Gross misconduct and deduction of pay

[Schiff]

Not looking good, what on earth was you thinking of, admitting to having a picture of the barcode on your phone, which suggests you empty the box early or even not at all. Someone in my office was found to be emptying the box on his round just once a week, he resigned before he was sacked

Unfortunately, I doubt that the manager would have been out observing the box unless there was already evidence that this was happening (eg GPS data not matching the GPS coordinates of the box, or test letters with RFID chips in not arriving at the mail centre on the correct day). The OP should be careful not to make matters worse by concocting a cover story unless evidence will actually support her claims. For example, if she claims to go back to the box each day, and forgot just this once, will the PDA tracking data for other days actually show her stopped at this box each day later in her round while it is being emptied or will it show her apparently driving/walking past without stopping?

[smok3y666]

I was told by a manager once about scanning the barcodes on post boxes early, it was no issue but was told earliest they can be emptied is 9am. I was also told when I mentioned about having pics of barcodes on my phone, again it was a non issue that this was heavily frowned upon.

[Kenfandango]

Some of ours don't get scanned til the end of a round, never been a problem... As long as it's between 9am and the next 9am it seems to be fine. I've had to take a photo of one once and scan it later due to a pda malfunction, but I explained to the DOM when I got back (okay, I wrote a note explaining and left it for him as he was long gone when I returned.)

[yellowbelly]

.....

I also told him that one of my colleagues had suggested to take a picture of the barcode to scan after the time on the box so that it did not seem like I was getting to the box late by only doing it once my round was complete.

.....

What does this particular sentence mean? If this box is at the entrance of an estate why would you be leave it until the end of your
round to empty it, surely you'd empty it when leaving the estate? Or is the whole of your walk the estate? Emptying a box after
the collection time is not a problem and if you're late connecting with the outgoing mail from your DO then that's for the
DOM to sort out especially if you're new.

[priority102]

As I said only a couple of days ago, it's beyond human comprehension just how certain posties write their own P45 by cutting every corner possible.

It sounds to me like the DOM was tipped off about what was happening with the scanning, otherwise why else would he be sitting in wait at one particular letter box ?????

WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY?

Whoever told this postie to take a photo of the barcode was grossly stupid, no other way to say it, I have seen a postie sacked for EXACTLY this.

Certain posties do nothing but slag management off but then hand their dismissal grounds to them on a plate, along with brownie points for the managers annual performance review - unbelievable!

[greengiant]

I was told by a manager once about scanning the barcodes on post boxes early, it was no issue but was told earliest they can be emptied is 9am. I was also told when I mentioned about having pics of barcodes on my phone, again it was a non issue that this was heavily frowned upon.

The problem with having barcodes on phones, is it can lead to posties trying to "be clever" by scanning the barcode from the phone, either in the van or at the DO to "save time".

All it needs is a dom to put a test letter in a box, which then doesn't get emptied, but gets a "scan" for questions to be raised.

[fixxxer85]

You have to think what you gain by emptying the box a whole 2 minutes early?

I did this practice for a short while on rurals, when the DOM pulled me up and said 'i know what you are doing and stop it' basically.

I realised what the hell did I have to gain from this except finishing 10-15 minutes early against losing my job. Pretty clear choice imo.

The two times I have done it since, was because my PDA died and lost signal. I cleared it with the DOM, who then cleared it with the collections manager.

I would advise being honest and upfront about it and if you come away from it, scan the box and empty it at the designated time.

[aiden01]

I was told by a manager once about scanning the barcodes on post boxes early, it was no issue but was told earliest they can be emptied is 9am. I was also told when I mentioned about having pics of barcodes on my phone, again it was a non issue that this was heavily frowned upon.

And you place your trust in a manager more fool you.can assure you its a sackable offence.

[hans solo]

Mangers at ours let guys have barcodes on their phones for everything
Mgmt also have them
Common practice

[greengiant]

Mangers at ours let guys have barcodes on their phones for everything
Mgmt also have them
Common practice

Ask your managers to put it in writing that it is acceptable to have box barcodes on your phones?

[NWpostie]

It doesn't look good, the take away from this is.

Do your job properly
Don't volunteer information.

[Clappedoutpostie]

I was told once that the boxes have a “geo ring” around them and any discrepancies get flagged up on the collections managers daily report And looked into.

[Jack1960]

I am really am scratching my head on this one , whoever told you to photograph a barcode is an idiot...we had someone do it the gps showed he scanned it at home he resigned before he was sacked.

[97gaz]

There are a few reasons why the manager would have been checking, the most likely one being a customer complaint. We had a one years ago where the customer had forgot to put a stamp on a letter and was waiting for the postie at the box and he never turned up. One of our duties used to put his collected mail in a certain box at the end of his round so the late collection man could pick it up. He complained one day that the Saturday mail was still in the box on Monday and when the management checked it turned out that the collection Guy wasn't emptying it on Saturdays and scanning from a photo. They had GPS of the box being scanned three miles from it's location. It's a sackable offence and fighting it is a waste of time.

[Munchboii]

Sorry OP but its not good for you that you admitted to the barcode photo on your phone.

Good luck in the interview and take the union with you.

It sounds like you are getting the book thrown at you as you identified yourself as a troublemaker over the whole 29hour contract situation. This gives them an easy way to get rid of you