The travelling postman

2yearpostie · Post by **2yearpostie** » 03 Sep 2020, 15:50

Never seen this type of contract

Part time Delivery Postperson with Driving

Job reference: 125655

Location: New Rossington Delivery Office & Rural Areas DN11 0PE

Contract: Fixed Term temporary until 27/06/21

Hours: 30:00 hours, between 07:30 and 16:30 , 5 days per week (Monday – Saturday) Must be flexible to cover 8 different offices. New Rossington, Conisborough, Denby, Hatfield, Stainforth, Finningley, Misterton, Owston Ferry

Post by **Murdoch** » 03 Sep 2020, 15:57

I don't find that particularly strange. Kinda makes sense to have reserves cover an area.

What I do find strange, is that all the new vacancies are fixed term contracts. Anybody got any input on why that is the case?

Post by **Munchboii** » 03 Sep 2020, 17:02

Murdoch wrote:I don't find that particularly strange. Kinda makes sense to have reserves cover an area.

What I do find strange, is that all the new vacancies are fixed term contracts. Anybody got any input on why that is the case?

That is probably Royal Mails date to aim to go to a 5 day post operation. So when the 6 day week ends all the temp staff lose their jobs through no extensions, and royal mail and the CWU are happy because
1. Royal Mail claim nobody was made compulsory redundant.
2. Vast majority of temporary staff do not join the Union so the CWU don't care about them.

This has been tried and tested in the overseas territories I.e Jersey ect. Royal Mail probably have them as a case study as they are all at least 5 days now.

wallan · Post by **wallan** » 03 Sep 2020, 17:27

Possible SPDO,s they are planning to Concentrate before the End Of The Contract ?

bucks123 · Post by **bucks123** » 03 Sep 2020, 17:46

Munchboii wrote:
Murdoch wrote: What I do find strange, is that all the new vacancies are fixed term contracts. Anybody got any input on why that is the case?
That is probably Royal Mails date to aim to go to a 5 day post operation.....

I would agree with this. I have just had a look at royal mail jobs website and checked a random selection of OPG vacancies across the country and they all have the 27th June 2021 fixed term contract end date which would suggest a planned reduction in staffing, achieved by not extending everyone on these new contracts. When I joined 3 years ago I was initially on a 12 month fixed term contract (made permy after 3 months) but there was no specific end date mentioned in the job advert at the time.

2yearpostie · Post by **2yearpostie** » 03 Sep 2020, 17:53

27th june 2021 is a Sunday.

Route1 · Post by **Route1** » 03 Sep 2020, 21:10

I think a batch of staff started between 2015-2017 & even though they were assigned to our office they were classed as sector reserves. And they were the first to be kicked about different offices.

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 03 Sep 2020, 21:23

We've had this before pre 2010 I think when we had "area reserves" on fixed term contracts.

What it meant then was that they were predicting major change and needed flexibility.

That's probably what's happening now. On the bright side all of those reserves ended up on permanent contracts with fixed parent offices after the farce that was BT2010.

Cucumber · Post by **Cucumber** » 04 Sep 2020, 06:58

Imagine though all the different little quirks you'd experience in each different office though

I suppose though, it gives the person a look at different places and if they are a good fit in an office and the manager treats them well, it could lead to getting a permanent job there in the future.
Who would decide the persons day off each week? Area manager?
There is no doubt going to be instances that the staff member is expected to be at a certain office but is told to go elsewhere some days, at very short notice too.

joewyan · Post by **joewyan** » 04 Sep 2020, 22:44

Murdoch wrote:I don't find that particularly strange. Kinda makes sense to have reserves cover an area.

What I do find strange, is that all the new vacancies are fixed term contracts. Anybody got any input on why that is the case?

When I joined in 2011 I was on a fixed term contract and so was everyone else for a few years afterwards at least

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 05 Sep 2020, 00:56

How are you to get to each office?

TheoF95 · Post by **TheoF95** » 05 Sep 2020, 09:07

Im a travelling reserve and cover up to 18 different SPDOs. I have my parent office which is 5 miles from my home address and i can claim mileage from there.
Some of the SPDO's are 40+ miles away so i can have a 90 mile round trip, but usually management try to keep you as close to home but sometimes that's not always possible. I do claim the 45p a mile and can earn between £40-200 a week.
I enjoy it and have done and learnt over 30+ walks.
I started early 2019 so this is nothing new. You get to meet so many different people and every office has its own way of doing things.

Deadly · Post by **Deadly** » 05 Sep 2020, 10:06

TheoF95 wrote:Im a travelling reserve and cover up to 18 different SPDOs. I have my parent office which is 5 miles from my home address and i can claim mileage from there.
Some of the SPDO's are 40+ miles away so i can have a 90 mile round trip, but usually management try to keep you as close to home but sometimes that's not always possible. I do claim the 45p a mile and can earn between £40-200 a week.
I enjoy it and have done and learnt over 30+ walks.
I started early 2019 so this is nothing new. You get to meet so many different people and every office has its own way of doing things.

I can see the attraction as I get bored pretty quickly doing the same thing every day. Does it make much difference to your car insurance having multiple work places?

TheoF95 · Post by **TheoF95** » 05 Sep 2020, 10:15

Deadly wrote:
TheoF95 wrote:Im a travelling reserve and cover up to 18 different SPDOs. I have my parent office which is 5 miles from my home address and i can claim mileage from there.
Some of the SPDO's are 40+ miles away so i can have a 90 mile round trip, but usually management try to keep you as close to home but sometimes that's not always possible. I do claim the 45p a mile and can earn between £40-200 a week.
I enjoy it and have done and learnt over 30+ walks.
I started early 2019 so this is nothing new. You get to meet so many different people and every office has its own way of doing things.
I can see the attraction as I get bored pretty quickly doing the same thing every day. Does it make much difference to your car insurance having multiple work places?

It didn't increase my insurance that much to be honest, less than £100 for the year but i cant remember exactly how much it was. I pay £350 all in annually on a 1.4 petrol..

Deadly · Post by **Deadly** » 05 Sep 2020, 10:42

That's not bad at all