is it really that bad to work for royalmail?

[stvgooner]

hi guys i got a interview nextweek is it really worth going as i keep reading bad things about it?
at the moment i work for a parce company i been there for the last 10 years but i really want to work for the post office the job i am going for is temp for 3 month from 9am -3pm in exeter devon do u think i may be kept on after this time? i asked my postie to ask the boss and the boss said he really dont no but my postie says they are in the s**t all the time as all staff take bags back to the office? chers steve

[centenaryman]

dunno about sh+t ,,,i sort of enjoy the outside part of my job,,,,the delivering bit.
i cant stand the pressure in the office between 6am - 9am approx.
ok we havnt gone through the latest revisions yet so outside is going to get harder.

from what i see at our office,,,new starters arnt given long term contracts,,,it does seem 3 months,,,or as ours call it 12 weeks,,,then the rm renew it,,,for another 3 months....that bit stinks and shouldnt have been allowed

[flaminmoses]

luck of the draw office wise.

some will be ok some will be a nightmare.

[Dogs of War]

Stay where you are, this job is finished for good.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

stvgooner - I would say that its best if you weigh up both jobs and see whats best for you.

On the good side:

It is a very good job once you are out of the office, and if you have a strong personality and can cope with confrontation inside and outside then its a good job.
The camaraderie is excellent as is the Solidarity of most colleagues.
Banter is also on a par with the forces, but its not for the faint hearted or easily shocked.

On the Bad side:

As a 3 month temp you are unlikely to be on more than 20 - 30 contract hours a week but probably you'll get more on overtime.
The pay will be less than FTC who have done over 12 months and the hourly rate stays the same till you have done more than 39/40 hours.
You wont have any sick pay until you have done 12 months and then only if its in the contract (which it should be)
The conduct code is applied very furiously by most within management and your terms under this agreement as a new starter are tighter and shorter.
Moving from a Fixed Term Contract to a full contract is NOT guaranteed, in fact with RM about to be privatised I would think that the chance is getting slimmer.
If we do get privatised within a year then you as a FTC wont come under the TUPE and may end up on worse conditions.

As I said at the beginning you need to do some research and find out the pitfalls and pluses before making such a decision. If I was in your shoes I would probably take a RM job, but the tipping point to declining it for me is not far away.

[steven100]

Don't think the jobs that bad but
1) Don't expect to be made up to full-time
2) Expect to bullied in the first 3 months of the job....by management
3) Are you fit???


If you can handle these 3 things you'll be ok. And you may enjoy the job.

[stokes11eg]

Not so many years ago, we would have said yes, go for it! Now very sadly, it has to be no! most people joined for job security etc etc, there is nothing like that now, and in the vast majority of offices, the staff are treated abysmally----

[fishtank]

If i didn't have a job i would take it.
If i already had a job i would have to really hate it to leave for Royal Mail.
The pay is OK and the conditions vary from office to office but the long term prospects are very poor.
Just my opinion.

[Lounge Lizard]

There are some right miseries on here who would have you believe it's a terrible job but take no notice of them, get over the first couple of weeks and then I realised it's one of the best jobs I've ever had.

[George door to dawes]

Stay where you are, this job is finished for good.

+1 i agree with this totally

The camaraderie is excellent as is the Solidarity of most colleagues.

My office is split like this:
30% wierdos
30% w******* who dont give a monkeys about anyone else
30% Normal people who dont make any effort talking to people that havnt been there 5+ years
10% decent people who will go out of their way to help you and chat to you

I cant speak for all the delivery offices but there doesnt seem to be a lot of good stories on here!

There are some right miseries on here who would have you believe it's a terrible job but take no notice of them, get over the first couple of weeks and then I realised it's one of the best jobs I've ever had.

Yeah iam sure the constant complaints of cheating, bullying and harrassment are all made up!

[Mightyaj]

is it really that bad to work for royal mail?

The job itself I don't mind. However the way you get treated by most management is terrible. If your not strong minded then they will take full advantage of you. I have worked in a few offices now and its been the same in all of them. I see a lot of part timers working 40hrs a week on 27hr contracts but don't say anything, Infact I am fulltime and there is a lot of part timers from lots of different offices that I wouldn't even fancy doing it myself on fulltime hours!!
The worst agreement which has hit us posties is the absorbtion ruling. (which is covering another walk where management see fit if there is enough time in your contract to do more work) What you see happening in lots of office is when a postman leaves or retires then that job will not be taken up by another postmen but covered by the rest of the office instead and management are taking full advantage of this saying things like the mail has dropped etc. If they used it in a fair way then ok but they don't. I see boys absorbing jobs after there time and not even booking overtime or cutting off. Why you ask? because they are to scared!! Why are they scared? because of management pressure!! Simple as.

I however without trying to blow my own trumpet do not put up for it and when you have worked your hours you have to be strong enough to say Im cutting off. However with that I get a lot of grieve and pressure from management saying things like how come joe bloggs can do the walk and you can't!! They try and pressure you. Fullstop. It even has come to the point where fellow collegues have even turned on me!! Why you ask again?! because they don't like it when your not absorbing or are quite simple jealous. One postman even had a pop at me saying and I quote - "How come you get to have it easy and im working over my time everyday" ......You see the irony there!!

Anyway back to the question - Is it really that bad to work for royal mail?

YES. I hate my job at present. Not because of the job itself but because the way you are treated in the job. It is corrupt and is managed by bullies.

[Lounge Lizard]

There are some right miseries on here who would have you believe it's a terrible job but take no notice of them, get over the first couple of weeks and then I realised it's one of the best jobs I've ever had.


"Yeah iam sure the constant complaints of are all made up!" - no, not at all.
I can only speak for myself and I have not suffered cheating, bullying or harrassment.
The value of forums such as this is that people with a wide range of experiences can comment such that it can be easier for an outsider to make a decision about working for RM.

[Lovemoney]

Stvgooner, you been working in parce company over 10yrs should be quite steady & secure if I were you stay where you are especially the credit crunch. If you join RM become a new entrance, anything happen you are first in first out and the choice of you duty more than lightly is rotate such a horror or the thing doesn't work out too late to step back.

[flaminmoses]

There are some right miseries on here who would have you believe it's a terrible job but take no notice of them, get over the first couple of weeks and then I realised it's one of the best jobs I've ever had.

that depends on what office you are in and how high up in the seniority rankings you are.

for new joiners it could be hell

[slave]

It really is the luck of the draw.. Some offices/managers are good/bad - delete as appropriate!

As jobs go, it's not that bad - there's far worse paid, worse conditions etc out there, but I'm going on what I know as one of the rare-breed of full-time..

You would be part-time, ignore what the idiots tell you (if you go for interview) the chances of being made full-time are virtually nil these days. You may be "lucky" enough to be offered overtime which would help make up for your missing hours, but this is not guaranteed (plus it's crap if you're on sick/holiday)

If you're p/t then you might not spend much time inside and putting up with clueless managers that insist on insulting you day-in day-out, treat you like kids and generally try anything possible to make the job more difficult than it actually needs to be. (although occasionally there's a good manager, they don't seem to stay long..)

Outside - helps if you're fit! Depending on office you may be on foot, bike, van/foot or using a trolley - at present there's so much variation from office to office it's hard to say what the job would be like.