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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Postal workers discussion forum. Discuss the day to day life in a Blue Shirt.
Seymour Buts
Posts: 1148
Joined: 22 Jun 2017, 20:17
Gender: Male

2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by Seymour Buts »

matthew68 wrote:
Seymour Buts wrote:I'd be surprised if we went back to paired vans. Split shifts will allow them to push the changes they want through, all on the basis of them claiming it's about our health and safety.
Yes I think they want split shifts it’s pretty much ongoing at our place as Dom says the 3 people coming in at 10-4 will carry on doing so after restriction lifted they are single van duties and heavy on parcels so he prefers them out later
In time they'll build collections into duties like Hermes, DPD do ect. They even collect parcels from homes. Save on overtime. That's why they're keen to keep afternoons, bare in mind they've been pushing for later finish times anyway.

To be honest, as somebody else says if I was with my partner volumes are so high currently we probably couldn't fit all our stuff in a Combo.
Joe4567
Posts: 45
Joined: 05 Aug 2019, 15:09
Gender: Male

2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by Joe4567 »

mjd24 wrote:
eldritch1987 wrote:With the amount of parcels we have right now van share would be a disaster anyway. Doing my duty by myself is 100% efficient and i barely get back on time, van share was totally inefficient and we would struggle to even get all the parcels in our van.
Yeah this was always a big problem (pain in the a***) back when we were van sharing, on busy days the number of big parcels alongside the 12+ bags of mail was a nightmare just to be able to fit in the bag of the van, let alone in an easy to access order. I dont think managers/higher ups have any idea that huge amounts of time were being wasted by the simple fact that the vans arent big enough to be carrying that amount.
Not sure about your office but all the new vans we have been getting are massive at least 15 out of 40 combos/bippers have been replaced with large Peugeot experts/partners. Even rural deliveries duty vans are massive and they are barely 1/4 full on heavy days
maisymoo04
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Joined: 07 Apr 2010, 17:11
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Location: You dont want to no

2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by maisymoo04 »

experts our good for 2 in a van :Very Happy
"Some day I will have the bottle to take the money"
daveyeff
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Joined: 12 Mar 2010, 19:38
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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by daveyeff »

eldritch1987 wrote:With the amount of parcels we have right now van share would be a disaster anyway. Doing my duty by myself is 100% efficient and i barely get back on time, van share was totally inefficient and we would struggle to even get all the parcels in our van.
are you a driver?....just asking cos its impossible(at our office anyways) to be !00% efficient on a duty if you are a non_driver.
A2B
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Joined: 25 Feb 2009, 19:34
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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by A2B »

daveyeff wrote:
eldritch1987 wrote:With the amount of parcels we have right now van share would be a disaster anyway. Doing my duty by myself is 100% efficient and i barely get back on time, van share was totally inefficient and we would struggle to even get all the parcels in our van.
are you a driver?....just asking cos its impossible(at our office anyways) to be !00% efficient on a duty if you are a non_driver.
:hmmmm ???
daveyeff
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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by daveyeff »

all duties were going out every day before covid. now no van share at our office has non drivers taking parts off duties out. some coming in at 03.30 just to sort packets and letters. and only doing bits of duties. the more distant duties from the office are only being half covered by drivers.
A2B
Posts: 2033
Joined: 25 Feb 2009, 19:34
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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by A2B »

daveyeff wrote:all duties were going out every day before covid. now no van share at our office has non drivers taking parts off duties out. some coming in at 03.30 just to sort packets and letters. and only doing bits of duties. the more distant duties from the office are only being half covered by drivers.
I see where you are coming from but they can still be efficient at what they are doing.
eldritch1987
Posts: 18
Joined: 14 Oct 2008, 21:25
Gender: Male

2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by eldritch1987 »

daveyeff wrote:
eldritch1987 wrote:With the amount of parcels we have right now van share would be a disaster anyway. Doing my duty by myself is 100% efficient and i barely get back on time, van share was totally inefficient and we would struggle to even get all the parcels in our van.
are you a driver?....just asking cos its impossible(at our office anyways) to be !00% efficient on a duty if you are a non_driver.
Yes i am a driver, nothing has failed on my duty since this has started (apart from my day off!)
daveyeff
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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by daveyeff »

A2B wrote:
daveyeff wrote:all duties were going out every day before covid. now no van share at our office has non drivers taking parts off duties out. some coming in at 03.30 just to sort packets and letters. and only doing bits of duties. the more distant duties from the office are only being half covered by drivers.
I see where you are coming from but they can still be efficient at what they are doing.
The place is a shambles.. there are duties that don't go out for days on end. The 2 duties that I normally do with my driver are failing every day. One is near to the office at about 15 mins walk. I do as much of it as possible with a high capacity....the other duty is a massive duty with over a thousand calls. They are both being inundated with packets every day. Management has told us to concentrate on tracked pkts and specials...so the driver can only take out so much. The bigger tracked wont fit in my trolley...so they are left to be done on overtime. The driver leaves loops in every day to concentrate on packets....he works to his time and cuts off...so do I. When we were in the van we would go over to complete...but this way is just too much. It can't be done. It's the same in the whole office...and so it goes on. There is no efficiency.
Joe4567
Posts: 45
Joined: 05 Aug 2019, 15:09
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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by Joe4567 »

daveyeff wrote:
A2B wrote:
daveyeff wrote:all duties were going out every day before covid. now no van share at our office has non drivers taking parts off duties out. some coming in at 03.30 just to sort packets and letters. and only doing bits of duties. the more distant duties from the office are only being half covered by drivers.
I see where you are coming from but they can still be efficient at what they are doing.
The place is a shambles.. there are duties that don't go out for days on end. The 2 duties that I normally do with my driver are failing every day. One is near to the office at about 15 mins walk. I do as much of it as possible with a high capacity....the other duty is a massive duty with over a thousand calls. They are both being inundated with packets every day. Management has told us to concentrate on tracked pkts and specials...so the driver can only take out so much. The bigger tracked wont fit in my trolley...so they are left to be done on overtime. The driver leaves loops in every day to concentrate on packets....he works to his time and cuts off...so do I. When we were in the van we would go over to complete...but this way is just too much. It can't be done. It's the same in the whole office...and so it goes on. There is no efficiency.
Exact same thing happening on multiple walks in my office
ThatsNotPlumb
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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by ThatsNotPlumb »

I will not be going back to 2 in a van anytime remotely soon & I'll flat out refuse to do so.
Cucumber
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Joined: 09 Dec 2018, 10:24
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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by Cucumber »

ThatsNotPlumb wrote:I will not be going back to 2 in a van anytime remotely soon & I'll flat out refuse to do so.
I'm not saying their will be a policy change, but if there was, you'd still not do it?
I'm not judging in any way, by the way, as I can see this being a problem.
Woody Guthrie
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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by Woody Guthrie »

Cucumber wrote:
ThatsNotPlumb wrote:I will not be going back to 2 in a van anytime remotely soon & I'll flat out refuse to do so.
I'm not saying their will be a policy change, but if there was, you'd still not do it?
I'm not judging in any way, by the way, as I can see this being a problem.
They'll have to make a case for it being safe and that's not going to be easy especially if there are regional spikes and mini lockdowns going on in the background.

I think it could be a long-term thing...
Only dead fish follow the current
Cucumber
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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by Cucumber »

Woody Guthrie wrote:
Cucumber wrote:
ThatsNotPlumb wrote:I will not be going back to 2 in a van anytime remotely soon & I'll flat out refuse to do so.
I'm not saying their will be a policy change, but if there was, you'd still not do it?
I'm not judging in any way, by the way, as I can see this being a problem.
They'll have to make a case for it being safe and that's not going to be easy especially if there are regional spikes and mini lockdowns going on in the background.

I think it could be a long-term thing...
If single vans become long term (which I think they will), then they need to come up with better ways of working as our office is a lost cause due to distance etc.
I think you alluded to in another thread that many/most decisions are made with a certain area of London in mind - those ideas simply can't be lifted and expected to work in a remote office with semi rural duties that van share (for example).
citypostie
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2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

Post by citypostie »

If the single vans duties are staying in much longer they need to have a radical think about the job. The split shifts could work if the later starts are covered by part time staff. We have full timers starting later and working from home meaning a lack of people to sort the mail and prep deliveries. Surely if they want split shifts they need full timers working earlier to get the mail ready for delivery and the part timers with less hours just coming in and delivering the mail. If the rounds are fully prepped for them they might even have spare time to do any parcels that have been left.
They also need to hire enough vans so everyone who can drive can have one in a morning, if course if they are planning on bringing back vans shares soon they won't bother and they'll keep paying people's fuel claims and let others walk/bike out