Delivering in the Dark

[clashcityrocker]

in most units postie are only 1m+ away from each other sorting post for a couple of hours

Have you visited most units?

[Cucumber]

Companies the world over with far fewer resources than RM have altered their way of working permanently to be covid safe, yet here we are, 6 months on with the mother of all Christmases approaching and all we've had so far is a few well places rumours that they want to trial van shares again.
Van share is dead in the water.

is it? in most units postie are only 1m+ away from each other sorting post for a couple of hours, is sitting in a van with a mask on for 10 minutes any more of a risk?

As things stand, of course it's dead in the water. The longer it's gone the more chance it never returns. 6 months in and in all likelihood 18 months (minimum) until Covid poses a negligible risk to health either through vaccine or treatments/cures. Why bring it back after 2 years?
The people you mention that are 1m away from each other - I'd guess they are doing that off their own back. No one should be doing ANYTHING that a manager instructs you to do that brings you that close to people.
But, to offer some balance to your '10 minutes' argument - our office were 40 minutes together in a van before van sharing stopped.

[POSTMAN]

mail won't be that hard it'll be parcels that'll be the problem. when I did pre-shift parcel runs last christmas any delivery attempted before 7AM was usually pointless.

I hate doing those at that time people are not up at that time it takes forever to get an answer it's almost pointless and I feel stupid feel like I have to apologise and say I'm made to come this early.

I thought it was illegal to attempt any delivery before 7am

Dunno about illegal but for many years you were told not to attempt before 7AM

7 is the start time for delivering.

It's 16:27 and very light outside or is it cause I'm in sunny London?

[Cucumber]

Companies the world over with far fewer resources than RM have altered their way of working permanently to be covid safe, yet here we are, 6 months on with the mother of all Christmases approaching and all we've had so far is a few well places rumours that they want to trial van shares again.
Van share is dead in the water.

It’s shocking isn’t it. All duties should have been changed permanently to either hct or single van deliverys, it really wouldn’t have taken much work. This Christmas is going to be a disaster.

It would have been fairly easy to do, but for whatever reasons there is an extreme reluctance to make the changes. I could understand the confusion at the start of all this, but there now seems to be a total head in the sand attitude from the decision makers. I wouldn't be surprised if within a few weeks we'll all be given a £200-300 'bonus' to soften us up for something else.

[2yearpostie]

in most units postie are only 1m+ away from each other sorting post for a couple of hours

Have you visited most units?

The amount of ppl on here stating that isnt covid safe at the unit they are in proves a good snapshot.

[2yearpostie]

Companies the world over with far fewer resources than RM have altered their way of working permanently to be covid safe, yet here we are, 6 months on with the mother of all Christmases approaching and all we've had so far is a few well places rumours that they want to trial van shares again.
Van share is dead in the water.

It’s shocking isn’t it. All duties should have been changed permanently to either hct or single van deliverys, it really wouldn’t have taken much work. This Christmas is going to be a disaster.

It would have been fairly easy to do, but for whatever reasons there is an extreme reluctance to make the changes. I could understand the confusion at the start of all this, but there now seems to be a total head in the sand attitude from the decision makers. I wouldn't be surprised if within a few weeks we'll all be given a £200-300 'bonus' to soften us up for something else.

The main reason its not been done is because they cant afford any more vans, my unit only has 10 shared duties, but if van share goes that is an extra 10 vans my small unit needs, a bigger unit is going to need who knows an extra 50 vans and where are you going to park them?

[Woody Guthrie]

is it? in most units postie are only 1m+ away from each other sorting post for a couple of hours, is sitting in a van with a mask on for 10 minutes any more of a risk?

To us?
Perhaps, perhaps not.
Nobody is really sure yet.

To the business?
Definitely.
If you change policy from a safe system to even a slightly less safe system you better have the lawyers on speed dial.

[Cucumber]

Companies the world over with far fewer resources than RM have altered their way of working permanently to be covid safe, yet here we are, 6 months on with the mother of all Christmases approaching and all we've had so far is a few well places rumours that they want to trial van shares again.
Van share is dead in the water.

It’s shocking isn’t it. All duties should have been changed permanently to either hct or single van deliverys, it really wouldn’t have taken much work. This Christmas is going to be a disaster.

It would have been fairly easy to do, but for whatever reasons there is an extreme reluctance to make the changes. I could understand the confusion at the start of all this, but there now seems to be a total head in the sand attitude from the decision makers. I wouldn't be surprised if within a few weeks we'll all be given a £200-300 'bonus' to soften us up for something else.

The main reason its not been done is because they cant afford any more vans, my unit only has 10 shared duties, but if van share goes that is an extra 10 vans my small unit needs, a bigger unit is going to need who knows an extra 50 vans and where are you going to park them?

No company would go and simply double their fleet in this situation, even if they had the money.
Royal Mail HATE the fact that come 3pm, about 70% of their delivery fleet is sitting idle. Not to mention the significant numbers of staff that can't/don't drive for RM, what use would extra vans be then.
Why do you think new entrants are told they can expect to work anytime from 7am-7pm (and above).

[2yearpostie]

Maybe we need to look at morning shift just do 2 walks of letters,ip 5am-7am, delivery 7am-1pm, part timers just do 2 walk of oversized 1-6pm.

[Acca Dacca]

Companies the world over with far fewer resources than RM have altered their way of working permanently to be covid safe, yet here we are, 6 months on with the mother of all Christmases approaching and all we've had so far is a few well places rumours that they want to trial van shares again.
Van share is dead in the water.

It’s shocking isn’t it. All duties should have been changed permanently to either hct or single van deliverys, it really wouldn’t have taken much work. This Christmas is going to be a disaster.

It would have been fairly easy to do, but for whatever reasons there is an extreme reluctance to make the changes. I could understand the confusion at the start of all this, but there now seems to be a total head in the sand attitude from the decision makers. I wouldn't be surprised if within a few weeks we'll all be given a £200-300 'bonus' to soften us up for something else.

A lot of offices were moved into industrial estates in the middle of nowhere meaning theres no chance of enough, if any, HCT duties for the non drivers to do to be able to implement that

[Cucumber]

Companies the world over with far fewer resources than RM have altered their way of working permanently to be covid safe, yet here we are, 6 months on with the mother of all Christmases approaching and all we've had so far is a few well places rumours that they want to trial van shares again.
Van share is dead in the water.

It’s shocking isn’t it. All duties should have been changed permanently to either hct or single van deliverys, it really wouldn’t have taken much work. This Christmas is going to be a disaster.

It would have been fairly easy to do, but for whatever reasons there is an extreme reluctance to make the changes. I could understand the confusion at the start of all this, but there now seems to be a total head in the sand attitude from the decision makers. I wouldn't be surprised if within a few weeks we'll all be given a £200-300 'bonus' to soften us up for something else.

A lot of offices were moved into industrial estates in the middle of nowhere meaning theres no chance of enough, if any, HCT duties for the non drivers to do to be able to implement that

That's got to be a huge problem for those offices, and something that management/CWU just seem to be ignoring.

[Ralph Wiggum]

some right r soles posting at the minute wannabee managers me thinks

Amen to that!

[xPandabear1992x]

Companies the world over with far fewer resources than RM have altered their way of working permanently to be covid safe, yet here we are, 6 months on with the mother of all Christmases approaching and all we've had so far is a few well places rumours that they want to trial van shares again.
Van share is dead in the water.

It’s shocking isn’t it. All duties should have been changed permanently to either hct or single van deliverys, it really wouldn’t have taken much work. This Christmas is going to be a disaster.

It would have been fairly easy to do, but for whatever reasons there is an extreme reluctance to make the changes. I could understand the confusion at the start of all this, but there now seems to be a total head in the sand attitude from the decision makers. I wouldn't be surprised if within a few weeks we'll all be given a £200-300 'bonus' to soften us up for something else.

if the company as a whole is anything like my office, the systematic refusal to make the changes is down to people thinking because they've been there 20/30 years the changes don't apply to them, and when they get told otherwise they throw their toys out the pram.

90% of my office are perfectly happy going in without PPE, without social distancing, without using due caution to help protect themselves each other. As soon as RM come in and say "lets get back to van sharing" all these fucknuggets are suddenly concerned about their health.

What's worse is the union handed out PPE like nobody's business and then just sat back. And now the union has flipped it and are now saying health and safety is paramount.

[Acca Dacca]

Companies the world over with far fewer resources than RM have altered their way of working permanently to be covid safe, yet here we are, 6 months on with the mother of all Christmases approaching and all we've had so far is a few well places rumours that they want to trial van shares again.
Van share is dead in the water.

It’s shocking isn’t it. All duties should have been changed permanently to either hct or single van deliverys, it really wouldn’t have taken much work. This Christmas is going to be a disaster.

It would have been fairly easy to do, but for whatever reasons there is an extreme reluctance to make the changes. I could understand the confusion at the start of all this, but there now seems to be a total head in the sand attitude from the decision makers. I wouldn't be surprised if within a few weeks we'll all be given a £200-300 'bonus' to soften us up for something else.

if the company as a whole is anything like my office, the systematic refusal to make the changes is down to people thinking because they've been there 20/30 years the changes don't apply to them, and when they get told otherwise they throw their toys out the pram.

90% of my office are perfectly happy going in without PPE, without social distancing, without using due caution to help protect themselves each other. As soon as RM come in and say "lets get back to van sharing" all these fucknuggets are suddenly concerned about their health.

What's worse is the union handed out PPE like nobody's business and then just sat back. And now the union has flipped it and are now saying health and safety is paramount.

Doesnt PPE go hand in hand with health and safety or am I missing something? It was always supposed to be used in conjunction with social distancing not instead of.

[Woody Guthrie]

What's worse is the union handed out PPE like nobody's business and then just sat back. And now the union has flipped it and are now saying health and safety is paramount.

Like a lot of people you're confused about the role the union plays in the workplace. It's there to inform and educate, to organise and defend but it's not there to police. Union reps have exactly the same power to tell other people what to do as you... none.