Parcels only

[Cucumber]

I believe Saturday only parcels would have worked with a bit more effort, I think most had got the grip of it towards the end?

Saturday only parcels DID work, it was Manic Monday 2 days later that was the problem. Most staff were finished very early on Saturday, but rightly refused to work over on Monday. Managers even tried to get people who were off most Saturdays during it to work extended on the Mondays - crazy or what.

[clashcityrocker]

Saturday only parcels DID work.
Most staff were finished very early on Saturday,

Clearly it didn't work then because you didn't have sufficient work on the Saturday to fill the hours you were paid for?

[citypostie]

Saturday only parcels DID work.
Most staff were finished very early on Saturday,

Clearly it didn't work then because you didn't have sufficient work on the Saturday to fill the hours you were paid for?

Simple solution to that, instead of 1 person covering 2 rounds make it 4 or how ever many to fill the hours. More people can have Saturdays off

[clashcityrocker]

But it wasn't a simple solution because any changes to attendance patterns had to be voluntary.

Add to that the need to have competent sorters in and from my experience not enough has been invested over the years to ensure enough people are trained on IPS to ensure an efficient operation.

[Cedar_Room]

But it wasn't a simple solution because any changes to attendance patterns had to be voluntary.

Add to that the need to have competent sorters in and from my experience not enough has been invested over the years to ensure enough people are trained on IPS to ensure an efficient operation.

Agree with the last bit. We have PT’s at our place with less than 5yrs service who were parachuted onto duties almost upon entry. They have only ever done a handful of duties & therefore are not competent on sorting. Call me old fashioned but surely it would make more sense for these people to ‘learn the ropes’ & cover the majority of walks in the DO & gain the knowledge?

[citypostie]

But it wasn't a simple solution because any changes to attendance patterns had to be voluntary.

Add to that the need to have competent sorters in and from my experience not enough has been invested over the years to ensure enough people are trained on IPS to ensure an efficient operation.

But if the USO is changed and its the new normal it won't be voluntary changes. As for having enough sorters, when I started even though I was part time I had to learn the sorting but that was because the full timers extra hours was for doing the 2nd delivery. It's different now isn't it, unless part timers do overtime IPS they don't need to know the sorting.

[Cucumber]

Saturday only parcels DID work.
Most staff were finished very early on Saturday,

Clearly it didn't work then because you didn't have sufficient work on the Saturday to fill the hours you were paid for?

Simple solution to that, instead of 1 person covering 2 rounds make it 4 or how ever many to fill the hours. More people can have Saturdays off

The problems arose when through that 6 week period some staff got EVERY Saturday off, and some none - a great way to demotivate your staff. It was a shambles.

[norris9]

Saturday only parcels DID work.
Most staff were finished very early on Saturday,

Clearly it didn't work then because you didn't have sufficient work on the Saturday to fill the hours you were paid for?

Simple solution to that, instead of 1 person covering 2 rounds make it 4 or how ever many to fill the hours. More people can have Saturdays off

Jeez! I was going over when delivering 2 rounds of parcels. The idea of doing 4 rounds.... I think I am going to feint.

Not sure if some offices only had to deliver parcels? we had to deliver small packets too. Possibly why people were finishing early in other depots?

I suppose if you have a pair of rounds which are compact, easy to park on, with no one-way system and all houses are close together with no driveways, then you are going to finish early. My round is the opposite to this.

[Grumpyoldmailman]

Simple solution to that, instead of 1 person covering 2 rounds make it 4 or how ever many to fill the hours. More people can have Saturdays off

That is the solution but I would say 3 walks instead of 4, the problem is it’s more job losses though. Maybe Sunday drivers put in as well to clear the parcels that are in the system that day and to reduce the pressure on the Monday, would protect jobs as well if some were happy to do it.

[claretandblue]

Saturday only parcels DID work.
Most staff were finished very early on Saturday,

Clearly it didn't work then because you didn't have sufficient work on the Saturday to fill the hours you were paid for?

Simple solution to that, instead of 1 person covering 2 rounds make it 4 or how ever many to fill the hours. More people can have Saturdays off

The problems arose when through that 6 week period some staff got EVERY Saturday off, and some none - a great way to demotivate your staff. It was a shambles.

This, i worked every saturday.

[Woody Guthrie]

But it wasn't a simple solution because any changes to attendance patterns had to be voluntary.

Add to that the need to have competent sorters in and from my experience not enough has been invested over the years to ensure enough people are trained on IPS to ensure an efficient operation.

It was poorly implemented by the usual dearth of management competence and doomed from the start by the union's negative positioning.

It could possibly have worked even on a voluntary basis but the CWU had already planted the seed of non co-operation and the members then refused to show much flexibility.

Whether it was in our interests to be co-operative is a different and complex question but I have little time for clog throwing without any deeper thought process than "we don't like change".

Those that say it was a shambles are completely ignoring the fact that in many offices it was a shambles before it was implemented and still remains so.

[Cucumber]

But it wasn't a simple solution because any changes to attendance patterns had to be voluntary.

Add to that the need to have competent sorters in and from my experience not enough has been invested over the years to ensure enough people are trained on IPS to ensure an efficient operation.

It was poorly implemented by the usual dearth of management competence and doomed from the start by the union's negative positioning.

It could possibly have worked even on a voluntary basis but the CWU had already planted the seed of non co-operation and the members then refused to show much flexibility.

Whether it was in our interests to be co-operative is a different and complex question but I have little time for clog throwing without any deeper thought process than "we don't like change".

Those that say it was a shambles are completely ignoring the fact that in many offices it was a shambles before it was implemented and still remains so.

I'm not ignoring those facts in the slightest.

The management/implementation of 1 person per van back in March was a shambles.
The management/implementation of parcels only Saturday was a shambles.
Coming out of that and back to the way things were means it continues to be a shambles.

for the record I've been as flexible as humanly possible during this, covering different walks from my 'own', augmenting my start/finish time to get as much productive work done in the time given under the constraints. Many (certainly in my own office) will scoff at this type of attitude thinking 'why help them out' as they dig their heels in over certain issues, which is their right, but a lot of people are failing to see that this way of working can't go on.

[Steiner]

In my experience (which has not been a particularly favourable one,) parcel only days have been at their best when it's the individual postie's decision. Having an arbitrary parcel day every week really did not work out as it meant me and my partner got irreparably behind on the mail, but being able to declare that we need a day dealing exclusively with packets every couple of weeks has worked better.

It might not work for some, might work for others, but that's the point; different walks and different posties need different approaches.

[rambo1]

Saturday only parcels DID work.
Most staff were finished very early on Saturday,

Clearly it didn't work then because you didn't have sufficient work on the Saturday to fill the hours you were paid for?

Simple solution to that, instead of 1 person covering 2 rounds make it 4 or how ever many to fill the hours. More people can have Saturdays off

There must be some very easy offices coz most of ours couldn't finish one person on 2 deliveries with packets on a Saturday on time .

[Cucumber]

Saturday only parcels DID work.
Most staff were finished very early on Saturday,

Clearly it didn't work then because you didn't have sufficient work on the Saturday to fill the hours you were paid for?

Simple solution to that, instead of 1 person covering 2 rounds make it 4 or how ever many to fill the hours. More people can have Saturdays off

There must be some very easy offices coz most of ours couldn't finish one person on 2 deliveries with packets on a Saturday on time .

Couldn't be further from the truth. Very busy office. If it went in the frame like a letter and bundled like a letter, it was treated as a large letter and left until the Monday (graze boxes/photos/thin packages). Anything else went out, probably 150 or so items. Out at 8:30am, 4 hours to deliver 150 odd items in a 2 sq mile area, 2-3 items for quite a few houses. Saturdays wasn't the problem, it was the Monday.