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PDA

Postal workers discussion forum. Discuss the day to day life in a Blue Shirt.
SpacePhoenix
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 12195
Joined: 12 Nov 2008, 17:03
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by SpacePhoenix »

They probably could do with separating the MC stuff, DO outdoor stuff and DO indoor stuff into separate apps, and rig it so that only one of them apps can be active at a time
A2B
Posts: 2033
Joined: 25 Feb 2009, 19:34
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by A2B »

Wouldn't expect too much being done with the software on the existing PDA as we were told orders have gone in for a new version so probably stuck with what we have until they arrive
The Postman
Posts: 267
Joined: 10 May 2017, 14:41
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by The Postman »

It's been happening ever since the pda's were updated a few weeks ago. Every second time you wake it up it won't scan. Frustrating.
HTPostman
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 1507
Joined: 01 Sep 2008, 23:53
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by HTPostman »

I also noticed the order of one of the menus has changed - can’t remember off the top of my head which bit it is that has changed but for example whereas deliver to neighbour used to be the top option, it’s now at the bottom of the options. Something like that.

Had a special the other day where no matter what I did, it wouldn’t do anything when I clicked ‘done’ even restarted it (in front of the customer!), for whatever reason when I scanned it and wrote the name etc it wouldn’t let me send.

Maybe it’s tin foil hat time but I’ve often wondered if the changes, useless updates which make it worse, fact you can lose your data with one incorrect tap yet have to tap 3 times to get to the correct screen is all designed to frustrate us.

As far as I know there are no focus groups of posties who can feed back on any issues they have. You’d think say 100 postmen could be asked after every update what works well and what doesn’t then any adjustments made.

Same with D2Ds - I’m surprised B+Q, Farmfoods etc don’t ask us how could their D2Ds be designed better. I wonder if they know they regularly get torn while in the process of going through a letterbox, and when it rains they turn to mush...yes I know most paper does that but sometimes we deliver thinner D2Ds (about 4 inches wide) for a care home which are a little sturdier and stand up to letterboxes and rain.
The day is gonna come when we’re all gonna have to testify.

526
1560loopsayear
Posts: 230
Joined: 05 Mar 2019, 18:33
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by 1560loopsayear »

I find that if you take a pregnant pause (a second or two) after you come out of the lock-screen the scanner will usually work - as mentioned the paltry memory and antiquated android version doesn't help the response times. It's been dry of late, but when the driving rain returns this gives the PDA some from of mad-cow disease and it basically runs through menus & selects things on it's own accord.
rambo1
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 3266
Joined: 12 Jun 2013, 20:00
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by rambo1 »

Locker staff spraying bathroom cleaner and antiseptic wipes every day can't help. They really are a poor piece of kit.
chocolatesaltyballs
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 106
Joined: 11 May 2014, 18:31
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by chocolatesaltyballs »

The TC75 Series delivers reliable operation, even after multiple 8 ft./2.4 m drops to concrete and 2,000 consecutive 3.2 ft./1 m tumbles in our punishing tumble test. With IP65 and IP67 sealing, the TC75 Series is dust-tight and can survive complete immersion in water.

They don't survive complete immersion in water in my experience or at least they don't function afterwards.
Mr Rush
Posts: 3357
Joined: 05 Aug 2011, 14:27
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by Mr Rush »

The Postman wrote:Every second time you wake it up it won't scan. Frustrating.
Sounds like paradise. Every third for me today: wake up, won't unlock, sleep, wake, unlock, won't scan, sleep, wake, unlock, finally able to scan. 15 seconds of that nonsense multiplied by current packet levels across deliveries nationwide: this is why we can't have the shorter working week :wink:
The machine stops.
norris9
Posts: 2696
Joined: 27 Feb 2019, 17:32
Gender: Female

PDA

Post by norris9 »

Mr Rush wrote:
The Postman wrote:Every second time you wake it up it won't scan. Frustrating.
Sounds like paradise. Every third for me today: wake up, won't unlock, sleep, wake, unlock, won't scan, sleep, wake, unlock, finally able to scan. 15 seconds of that nonsense multiplied by current packet levels across deliveries nationwide: this is why we can't have the shorter working week :wink:
This has been driving me nuts. Probably costs me 5 minutes a day and shortens my lifespan with the amount of anger it causes me. I now just scan everything before each loop so I don't have to go through having to try to scan each parcel 2 3 or even 4 times!
SpacePhoenix
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 12195
Joined: 12 Nov 2008, 17:03
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by SpacePhoenix »

I wonder if IT can remotely do a full refresh of the software in a given PDA. With PCs it can really speed them up whenever Windows gets reinstalled from scratch
A2B
Posts: 2033
Joined: 25 Feb 2009, 19:34
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by A2B »

SpacePhoenix wrote:I wonder if IT can remotely do a full refresh of the software in a given PDA. With PCs it can really speed them up whenever Windows gets reinstalled from scratch
IT remotely "rebuilt" the software on all our PDA about a month back, it was done overnight so didn't interfere with normal use but they have not improved.

Also with so many crashes now it's a pain signing back in when you are on delivery as you can no longer enter 000000000, if you do a regular walk then it's easy to take a copy of the barcode but if you are covering different walks it's easy to forget and you end up stuck without a scanner :thumbdown
woody38
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 273
Joined: 19 Apr 2016, 08:38
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by woody38 »

What I do with my pda when ai get it each morning is reboot the pda so it turns itself of and on, that normally does the trick for me, I also always but it in a holder over my shoulder that helps a lot and stop it doing things by itself.
2yearpostie
Posts: 1839
Joined: 03 Mar 2020, 15:36
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by 2yearpostie »

A2B wrote:
SpacePhoenix wrote:I wonder if IT can remotely do a full refresh of the software in a given PDA. With PCs it can really speed them up whenever Windows gets reinstalled from scratch
IT remotely "rebuilt" the software on all our PDA about a month back, it was done overnight so didn't interfere with normal use but they have not improved.

Also with so many crashes now it's a pain signing back in when you are on delivery as you can no longer enter 000000000, if you do a regular walk then it's easy to take a copy of the barcode but if you are covering different walks it's easy to forget and you end up stuck without a scanner :thumbdown
try 0000000001 , it bollocks you but it does work.
dohnut
Posts: 658
Joined: 28 Sep 2007, 17:15
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by dohnut »

2yearpostie wrote:
A2B wrote:
SpacePhoenix wrote:I wonder if IT can remotely do a full refresh of the software in a given PDA. With PCs it can really speed them up whenever Windows gets reinstalled from scratch
IT remotely "rebuilt" the software on all our PDA about a month back, it was done overnight so didn't interfere with normal use but they have not improved.

Also with so many crashes now it's a pain signing back in when you are on delivery as you can no longer enter 000000000, if you do a regular walk then it's easy to take a copy of the barcode but if you are covering different walks it's easy to forget and you end up stuck without a scanner :thumbdown
try 0000000001 , it bollocks you but it does work.

That doesn't work anymore.
eastie
EX ROYAL MAIL
Posts: 2234
Joined: 16 Jun 2011, 15:32
Gender: Male

PDA

Post by eastie »

it goes wrong during every loop so at the moment whilst no customers have to sign , I scan everything before each loop and sort out problems back at the van