Park and Loopy

[JackBurton]

Thats it Royal Mail need to scrap this stupid system right now its causing more harm than good (is there any good). In our office park and loop is failing big time mail is being left in every single day and others are working till 5pm on delivery how on earth is this better ???. Heres a summary of my day i enter the hell hole at 6.40 i do my sorting then prep 1 delivery as the part timer is being paid 2 hours ot to come in early and prep my 2nd delivery.We prep both walks god knows whats gonna happen when i have to do both i might get 1 bag out if im lucky and then we start bagging it but not all of it as we need to leave 3 loops of mail in because the delivery like quite a few in the office is impossible.We start the delivery and the fun begins i finish my loop go back to the van my partner is nowhere to be seen we do the next loop and i turn up with him waiting at the van. This all happens because nobody will ever meet at the same time due to a number of reasons like more mail in one loop than the other more parcels more recordeds more specials more tracked items and more D2Ds its just a total mess. I finish i get home and fall asleep as im totally knackered from another shocking day at work. How can this continue all i hear about is how this is a mess but the royal mail courier likes to pick 1 office where its being managed and tell us its working lol.This way of working is breeding more mistakes than ever and nevermind postman suffering the public are getting a worse service and this at a time stamp prices are through the roof. Someone in my office is going to drop one day and Royal Fail wont batter an eyelid they have just went for the extreme and wont change because they dont want to be wrong but part blame must go to the union we spent days out on strike losing money and paying over £3 a week union money for them to help shuffle this in the least our union reps could do now is fight this im pretty disgusted with them and disgusted with royal mail as a whole SICKENING.

[Budfrog]

Great post which give me, as a Mail Centre person, an insight into the problems being faced by OPGs on delivery.

The part that really struck home is the inevitable lost time due to inbalance in the workload of each loop. This is a fundamental flaw in the system and I agree that the process will never work as it is. The problem is that DSMs and Lead Planners do not see it this way and DOMs will continually expect their staff to dig them out of the mire by increased workrate (well above what is deemed reasonable), not taking MRs or RA and by working over. It just seems a total mess ....

[cyrus]

First question,are you using a trolley??? Here is my experience of park and loop...First week we cleared it 5-1/2 hours duty(should be 4.15)Mostly bag over shoulder 8kg(That's what planners recommended for most of the loops) .It Left me totally knackered,sore knees, bad back etc.....2nd week we began cutting off and leaving several loops in and began using trolley where we could.Ahhh, a bit better..3rd week totally redid the duty so that weight was never on shoulder.Even if it meant carrying a bundle of mail with a couple of packets in the trolley.And if there was a area with lots of steps and flats we would make a mini loops(no matter how many)...We still left loops in though

There's part timer's in our office who's sole job is to scoop up cut offs Don't see the problem in this.As I work all hours paid a part timer keeps a job and the customer gets their mail..The thing is, when I talk to my work mates, who clear the duty no matter what, with bag over shoulder.They state that the job is just hard as hell.They walk about looking like angry zombies.Where as those of us who "get it" are walking about smiley faced .Perhaps we even work in the same office

[bigcol]

Where as those of us who "get it" are walking about smiley faced

[banner18]

Simple answer as always, cut off. Make sure you work your hours and work hard and you are safe. They want you to get under pressure and work over and break health and safety, it won't be their health that suffers or their heads on the chopping block.

[JackBurton]

Cyrus we work from a van back and forth no trolly if it was a trolly it would be 6 hours outdoors instead of 5 its just a mess we told planners in our office it couldnt be done but they just went with it anyway so much for our input SHAMBLES.

[Budfrog]

Simple answer as always, cut off. Make sure you work your hours and work hard and you are safe. They want you to get under pressure and work over and break health and safety, it won't be their health that suffers or their heads on the chopping block.

Good Advice ... work at a rate you can maintain for 8 hours, take your meal breaks and relaxation allowance, maintain quality, follow SSOW and use the right tools for the job. Cut off or work extra if it suits you, it's YOUR CHOICE but make sure that you highlight the workload issues to you Line Manager and keep the Office Rep in the picture.

[cyrus]

Cyrus we work from a van back and forth no trolly if it was a trolly it would be 6 hours outdoors instead of 5 its just a mess we told planners in our office it couldnt be done but they just went with it anyway so much for our input SHAMBLES.

Nope, you still haven't got it yet.

If it takes you 6 hours with a trolly then so be it.You cut off even more.It's for your manager's to get the rest delivered.Posties need to get out of this idea of job and finish.If you continue on using bags you won't end up IHR..Because when you tell RM you have a bad back, knees etc from using the pouch.Their answer will be "We provided you with the trolly,your fault if you didn't use it????They want to put the blame on you, so they don't have to pay out IHR.

[JackBurton]

Thats all very well but who on earth wants to spend every morning of work arguing with managers about how much mail u need to leave in im fed up of it it shouldnt have to be this way and as for the job and finish statement all i wanna do is finish at my time thats all every day shouldnt have to be a battle.

[obscurityknocks]

We are in early stages of our delivery methods revision. What sort of spans have the planners introduced that you can not complete? Is georoute way out in the span it produces compared to actual time it takes? What in your opinion is the main problem you are failing to complete?

[bigcol]

Thats all very well but who on earth wants to spend every morning of work arguing with managers about how much mail u need to leave in im fed up of it it shouldnt have to be this way and as for the job and finish statement all i wanna do is finish at my time thats all every day shouldnt have to be a battle.

Manager: Blah, blah, blah.
You: (Looking at watch) You do realise this is cutting into my delivery time

[cyrus]

Don't think for a minute that I haven't had it hard. I've been interviewed in the office and questioned constantly, tested out on the street etc Had managers turn very nasty growling,screaming and dirty looks.....I think it's starting to get in to management that the duties really are to big.The best thing to do is have facts.Time yourself on each loop on light medium and heavy day (up to you if you use trolly or not)...When you go to cut off.You can say that it will take xxxx amount of time for each loop Your not having an argument your stating a fact.It's all about sticking to your guns and not seeing it as confrontation remain cool and calm. Of course this is when they will start their threats of various tests.Just let them if you have nothing to hide .Don't get wound up-,this is what they want.It's only stress if you let it be.Once they see that you don't get wound up they move onto to someone else ....As the managers from another office who were testing us on Park and Loop said "Royal Mail can not make you work over"

[cyrus]

Thats all very well but who on earth wants to spend every morning of work arguing with managers about how much mail u need to leave in im fed up of it it shouldnt have to be this way and as for the job and finish statement all i wanna do is finish at my time thats all every day shouldnt have to be a battle.

Manager: Blah, blah, blah.
You: (Looking at watch) You do realise this is cutting into my delivery time

Haha.I like to use RM's Geo Route figures back on them 1 min delivery = 3 houses.For every 1 min they talk it's an extra 3 houses for them to deliver.They soon get the message.

[JackBurton]

obscurityknocks we have so called 4 hour 15 min deliverys that are taking near enough 5 hours we also dont have enough time indoors to prep 2 deliverys 2 sets of D2D and add a break into that too theres just not enough hours in the day but nobody seems to want to sort it out it just feels like everyday my first words will be "i cant get this done" and thats not the way to be.

[obscurityknocks]

Why are they taking 45 mins longer than expected? Have you had manual intervention added to your routes before they were finalised? We were told a 3 hr30min bike duty is about 4hr 15 mins in a van with the extras packets,specials and tracked you now have to take. Sorry for all the questions but i want to find out as much as possible whats going wrong.