royal mail has become a hell hole..

[Norfolk 'N' Chance]

Its still a good job compared to many others,thats why the majority stick with it theres not many other jobs that you finish at 2 pm every day,it becomes to much if you take on to much work and dont tell the managers no means no.

Im not sure, but i dont think there are many other jobs (of similar pay) where most days you are given too much work to complete within your contracted hours, and often have to go through quite a stressful confrontation just to be able to walk out of work at your contracted finish time.

Maybe not frontline jobs that are timesheeted, but in many supervisory/management roles that are salaried, the contracts will state that you the employee will work the hours necessary to do the job! And as its salaried that means no OT pay. Ive have roles like this and sure the salary is great, but when your doing 50, 60, 70hrs a week and are taking paperwork home and emailed/phoned at all hours, the salary is not as great as it looks!

[mjd24]

Its still a good job compared to many others,thats why the majority stick with it theres not many other jobs that you finish at 2 pm every day,it becomes to much if you take on to much work and dont tell the managers no means no.

Im not sure, but i dont think there are many other jobs (of similar pay) where most days you are given too much work to complete within your contracted hours, and often have to go through quite a stressful confrontation just to be able to walk out of work at your contracted finish time.

Maybe not frontline jobs that are timesheeted, but in many supervisory/management roles that are salaried, the contracts will state that you the employee will work the hours necessary to do the job! And as its salaried that means no OT pay. Ive have roles like this and sure the salary is great, but when your doing 50, 60, 70hrs a week and are taking paperwork home and emailed/phoned at all hours, the salary is not as great as it looks!

I said similarly paid jobs.

[blacov]

I have realized one thing. Royal Mail as a company is very near the bottom. However whether it's a hell hole it very much depends on the delivery office you are part of. Undeniably there are half decent offices where it is usually not too bad. They have at least semi decent gaffer, are reasonably well staffed and duties are pretty fair or at least large proportion of them are. On the other hand you have toxic places run by bullies and psychopaths where actually a small proportion of walks are doable, these places are often prone to high staff turnover. It's a nightmare if you start in an office like that or if it becomes one due to badly structured revisions or a new manager who took over and decided to show everyone who is the boss now.

[postiewhite]

I think a lot of posties stick with it because of the ammount of "time" they've invested in RM (especially Pension) .

If you're in your 50s or 60s I think you're more likely to stick it out, and we've got a high proportion of Older workers in this Business. Ironically it's these Older Posties that remain who feel that extra workload more.

What has become apparent in my Office recently is the ammount of knowledge you lose when those Older guys leave. New Recruits arrive, and are given little or no training, then they're left to get on with it. It's not until you find yourself constantly having to tell them that they need to do this, or that, (and it's through no fault of theirs) that you realise just how many hundreds of little pieces of information that a Postie has to deal with on a Daily Basis.

As with many things in life: When you lose that experience it's not that easy to replace.

I feel you learn the fact to say 'NO' through the experience of the older posties that refuse to be bullied. We have had so many new starters in the last two years in an office of around 90, I would say at least 15 newbies. I can see a lot have been dealing with fittings with 3-4 days of mail on them which is enough to put anyone off. These newbies are scared to say no to management (which is understandable) and tend to work til after 4pm most days to try and clear frames.
The older posties have 30-40yrs service but I honestly think in 35yrs time there wont be many next gen posties that will have years under their belt. Most of these new young ones will probably jump ship in a year or two

[rambo1]

Its still a good job compared to many others,thats why the majority stick with it theres not many other jobs that you finish at 2 pm every day,it becomes to much if you take on to much work and dont tell the managers no means no.

Finish at 2pm every day????? Is this a post from 10 yrs ago?? You're having a laugh aren't you?

[rambo1]

The grass is not always greener on the other side.
The job here is what you make it. No one can force you to work past your time and to be honest I know its not all bed and roses at RM but what I do know is that im always home for the latest 3pm everyday (half the time im home at 1.45pm), I don't work Sundays or bank holidays*. I dont have to try and get home in the dark in peak time traffic. My hourly wage is over £12 which is not that bad compared to carers that also do back breaking jobs for £9 an hour or shop/supermarket workers that also work for £9 and have to do a veriety of shifts including Sundays and bank holidays.
My mate has just jumped ship from RM to working on the bins and although his shift pattern is great (every Sat, Sun and Mon off) the full time salary is £21k over 37hrs. I can get the same wage doing 5hrs less each week.

*If/when RM put compulsory Sunday working into our shift pattern then I will probably try the bins myself as this would be a massive game changer for me, I simply will not work Sunday's for anyone, but in the meantime Im sticking to the job because I try not to let them grind me down. Work til your time unless it suits you!!!

There probably won't ever be too many Sunday deliveries, RM would probably get the LAT offices doing them

They have, for parcels. It is over £18/hr though.

[yellowbelly]

Its still a good job compared to many others,thats why the majority stick with it theres not many other jobs that you finish at 2 pm every day,it becomes to much if you take on to much work and dont tell the managers no means no.

Finish at 2pm every day????? Is this a post from 10 yrs ago?? You're having a laugh aren't you?

Depends when you get your mail in I suppose doens't it? If you get your mail at 0600 or therabouts it's easily
achievable. However, I know of rural SPDO's that dont get their mail until 0900 so don't finish until 1600 or thereabouts or even
later I would imagine this time of year.

[rambo1]

I think a lot of posties stick with it because of the ammount of "time" they've invested in RM (especially Pension) .

If you're in your 50s or 60s I think you're more likely to stick it out, and we've got a high proportion of Older workers in this Business. Ironically it's these Older Posties that remain who feel that extra workload more.

What has become apparent in my Office recently is the ammount of knowledge you lose when those Older guys leave. New Recruits arrive, and are given little or no training, then they're left to get on with it. It's not until you find yourself constantly having to tell them that they need to do this, or that, (and it's through no fault of theirs) that you realise just how many hundreds of little pieces of information that a Postie has to deal with on a Daily Basis.

As with many things in life: When you lose that experience it's not that easy to replace.

Those with the knowledge to sort IPS are dwindling fast. No body ever learns IPS anymore. I think those above think it's not needed because we have all these machines coming...

[rambo1]

Its still a good job compared to many others,thats why the majority stick with it theres not many other jobs that you finish at 2 pm every day,it becomes to much if you take on to much work and dont tell the managers no means no.

Finish at 2pm every day????? Is this a post from 10 yrs ago?? You're having a laugh aren't you?

Depends when you get your mail in I suppose doens't it? If you get your mail at 0600 or therabouts it's easily
achievable. However, I know of rural SPDO's that dont get their mail until 0900 so don't finish until 1600 or thereabouts or even
later I would imagine this time of year.

Our rurals finish time is between 3.30 and 4.15 depending on the day. If you want to complete at this time of year you are looking at 5 to 6pm most days. Working your last 1.5 hrs with a head torch. Argh the equality of royal mail....

[Dorset Plodder]

I have realized one thing. Royal Mail as a company is very near the bottom. However whether it's a hell hole it very much depends on the delivery office you are part of.

Very True Blacov. I often wonder if this is why we have Mangement Statements such as; "On AVERAGE all our Delivery Offices are coping well with the revisions" Perhaps half are cruising with manageable workloads BUT the other half are drowing in mail & parcels .......

TBH we coped better during Covid than we are now. No great mystery we lost 22% of our staff! We had some New Recruits arrive.....BUT lost the same ammount Long Term Sick and Self Isolating (admitedly a short term problem).

Morale is at Rock Bottom and Stress Levels are going through the roof. As we all know in this Business when the work starts piling up Posties tend to start snapping & arguing with their colleagues. Not a very nice place to work at the moment ..... It's a relief to get out the door and start delivering that two days worth of mail.

[Dorset Plodder]

I feel you learn the fact to say 'NO' through the experience of the older posties that refuse to be bullied.

The older posties have 30-40yrs service but I honestly think in 35yrs time there wont be many next gen posties that will have years under their belt. Most of these new young ones will probably jump ship in a year or two

I agree PW. Strange how Managers tend to leave the Gobby Old Gits alone but try to pile on the extra work to the Quiet Ones, especially the New Recruits.

Our Unit Rep spends a lot of time talking to the New Recruits to let them know about the Cutting Off Procedures & taking Meal Relief etc. The DOM's been told repeatedly not to mess the New Recruits about so much because we're trying to hang onto them. TBH I can see a few of them jacking because they're not getting trained and just get thrown in at the deep end. But as RM are fond of telling us, "Any idiot can deliver the mail, there's nothing to it"

I can't see the latest wave of recruits still being here in 20 years either.

[Dorset Plodder]

Those with the knowledge to sort IPS are dwindling fast. No body ever learns IPS anymore. I think those above think it's not needed because we have all these machines coming...

I agree Rambo. We're getting less and less Experienced posties on the IPS. The ammount of time it takes to sort obviously has a knock on effect. Most of our Experienced posties are Double Prepping Duties ..... and that's not made any easier when the Mech comes in and it hasn't been sequenced.

Doesn't help when some colleagues treat the IPS as a social gathering and spend their time gassing to their mates. It's noticable when you empty your slots and some guys have loads of IPS sorted, and others have half a dozen letters.

I remember when I started the PHG always used to shout, "Less Talking ... More Sorting"!

[Foxel]

I agree PW. Strange how Managers tend to leave the Gobby Old Gits alone but try to pile on the extra work to the Quiet Ones, especially the New Recruits.

As a new starter, I absolutely feel I'm expected to stay out until it's all done. Early starts. Late finishes, I don't even get asked if I will.

[mjd24]

I agree PW. Strange how Managers tend to leave the Gobby Old Gits alone but try to pile on the extra work to the Quiet Ones, especially the New Recruits.

As a new starter, I absolutely feel I'm expected to stay out until it's all done. Early starts. Late finishes, I don't even get asked if I will.

You 100% DO NOT have to.

[Jahpostie]

Some on here need to understand the pressure to complete from Management and colleagues when you are a reserve or floater. It is p*ss easy to work to your time if you're a full timer with a partner who thinks the same.

I've been aggressively shouted at by other posties for not completing on their days off. It's not pleasant.

So please stop the mantra of work to your time. It doesn't work well for reserves and floaters. It's not simple. RM have engineered it this way - turning posties against each other to get the mail out.