2.5 minutes

[Clifford883]

How is your depot coping with the times between drops getting reduced from 4 mins to 2.5mins?

It seems to have helped management pluck an unrealistic target out of the bag, almost on par with owner drivers who draw a line for their route, who are on double the salary. I think it officially kicks in next week although, some drivers have already been told to keep up with these new targets in the last few weeks.

How nice and thoughtful of them, after working tirelessly throughout the pandemic, on the back of a huge profit .

[ariadne]

We have not been told of the change at my depot but I have struggled to make any time this last two weeks.

Usually I could make between five and ten minutes per hour on a good day but if this has been implemented then I see now why I can't keep up any more.

I don't understand how a system which was trailed during the pandemic, with no traffic on the roads and almost all customers at home can now be altered so as to increase the workload now we are back to school runs, rush hours, 25 - 30% of customers NOH requiring 739 cards to be filled in ect:

All we get is robotic management peddling the same 'Computer says it's achievable' line every morning, no debate, just take the extra drops REX says you need and get on with it.

How long before the workforce start to go sick with the Mental stress of this awful system.

[iainwilson]

How long before the workforce start to go sick with the Mental stress of this awful system.

Been off sick last few days for that exact reason. Had this system a month now in Rotherham

[2yearpostie]

I know our drops are closer together but RM drivers have been doing this for a good while, We are expected to do 30 parcels an hour plus the mail.

[iainwilson]

I’ve gone from 12 stops an hour loaded in order to 15 stops an hour with nothing loaded in order. Most days I’m behind the 1 hour time window by 11/1130

[jcwhite]

We cant load in drop order as we don't know the order until REX has been "optimised". The clock then starts ticking and no time to rearrange the load. So you end up climbing over parcels to get to the first drops (Health and Safety issue). It also tells you if you need to load more drops or take some off. How does it know if you can do more? It does not know what route to take until its "optimised" again. For instance it told me to take 9 off the other day and it only took 8 mins of my timings lol.
Today I had to take 3 extra drops which were round the corner from the depot which I pass on the way to my route. Yet it wanted me to deliver on my way back after 5pm when their closed (Great customer service or what). So I did them first as I refuse to play this silly game. If I'm passing a drop and then have to go out of my way to deliver it later, then they get it early.

[NickRMCustomer]

Hello,

I don't work for ParcelForce, but I hope you are able to somehow express these concerns to Senior Management, but more importantly, I hope that the Senior Management are interested in the impact that this new target is having is real terms - and they are listening. The impact on the end-user is what really matters here. Far too often, there is a disconnect between management and the workforce on time-based targets.

It is widely accepted that target-based working, especially when targets are not achievable simply leads to rushing, errors, stress, increased absence, and often great employees leaving.

From a distant observations, the PF staff at my local depot and delivery drivers have always been excellent. If PF management have the foresight to the read this forum, I would urge them to look at capacity situations in their Hubs (Coventry for example).

A question for the PF managers - instead of focussing on time targets, focus of getting every parcel delivered safely, increase your worker satisfaction and ask them what they need to be enable them to achieve this.

[White Van]

We cant load in drop order as we don't know the order until REX has been "optimised". The clock then starts ticking and no time to rearrange the load. So you end up climbing over parcels to get to the first drops (Health and Safety issue). It also tells you if you need to load more drops or take some off. How does it know if you can do more? It does not know what route to take until its "optimised" again. For instance it told me to take 9 off the other day and it only took 8 mins of my timings lol.
Today I had to take 3 extra drops which were round the corner from the depot which I pass on the way to my route. Yet it wanted me to deliver on my way back after 5pm when their closed (Great customer service or what). So I did them first as I refuse to play this silly game. If I'm passing a drop and then have to go out of my way to deliver it later, then they get it early.

Load in drop area. You don't have to scan to route because night sort have done it, all you need to do is put the stuff in the general area of where you can find it. I've done town and rural and drop order stopped after REX. Shuffle it to where you can find it, depart depot and hope for a lunchbreak.

[jcwhite]

We cant load in drop order as we don't know the order until REX has been "optimised". The clock then starts ticking and no time to rearrange the load. So you end up climbing over parcels to get to the first drops (Health and Safety issue). It also tells you if you need to load more drops or take some off. How does it know if you can do more? It does not know what route to take until its "optimised" again. For instance it told me to take 9 off the other day and it only took 8 mins of my timings lol.
Today I had to take 3 extra drops which were round the corner from the depot which I pass on the way to my route. Yet it wanted me to deliver on my way back after 5pm when their closed (Great customer service or what). So I did them first as I refuse to play this silly game. If I'm passing a drop and then have to go out of my way to deliver it later, then they get it early.

Load in drop area. You don't have to scan to route because night sort have done it, all you need to do is put the stuff in the general area of where you can find it. I've done town and rural and drop order stopped after REX. Shuffle it to where you can find it, depart depot and hope for a lunchbreak.

Oh to live in a perfect world. Today I had to take on 8 extra drops all within a few hundred yards in industrial estate around our depot. Yet REX wanted me to do my first drop 10 miles away and then return to the industrial estate to do the 8 drops and then return the 10 miles to get back on my normal route. ( the first drop was not a timed drop before you ask). I didn't do it as per REX and saved 20 miles and over 40 mins and still managed to hit the first drop within the time bracket. So much for "optimized" routing and turning red vans green.

[White Van]

We cant load in drop order as we don't know the order until REX has been "optimised". The clock then starts ticking and no time to rearrange the load. So you end up climbing over parcels to get to the first drops (Health and Safety issue). It also tells you if you need to load more drops or take some off. How does it know if you can do more? It does not know what route to take until its "optimised" again. For instance it told me to take 9 off the other day and it only took 8 mins of my timings lol.
Today I had to take 3 extra drops which were round the corner from the depot which I pass on the way to my route. Yet it wanted me to deliver on my way back after 5pm when their closed (Great customer service or what). So I did them first as I refuse to play this silly game. If I'm passing a drop and then have to go out of my way to deliver it later, then they get it early.

Load in drop area. You don't have to scan to route because night sort have done it, all you need to do is put the stuff in the general area of where you can find it. I've done town and rural and drop order stopped after REX. Shuffle it to where you can find it, depart depot and hope for a lunchbreak.

Oh to live in a perfect world. Today I had to take on 8 extra drops all within a few hundred yards in industrial estate around our depot. Yet REX wanted me to do my first drop 10 miles away and then return to the industrial estate to do the 8 drops and then return the 10 miles to get back on my normal route. ( the first drop was not a timed drop before you ask). I didn't do it as per REX and saved 20 miles and over 40 mins and still managed to hit the first drop within the time bracket. So much for "optimized" routing and turning red vans green.

Totally agree, did you feed it back after being optimised because I can generally get an exception if it's obviously stupid after I've taken on locals to make up the numbers. A perfect world would be good but REX and the PRB are far from it and they need to keep feeding it back for it to work. I've got a village chopped in half next week and REX usually has loads of fun with it, I may well have to draw the line rather than auto to complete but will probably be told to stick to auto which will mean loads of fails but I'm out there sticking to my sequence and time windows. They can view my route and see instantly that I'm not the problem.

[bri189]

Since the auto Rex sequence has been the norm there has been zero improvement in fact it gets worse even on a Saturday with no collections it’s still wank you give feedback nothing is getting better

[White Van]

Since the auto Rex sequence has been the norm there has been zero improvement in fact it gets worse even on a Saturday with no collections it’s still wank you give feedback nothing is getting better

So keep doing it to the letter.

[Ciara79]

I've been working for parcelforce for 13 years and now on stress because of this new system. Absolute joke

[SpacePhoenix]

Are they going to issue all PF staff with a Tardis?

[White Van]

Are they going to issue all PF staff with a Tardis?

Stick to REX and return in time for your 15 min vehicle checks and unloading at the end of your duty. Call in any and all roadwork issues on the PDA because these are not your problem. Timing is a huge issue with especially with rural routes and national speed limit country lanes let alone half a mile up a farm track before you get to the house. I use the satnav on the PDA a lot because that's where it sent me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯