it to the DO

Well they will need to rent more storage space. Beacuase DO's most definitely do not have the space!

Locally there's no where that they could rent (they're going to struggle as it is to find a new home for a DO that's got to move), so sorry to be so frank but I'm afraid it'll have to be tough luck, it'll get stored in DOs whether you like it or not or have the space or not.

Before we had conveyors in, it might have been possible to move sections around but now there's physically not the space

[Ren Hoëk]

Apparently Aylesbury Vale are telling the MC to hold onto the mail and not deliver any more to their DO. In short it's getting bad out there.....

That's going to be down to how much storage capacity the MC has. If they don't have the storage space then they'll have to send it to the DO anyway and if it carries on too long then they'll run out of storage space and again will have to send it to the DO

Well they will need to rent more storage space. Beacuase DO's most definitely do not have the space!

Locally there's no where that they could rent (they're going to struggle as it is to find a new home for a DO that's got to move), so sorry to be so frank but I'm afraid it'll have to be tough luck, it'll get stored in DOs whether you like it or not or have the space or not.

Before we had conveyors in, it might have been possible to move sections around but now there's physically not the space

So DO's will have to what? Leave it outside or on the roof? Get real. There will be somewhere to rent for storage. It would be wholly irresponsible for RM not to have contingencies in place to store overflow.

[SpacePhoenix]

There will be somewhere to rent for storage. It would be wholly irresponsible for RM not to have contingencies in place to store overflow.

Dream on. There's no where around here suitable for the storage of mail. One of the local DOs has got to move within the next couple of years, it HAS to move and they've not got anywhere for it to move to yet, so how the hell do you expect RM to be able to find extra places around town to store mail

[Ren Hoëk]

There will be somewhere to rent for storage. It would be wholly irresponsible for RM not to have contingencies in place to store overflow.

Dream on. There's no where around here suitable for the storage of mail. One of the local DOs has got to move within the next couple of years, it HAS to move and they've not got anywhere for it to move to yet, so how the hell do you expect RM to be able to find extra places around town to store mail

So just leave it outside then? When was the last time you visited a DO? There will definitely be somewhere to rent to store it. They will HAVE to find somewhere. No if's or buts about it because DO's certainly don't have the capacity for it. They could utilise schools sports halls if needs be.

There will be contingency planning for this and discussions will already have been had about it.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Then the CSS machines run on the late shift and sequenced mail is brought down in the afternoon ready for us in the morning.

I wonder how long it'll be before MCs and MPUs all revert to walk sort only. It would mean less staff needed on wave 1 at least, if wave 2 were made to finish later then they could do the same on wave 2, freeing up more staff for the packets and Tracked (maybe SD lockers if some of the mech staff are also SD locker trained)

All that will do is move the bottleneck on to deliveries and at present, I don't know of any DO that is running at 100%. It really is a different world.

[SpacePhoenix]

They could utilise schools sports halls if needs be.

Not an option:

1) The ones that would have large enough halls will be in use for the kids of key workers
2) The halls would have to be capable of being secure enough
3) They'd have to be accessible by RM at any time of the day (which won't be possible because of noise pollution regs)
3) They'd have to be able to handle a 7.5ton lorry minimum
4) We don't have the drivers to be able to use any storage site external to the MC apart from DOs

[SpacePhoenix]

Then the CSS machines run on the late shift and sequenced mail is brought down in the afternoon ready for us in the morning.

I wonder how long it'll be before MCs and MPUs all revert to walk sort only. It would mean less staff needed on wave 1 at least, if wave 2 were made to finish later then they could do the same on wave 2, freeing up more staff for the packets and Tracked (maybe SD lockers if some of the mech staff are also SD locker trained)

All that will do is move the bottleneck on to deliveries and at present, I don't know of any DO that is running at 100%. It really is a different world.

MCs are already having to completely fail whole sections through lack of staff. Can only be a matter of time before every MC cut the number of selections down to 1 per physical office to better enable the 2m rule. People in DOs seem to forget that MCs as well as dealing with mail coming into their area, they're also having to deal with mail leaving the area. For a night shift in a MC chances are that at the start of a shift that all storage space will already be full up with 2C and with inward mail that's already arrived. Many MCs cover a much wider area than 10-15 years ago so have more mail to handle. Apart from the very largest MCs (and I have my doubts if they could) string more than the current day's mail is simply not an option.

[Ren Hoëk]

They could utilise schools sports halls if needs be.

Not an option:

1) The ones that would have large enough halls will be in use for the kids of key workers
2) The halls would have to be capable of being secure enough
3) They'd have to be accessible by RM at any time of the day (which won't be possible because of noise pollution regs)
3) They'd have to be able to handle a 7.5ton lorry minimum
4) We don't have the drivers to be able to use any storage site external to the MC apart from DOs

Im sure their is an arrangement to be had considering if we are key workers. There will be somewhere to put it.
They are secure enough for children so they will be secure enough for paper. Nothing a security guard wouldn't fix.
Noise and pollution regs will easily be looked past in a time like this.
Im sure there will be schools or units capable of handling a lorry.
If you have a driver to drive to a DO then you have a driver to take it to another location as they wont be going to the DO in the first place.

You are not getting it. They will HAVE to find a solution like this. There is no option other than suspending the mail.

[SpacePhoenix]

They are secure enough for children so they will be secure enough for paper. Nothing a security guard wouldn't fix.

We'll have some hours from deliveries then to pay for the security guard, we've not got the budget to pay for one. You seem to forget that RM doesn't just handle letters, it also handles parcels including SD items, which we'd not have the room to store.

If you have a driver to drive to a DO then you have a driver to take it to another location as they wont be going to the DO in the first place.

To move it in that kind of volume would need a 17.5ton lorry and we don't have enough drivers with the right license.

The schools would have no obligation to make their halls available

[mjd24]

They are secure enough for children so they will be secure enough for paper. Nothing a security guard wouldn't fix.

We'll have some hours from deliveries then to pay for the security guard, we've not got the budget to pay for one. You seem to forget that RM doesn't just handle letters, it also handles parcels including SD items, which we'd not have the room to store.

If you have a driver to drive to a DO then you have a driver to take it to another location as they wont be going to the DO in the first place.

To move it in that kind of volume would need a 17.5ton lorry and we don't have enough drivers with the right license.

The schools would have no obligation to make their halls available

Ever considered coming up with some ideas or solutions rather than this constant “cant do this, cant do that, no way that’d work etc etc” ?