Hellish 2nd week

[Wolf91]

Like usual the newbies who know the job the least get completely shafted. 860 drops? That’s just nuts. The biggest in our office is like 680-700. No wonder the turnover rate for new starts is so high.
I’d be cutting off everyday if that were me. Not your fault the round is not doable.
Hang in there though, don’t get too demoralised.
I’d be happy to answer any questions if you need advice on stuff. There’s some good folk on this site who would also do the same I’m sure.

[dodgyinlaws]

This is what i do, upto you if you want to follow it, when i know i have no chance of completing on my time i ask the manager what he wants me to do with the mail that is going to take me over my time, the mantra now in our office is to take it all out and stream, meaning prioritise specials, tracked, first class, dated,so you can finish on time, put the ball in the managers court, it might mean you are bringing bundles of mail back to throw in the next day, but so what, repeat the process and carry on, let the managers fix the problem thats what they get paid for

[TopperGas]

Does your round include any blocks of flats or buildings with letterboxes grouped on the ground floor? If proportion of letterboxes is small and there is no concierge or receptionist where you could maybe leave your parcels with, well it must be hell of a duty! I can imagine prep takes ages as being new to the job, you are first of all slower and secondly you most likely need to mark all your packets or make a list of oversized.

I can tell you that power walking or not is not going to make a huge difference to your finishing time. I mean don't get me wrong if you'd drag your feet it will certainly slow you down. The real savings can be made by decent organisation. Bags in order, what I mean by that is packets properly placed in order as you should deliver. Its good practice to label your bags, if you have any. For example bag 1,2,3 or by street, loops names. Planning your oversized well helps too. Another factor is knowing your customers, experienced posties would know a lot of people from their round so they can leave a parcel in porch or somewhere where it is expected. Not everybody does it that way but these days if you don't cut corners you will most likely be going over your time even as an experienced postie. Large rounds and an unexperienced guy is bound to struggle massively.

No there are no flats on my route, just a whole lot of walking up and down driveways and paths, opening front gates, walking hills, steps etc. Organisation is quite hard as the load area in the van is so small so parcels often have to get stacked on top of eachother which leaves me looking about and reoganising mid-shift which does take a bit of time. Also, what do you mean by 'bags?' Do you mean the bag you carry on your shoulder? The way our office organises things is by placing letters, packets and smaller parcels into trays and then lifting the mail out of the tray when you get to your destination. I have about 8 trays, each with 4 or 5 different estates and streets in them.

I do spend a bit of time waiting around for people to answer doors, avoiding walking over gardens and hopping fences, writing out those red and white cards and collecting mail from postboxes. It's just very diheartening when at the end of your shift you still have mail to deliver when you feel like you've been breaking your balls walking 23K all day and coming up short.

You need to make sure the trays are clearly marked 1 to 8 and kept in that order, then you just start at tray 1 and work though them.

Likewise you need to keep your oversized parcels in a similar order and also work though them. Once you've decided what time you intend finishing work then an hour before just work though the remaining trays and boxes for anything Tracked and then concentrate on delivering them. If you can't complete, say, boxes 7 & 8 make sure they are delivered the following day and then just deliver the Tracked on, say, boxes 1 & 2.

With a bit of luck after a couple of weeks another new starter will get lumbered with your present round and you'll be moved on to an easier round.

Common sense would suggest that new starters are given a much shorter round but there doesn't seem much of that in the RM.

[ssdd]

You need to make sure the trays are clearly marked 1 to 8 and kept in that order, then you just start at tray 1 and work though them.

Likewise you need to keep your oversized parcels in a similar order and also work though them. Once you've decided what time you intend finishing work then an hour before just work though the remaining trays and boxes for anything Tracked and then concentrate on delivering them. If you can't complete, say, boxes 7 & 8 make sure they are delivered the following day and then just deliver the Tracked on, say, boxes 1 & 2.

With a bit of luck after a couple of weeks another new starter will get lumbered with your present round and you'll be moved on to an easier round.

Common sense would suggest that new starters are given a much shorter round but there doesn't seem much of that in the RM.

It would probably be easier to leave the mail in the frame...agreed with DOM beforehand.

[ronaldinho0097]

If you're out the door at quarter to 10 and not back until 6pm that's nearly 8 hours delivery. I honestly don't believe there are duties that big even if they were walked backwards. Are you sure you're only being given 1 duty?

It's just the one duty. 860 drops.

[blacov]

If you're out the door at quarter to 10 and not back until 6pm that's nearly 8 hours delivery. I honestly don't believe there are duties that big even if they were walked backwards. Are you sure you're only being given 1 duty?

It's just the one duty. 860 drops.

I feel sorry you. Where I work 800+ Calls on a duty occur but these duties almost certainly have large proportion of purpose built flats. If you dont have bags,pouches it sucks as you need bag up each tray as you deliver. Another thing is that 8 trays do not seem excessive. Sounds like a one normal duty. Often I use more trays especially with small packets loaded too. Are we talking about grey mech trays? They’re smallish. If i were you id start with walking across gardens. It will save some time for sure.

[Dexydog]

Why would you walk across someone's garden, and risk the wrath of an angry customer, just so you can deliver even more mail??
Do the duty properly ffs, cut off, bring mail back.
It's advice like this that has got us to this place.

[ronaldinho0097]

If you're out the door at quarter to 10 and not back until 6pm that's nearly 8 hours delivery. I honestly don't believe there are duties that big even if they were walked backwards. Are you sure you're only being given 1 duty?

It's just the one duty. 860 drops.

I feel sorry you. Where I work 800+ Calls on a duty occur but these duties almost certainly have large proportion of purpose built flats. If you dont have bags,pouches it sucks as you need bag up each tray as you deliver. Another thing is that 8 trays do not seem excessive. Sounds like a one normal duty. Often I use more trays especially with small packets loaded too. Are we talking about grey mech trays? They’re smallish. If i were you id start with walking across gardens. It will save some time for sure.

Yes we're talking about the smallish grey trays but to be honest only the letter mail and small packets fit, everything else has to get stacked on top which then takes time sifting through it while out and about. The vans I use are small also which leaves me having to cram parcels in where I can get them.

I have been advised not to walk over gardens as those on my route previously have gotten complaints put in against them for doing so. Most of the route is a middle class area. The residents can be quite nasty at times. I'd say if the organisation was as good as it could be I'd only be shaving 40 or so minutes off of my time as most of my time is spent on foot.

Tomorrow I will mention to the DOM regarding work load and finishing times. If I was allowed to work from 8.30 - 2/3pm I'd be happy. This being out to 6pm has just got to stop, espcecially seeing as I am on a 20hr contract.

[Dexydog]

And pretty soon it will be dark at 4.
You can add time on for that as well, trust me, that takes a LOT longer.

[Blinkboy44]

The reality is some of the duties are too long, and if you went out on a slightly busy day (which is most days now) with everything and didn’t drop any loops or packets, you would go over. It takes experience of prepping that particular round, and prepping in general to get out on time, and for it to be organised enough you won’t waste any time. Many times you see new starters tying up and it looks like a complete s**t show, messy unorganised bags and van, mountains of parcels shoved in the bundles. Just a disaster waiting to happen. And then there’s those who claim they don’t need to write parcels down, because they will apparently remember them (not usually the new starters, but those that do try and show off about it for some reason) but they also never fail to forget a parcel in an area they’ve already been to, and have to go back.

Organisation is key, but your not trying to go quick or impress anyone by ‘being quick’. It’s not impressive. Any one can be quick. Were you impressed at school by the kid who finished his homework first? All you should be trying to do is finish your round at somewhat the right time.

If there’s too much, it’s up to you to convince them that you won’t have enough time, and just take enough to take you to your time if that’s what you want. It’s not about you being put on the long round because you’ll get on with it, it’s because if your a new starter then you have to deal with what we’ve all had to go through, and be put on the stinkers for however long they need covering.

Sounds like you lucked out on your first week. If you went from loving the job so much to disliking it so quickly due to the simple pressure of having a lot more work, then this might not be the job for you. we have a cut off procedure in place for this exact reason, fair enough if no one explained it to you, but sadly this job will probably be this busy now, if not worse then this every time it reaches month end. And remember this is quiet time.

no matter how much you think you’ll be ‘flying around” right now, you won’t be. New starters are slow. And when they are not, they’ve mixed parcels up in the wrong bags, not turned for stuff. It’s a nightmare to work with that. Just take your time and be accurate, not quick, again it’s not impressive to do something quickly but make a total mess of it in the process rather then of done it at normal pace and accurately. And It’s not about your walking speed, it’s generally down to your organisation and being efficient. Walking speed is just part of it. You might be striding to your next call, but if your letters aren’t ready in hand or your unaware you’ve got a parcel, you’ve already wasted a few seconds. It’s not about being fast, it’s about being efficient (when you need to be). If you clock your on a good / short round, you can drop efficiency. Don’t get new starter syndrome and think your a beast when you’ll end up pissing everyone off because you’ll make the easiest round in the office made longer.

don’t let management or other posties who will naturally be faster pressure you, but also don’t run around trying to get done on time out of the principal of not working over. If you don’t want to work over, don’t. But if you’ve allowed yourself to get in a position where you will / might, go over, just think about it. Going over an extra 20 mins and getting paid for it, probably better then running around for 4 hours stressing and trying to get done on time, when you haven’t even given yourself enough time to do what needs to be done. You can’t complete a 4 and half hour walk on time if you don’t get out 4 and a half hours before finish time. If you don’t want to go over, air on the side of caution, but whatever you do dont go back to the office a minute before your finish time. Good luck

[Dexydog]

Excellent, sensible advice.
Just to add, make sure you take your break.
If you're 20 hours it might only be 10 minutes, but take it.
If you're working longer, you get a longer break-take them, before you go out.
Or if you're on delivery, take 10 minutes in the van, or go to macdonalds and get yourself a brew.
You won't be any better thought of for killing yourself, that's an absolute certainty-in fact, management will just think you can do the job better than Fred who started on the same day as you, and give him the easier walk.

[yellowbelly]

.........
no matter how much you think you’ll be ‘flying around” right now, you won’t be. New starters are slow. And when they are not, they’ve mixed parcels up in the wrong bags, not turned for stuff. It’s a nightmare to work with that. Just take your time and be accurate, not quick, again it’s not impressive to do something quickly but make a total mess of it in the process rather then of done it at normal pace and accurately. And It’s not about your walking speed, it’s generally down to your organisation and being efficient..
.......

Excellent post from blinkboy, just to expand on what blinky means about 'not turned for stuff' if you don't know, he means when you're at the
frame sorting your parcels, turn the letter round back to front for the address that has the parcel or keep it
with address showing and write on the letter in the corner a small 'P' so you'll realise you've got a parcel for that address.
If you've not got a letter some posties will put a 739 in the address slot with just the house number on it (or even blank),
but just don't stick the 739 through a letterbox by mistake!

Some will say either of the above are not 'correct procedure' but it's whatever helps you out as you've
been dumped on big style by the sounds of it.

This is what I did when I started but over time as you get to know a round you will be able to stack
the parcels in delivery order and it's just a glance as you're at the back of the van to where the next parcel is for.

[Dorset Plodder]

. Also, what do you mean by 'bags?' Do you mean the bag you carry on your shoulder? The way our office organises things is by placing letters, packets and smaller parcels into trays and then lifting the mail out of the tray when you get to your destination. I have about 8 trays, each with 4 or 5 different estates and streets in them.

I do spend a bit of time waiting around for people to answer doors,

The "Bags" are indeed the RED ones you see many Posties carrying over their shoulders. They can help with Organising, and Delivering, your Duty. Be Aware that there are weight limits on the ammount of mail you should carry. Never be tempted to load yourself up like a Donkey, it'll cause you long term Shoulder & Back problems over the years.

There is also LWTs (Light Weight Trolleys) which look like golf trolleys. You can hook a couple of Red Bags on them, ideal if you've got a lot of smallish parcels for an area, and TBH I've found them very useful in the past. Both items can be ordered through your DOM if you haven't got any. Try flying the Health & Safety Flag if you get resistance.

I mention them because they may help you. Instead of Trays, once you know where you're going it might be easier to load up a Bag put it on a LWT and walk around like that, or load up a couple of bags with parcels and walk with a bundle of letters in your other hand? It's a damn sight easier than struggling with an arefull of mail and a packet stuck under your armpit!

Once you're on a duty it's up to you how you deliver it, and there's many ways to skin a cat. So make it easier for yourself. With the 739s (Red Cards) I start writing them out as I'm ringing the doorbell, AND Banging the Door with the PDA (save your knuckles). Saves waiting even a minute before you realise no one's in. If I manage to complete it and then they answer the door (usual occurance) I just tear it up and present it to them .... Subliminally suggesting, "Get off your arse and answer the door quicker next time".

[ronaldinho0097]

. Also, what do you mean by 'bags?' Do you mean the bag you carry on your shoulder? The way our office organises things is by placing letters, packets and smaller parcels into trays and then lifting the mail out of the tray when you get to your destination. I have about 8 trays, each with 4 or 5 different estates and streets in them.

I do spend a bit of time waiting around for people to answer doors,

The "Bags" are indeed the RED ones you see many Posties carrying over their shoulders. They can help with Organising, and Delivering, your Duty. Be Aware that there are weight limits on the ammount of mail you should carry. Never be tempted to load yourself up like a Donkey, it'll cause you long term Shoulder & Back problems over the years.

There is also LWTs (Light Weight Trolleys) which look like golf trolleys. You can hook a couple of Red Bags on them, ideal if you've got a lot of smallish parcels for an area, and TBH I've found them very useful in the past. Both items can be ordered through your DOM if you haven't got any. Try flying the Health & Safety Flag if you get resistance.

I mention them because they may help you. Instead of Trays, once you know where you're going it might be easier to load up a Bag put it on a LWT and walk around like that, or load up a couple of bags with parcels and walk with a bundle of letters in your other hand? It's a damn sight easier than struggling with an arefull of mail and a packet stuck under your armpit!

Once you're on a duty it's up to you how you deliver it, and there's many ways to skin a cat. So make it easier for yourself. With the 739s (Red Cards) I start writing them out as I'm ringing the doorbell, AND Banging the Door with the PDA (save your knuckles). Saves waiting even a minute before you realise no one's in. If I manage to complete it and then they answer the door (usual occurance) I just tear it up and present it to them .... Subliminally suggesting, "Get off your arse and answer the door quicker next time".

I wasn't even given a bag of my own lol I had to look around in dark corners of the office for one that I could use. I only have the one. Also, never heard of or seen anyone use trolleys in my office, didn't even know they were a thing! The only but of RM kit I have to my name is a high vis.

I appreciate the advice!

[Dorset Plodder]

Excellent post from blinkboy, just to expand on what blinky means about 'not turned for stuff' if you don't know, he means when you're at the
frame sorting your parcels, turn the letter round back to front for the address that has the parcel or keep it
with address showing and write on the letter in the corner a small 'P' so you'll realise you've got a parcel for that address.
If you've not got a letter some posties will put a 739 in the address slot with just the house number on it (or even blank),
but just don't stick the 739 through a letterbox by mistake!

Some will say either of the above are not 'correct procedure' but it's whatever helps you out as you've
been dumped on big style by the sounds of it.

I agree Excellent Advice from Blinkboy.

Turning the Letter for a Parcel is one idea... I always used to get stressed as a Newbie rushing around, simply turning the Letter back around and Posting it (without the parcel)!

I've used the 739 Trick which has the advantage of making sure you've got a 739 to fill in ... again as a Newbie I've run out in the past!

Nowadays, with all the tracked, I've started using those Brightly Coloured Cards that come with the Yorkes/Cages in the morning. Once I've thrown off I can look at the frame spot all the Cards and see where I know I've got to go (for Tracked) and spot perhaps a small road, or close that I could "Stream" if I'm pushed for time. In your case you're going to be doing a lot of that by the sounds of it!

Perhaps part of that conversation that you've got to have with your DOM is, "Look I can make sure I'll get all the Priority stuff delivered, but there's no way I'm going to deliver everything within my time"! Then just concentrate on the priorites , with perhaps a small loop around them.
Most DOMs will usually want you to take everything with you (just because it makes them look good if they have a surprise visit) but don't put yourself under any more pressure. Tell him you'll be brining it back when your time's up.

When you bundle up make some note of those bundles you know you'll be bringing back, and when you get to them put them in a seperate tray. It all saves time