Return to shared vans from *?????????* ***

[POSTMAN]

Yes further guidance they said, but nothing yet.

[Rommagic]

That's what I thought postman.

[Jahpostie]

Rising infections and brutally hot weather. Now is not the best time to bring back van share!

[Cucumber]

Van share doesn’t return and I imagine our office and others will have their start and finish times drastically changed, as we were designed completely on van share.
About a months notice isn’t it?

[Rommagic]

Near 5pm no update.

[twoloops]

We have decided as pair we are not going to van share & carry on taking it in turns to drive out & one goes straight home on finish, what a fantastic job we have

[POSTMAN]

We have decided as pair we are not going to van share & carry on taking it in turns to drive out & one goes straight home on finish, what a fantastic job

Bet everyone in your office is well jel.

[Cucumber]

We have decided as pair we are not going to van share & carry on taking it in turns to drive out & one goes straight home on finish, what a fantastic job we have

Would be an ideal solution for everyone, alas we have many staff doing 6 hour deliveries and others doing a fraction of that due to no way of getting staff to delivery points.

[thevardinator]

The whole situation is a shambles. I understand some have had it very easy for the last 18 months by single van driving but many have had it exceedingly tough, many in my office including myself have.

Personally I can't wait for van sharing to return, my partner (van driver) feels the same too , the sooner the better. Having to walk out and back from the duty and between the loops has put an extra 3/4 or so miles on top of what I usually walk which over the last 18 months has been obviously physically awful.

It's meant my partner having to deliver the vast majority of the oversize by himself whilst I'm walking out to the delivery, instead of us being able to fly around and get them done together which is so much better, obviously with everything taking us longer, it's meant us having to leave a lot of oversize most days which obviously annoys management and the usual rubbish/threats that come with it. The office doesn't have enough vans for everybody to do single jobs, and personally I have little inclination to do so, as my job is an hour longer than the 2 combined we do.

We work in an office of 100 or so, I work right next to my job partner and the isle is fairly small so I'm pretty close to most of them most of the morning, I bump shoulders with probably 40/50 other staff most mornings, for over 2 hours, sometimes 3 on heavy days. I'm not sure that 10/15 extra minutes together in a van (windows open) with someone I stand next to for hours every morning, would really make any difference to anything. If one of us has got it, I'm pretty sure there's a 99% chance it will get spread in the office space.

I think it should 100% be a personal choice at the minute, on a job by job basis. It you want to van share and the partner is in agreement I don't see any issues, if either of them don't want to then stay as it is until told otherwise.

[wookie]

This whole situation was so avoidable. The business and the union were handed a perfect opportunity to transform the business to a single van model where it should be, but instead have spent 18 months crossing their fingers that shared vans can come back. There is already talk of another September/October lockdown so let’s say van share comes back week after next. We get 6-10 weeks then it’s time to try get all those hire vans back again for god knows how long.
Van share should be scrapped and I bet the business may almost make the money back they would spend on more
Vans by having reduced sickness. Let’s be honest van share is s**t, inefficient and just generally a pain in the arse.
Rant over.

Totally agree and very well put.

[wookie]

Bring back the grey boxes on the street , single deliveries again !

Them and the boxes that were bolted to the side of post boxes are long gone

I still have 2 grey boxes on my walk, I assume Royal Mail are still paying the rent for them. Unless someone puts me right.

[POSTMAN]

Bring back the grey boxes on the street , single deliveries again !

Them and the boxes that were bolted to the side of post boxes are long gone

I still have 2 grey boxes on my walk, I assume Royal Mail are still paying the rent for them. Unless someone puts me right.

They are Royal Mails, they would have had planning permission for them. There are probably hundreds around the country now defunked, apart from the crafty few who still use them.

[POSTMAN]

We work in an office of 100 or so, I work right next to my job partner and the isle is fairly small so I'm pretty close to most of them most of the morning, I bump shoulders with probably 40/50 other staff most mornings, for over 2 hours, sometimes 3 on heavy days.

You know Royal Mail would say pants on fire.

How has that been left to go on?

[thevardinator]

Since the start pretty much.

Most of the office have given up on masks now or just wear them around their necks, personally that doesn't bother me but I know some in the office find it annoying.

We have a handful of people who come in a little later, around 9/10 when the majority are out of the office, but we don't have anyone coming in for afternoon deliveries now as people were fed up with getting back so late, and I don't blame them tbh.

All in all I just find it a bit hypocritical that so many things don't happen in the office that obviously would spread covid like wildfire if someone did have it, but then you've got people against a van share for 10 mins a day.

[Cucumber]

It's crystal clear that there isn't a plan. Or a meaningful update.