2 IN A VAN AGAIN?

[Celgar]

For many reasons including quality of service we cannot continue as we are for that much longer. RM will not hire additional vans and are seemingly dead against replacing full time staff that leave or transfer or even replacing staff leaving at all. If we cannot get back to sharing vans for whatever reasons this will be used along with other data to radically change the USO. This will result in thousands of job losses even if just from 'natural wastage'.
No one else in the UK apart from RM has stopped multiple occupation of vehicles whether it be for journeys of a few minutes such as with posties or for hours such as emergency services and probably most other vehicle users. There are obvious ways to eliminate the risks such as masks & gloves or using wipes to clean stearing wheels etc.
There is a more than fair chance that a vaccine will not be found so we need to try and get back to where we were.

[xPandabear1992x]

If the single vans duties are staying in much longer they need to have a radical think about the job. The split shifts could work if the later starts are covered by part time staff. We have full timers starting later and working from home meaning a lack of people to sort the mail and prep deliveries. Surely if they want split shifts they need full timers working earlier to get the mail ready for delivery and the part timers with less hours just coming in and delivering the mail. If the rounds are fully prepped for them they might even have spare time to do any parcels that have been left.
They also need to hire enough vans so everyone who can drive can have one in a morning, if course if they are planning on bringing back vans shares soon they won't bother and they'll keep paying people's fuel claims and let others walk/bike out

They also need to crack down on missorts when the postie that's been asked to sort it cant be arsed because he/she doesn't know the walk.

[SpacePhoenix]

RM will not hire additional vans

Do the extra vans exist to be hired? RM won't be the only company looking to hire extra vans to take social distancing into account

[ThatsNotPlumb]

I will not be going back to 2 in a van anytime remotely soon & I'll flat out refuse to do so.

I'm not saying their will be a policy change, but if there was, you'd still not do it?
I'm not judging in any way, by the way, as I can see this being a problem.

Even if the Government themselves say, it's now 1m, not 2m & sharing vehicles with people from other households is fine, I'll still be flat out refusing on the basis that nothing has actually changed.

There's still no vaccine, no real proven treatments & people with certain ailments, of which I live with, are still more vulnerable than others. From what I've been reading 2021 is the earliest a possible vaccine and/or treatments could be found or proven to be effective, so really I've no interest in any van sharing in any form for at least the remainder of the year.

[SpacePhoenix]

I will not be going back to 2 in a van anytime remotely soon & I'll flat out refuse to do so.

I'm not saying their will be a policy change, but if there was, you'd still not do it?
I'm not judging in any way, by the way, as I can see this being a problem.

Even if the Government themselves say, it's now 1m, not 2m & sharing vehicles with people from other households is fine, I'll still be flat out refusing on the basis that nothing has actually changed.

There's still no vaccine, no real proven treatments & people with certain ailments, of which I live with, are still more vulnerable than others. From what I've been reading 2021 is the earliest a possible vaccine and/or treatments could be found or proven to be effective, so really I've no interest in any van sharing in any form for at least the remainder of the year.

There's no evidence afaik of there ever being a vaccine or treatment. A couple of papers have mentioned iirc it was an Italian scientist who said that the virus is becoming less potent. some papers have said with in a month, maybe 2 there won't be any deaths from the virus which could point to the virus dying out

[ThatsNotPlumb]

I will not be going back to 2 in a van anytime remotely soon & I'll flat out refuse to do so.

I'm not saying their will be a policy change, but if there was, you'd still not do it?
I'm not judging in any way, by the way, as I can see this being a problem.

Even if the Government themselves say, it's now 1m, not 2m & sharing vehicles with people from other households is fine, I'll still be flat out refusing on the basis that nothing has actually changed.

There's still no vaccine, no real proven treatments & people with certain ailments, of which I live with, are still more vulnerable than others. From what I've been reading 2021 is the earliest a possible vaccine and/or treatments could be found or proven to be effective, so really I've no interest in any van sharing in any form for at least the remainder of the year.

There's no evidence afaik of there ever being a vaccine or treatment. A couple of papers have mentioned iirc it was an Italian scientist who said that the virus is becoming less potent. some papers have said with in a month, maybe 2 there won't be any deaths from the virus which could point to the virus dying out

Yeah the stories regarding a vaccine or potential treatment are all over the place, I've read that China have a vaccine in it's 2nd or 3rd round of tests but on the flip side I've also read as you said, there may never be one or might not even need to be one if the virus dies off.

[Fdeezy]

RM will not hire additional vans

I've been driving around a lovely new smelling rental van for 2 weeks now. The air conditioning has been a blessing.

[HTPostman]

If the single vans duties are staying in much longer they need to have a radical think about the job. The split shifts could work if the later starts are covered by part time staff. We have full timers starting later and working from home meaning a lack of people to sort the mail and prep deliveries. Surely if they want split shifts they need full timers working earlier to get the mail ready for delivery and the part timers with less hours just coming in and delivering the mail. If the rounds are fully prepped for them they might even have spare time to do any parcels that have been left.
They also need to hire enough vans so everyone who can drive can have one in a morning, if course if they are planning on bringing back vans shares soon they won't bother and they'll keep paying people's fuel claims and let others walk/bike out

Just a few things - the system here is those in early prep everything for those who start later.

It bemuses me, in a job where finishing early is a deeply engrained culture, that management don’t stop to think those coming in early will only concentrate on their own round. Most are now out the door and finished almost an hour earlier than they used to be, meanwhile other rounds don’t have a single letter thrown in for the later starters.

I wish there was a system whereby earlies and lates swap every week or 2. Perhaps people will be fairer and realise if they are screwing over a colleague just to get done an hour early, the following week the same will happen to them.

More vans would be ideal but few DOs have the capacity to store them.

[2yearpostie]

If the single vans duties are staying in much longer they need to have a radical think about the job. The split shifts could work if the later starts are covered by part time staff.

I read that as,'Lets throw the part time staff under the bus again because us full timers dont want to change how we work, force the part timers into doing something they dont want to do'

[SpacePhoenix]

More vans would be ideal but few DOs have the capacity to store them.

And there's also the possible problem of getting them as RM won't be the only company looking at hiring extra vans to enable social distancing

[toonshola]

If the single vans duties are staying in much longer they need to have a radical think about the job. The split shifts could work if the later starts are covered by part time staff.

I read that as,'Lets throw the part time staff under the bus again because us full timers dont want to change how we work, force the part timers into doing something they dont want to do'

Nailed it. Been at Royal Mail 10 years and still a part timer. And what I have learned is there are two different class of posties. The full time staff who seem to think because they have done the amazing achievement of simply hanging around long enough in a job that they can basically do what they want and generally run the office. They finish early frequently and never pay the time back. The really senior full timers have cushy single van delivery’s that need a good hour added onto them and they know it. If a part timer dares to finish before them then all hell breaks loose.
Then there is us second class citizens the part time staff. We have to pay any rare early finishes back under the guise of ‘flexibility’. Moved from pillar to post on all the crap delivery’s none of the full timers would touch. Frequently turn up at work passing the full timers heading out onto their delivery to find our frames are half prepped and expected to complete in the same time.
If I ever get lucky enough to be made up to full time in the distant future I’ll try my best not to forget just how shite it is being a part timer at Royal Mail.

[Woody Guthrie]

If the single vans duties are staying in much longer they need to have a radical think about the job. The split shifts could work if the later starts are covered by part time staff.

I read that as,'Lets throw the part time staff under the bus again because us full timers dont want to change how we work, force the part timers into doing something they dont want to do'

What you should really do is think about it logically, if staggered starts are here to stay who do you think has to start first?

[citypostie]

If the single vans duties are staying in much longer they need to have a radical think about the job. The split shifts could work if the later starts are covered by part time staff.

I read that as,'Lets throw the part time staff under the bus again because us full timers dont want to change how we work, force the part timers into doing something they dont want to do'

What you should really do is think about it logically, if staggered starts are here to stay who do you think has to start first?

Exactly! What other way does it work if the split shifts have to stay because people cant share a van. Full timers do more indoor work that's why they are full time, doesn't it make sense therefore to have full timers starting earlier and using their full hours rather than like at the moment some are working from home or coming in late therefore only working the delivery part of their day. Some part timers on here really do think they're hard done to and maybe you are but where I work they turn down the chance to go full time because they like their 3 day weeks.
Don't jump on everything thinking it's about shafting part timers, it's about how the job can work. Hopefully we will be back in the vans together soon so it won't matter anyway

[SpacePhoenix]

If the single vans duties are staying in much longer they need to have a radical think about the job. The split shifts could work if the later starts are covered by part time staff.

I read that as,'Lets throw the part time staff under the bus again because us full timers dont want to change how we work, force the part timers into doing something they dont want to do'

What you should really do is think about it logically, if staggered starts are here to stay who do you think has to start first?

Exactly! What other way does it work if the split shifts have to stay because people cant share a van. Full timers do more indoor work that's why they are full time. Some part timers on here really do think they're hard done to and maybe you are but where I work they turn down the chance to go full time because they like their 3 day weeks.

It's going to partly depend on how many vans you've got and the % of staff that are full time. some offices might end up where the full time do all the indoor work, including prepping all walks then they go out in the vans, do their delivery, then the part time go out in the vans and do their delivery. Some could maybe have afternoon collections and LAT deliveries bolted on

[cpsteve]

I will not be going back to 2 in a van anytime remotely soon & I'll flat out refuse to do so.

I'm not saying their will be a policy change, but if there was, you'd still not do it?
I'm not judging in any way, by the way, as I can see this being a problem.

They'll have to make a case for it being safe and that's not going to be easy especially if there are regional spikes and mini lockdowns going on in the background.

I think it could be a long-term thing...

Well if they are right then in a months time zero people will die of CV 19.