Mail center staff on Deliveries

[Puppetmaster]

With the Closing of many mail centers around the Country,some of these affected staff will now go on Full time Deliveries.

I am not having a GO at these people but just wandering how they will cope doing deliveries.Life in a Mail center is very diffrent,and can only speak from my own expirence
a lot easier than deliveries.
Also many of these mail center staff are senior people will their be a clash with other senior people already established in office.How many delivery staff go without meal releif
and come in early to finnish at a reasonable time.Think their will be a culture shock

[smokerjim]

How many posties with a few years seniority ( all of it gained slogging away on deliveries ) would be perfectly happy with their repick choices being usurped by someone with greater seniority, all of it gained in the much easier environment of a MC? With nearly three years in, I might be on the cusp of getting off the reserve list ( if there's ever going to be another repick in our office ), and if a few bods came in with greater seniority from a just closed MC, I'd accept the principle of seniority, but I'd be f*cked off that I've put the effort in, but a fresh pair of legs could just come in and scoop me!

[rhino49]

How many posties with a few years seniority ( all of it gained slogging away on deliveries ) would be perfectly happy with their repick choices being usurped by someone with greater seniority, all of it gained in the much easier environment of a MC? With nearly three years in, I might be on the cusp of getting off the reserve list ( if there's ever going to be another repick in our office ), and if a few bods came in with greater seniority from a just closed MC, I'd accept the principle of seniority, but I'd be f*cked off that I've put the effort in, but a fresh pair of legs could just come in and scoop me!

Last time that happened at our office, the guy who came in (a pal of the DOM's who fancied a change) lasted about 2 weeks and went back 'cos it was too hard for him - their legs may be fresh but they haven't had the experience that ours have and that will soon sort out anyone who has an idea that delivery is an easy, simple job. An average of 8 miles a day outside in all weathers is not quite the same as having a 10 minute break every hour and refreshments and toilets within touching distance all through your exactly timed shift at a mail centre. Someone has to do the mail centre jobs and in my brief experience of them they do them well - but it's an easy life compared with delivery and I am not surprised that some MC's have gym facilities to help their staff keep fit.

[smokerjim]

Yes, but while it's easy to have a choice between sticking with your change of scene or bailing to go back to less demanding duties.....what would happen if ( hypothetically ) your local MC was closed & instead of redundancy, some people chose delivery ( bear in mind, if they change their tune, all they can do, I imagine, is hand in their notice - no job, no useful, redundancy, no JSA )

TBH, I'm glad that isn't one quandry I'm likely to face.

[rhino49]

Yes, but while it's easy to have a choice between sticking with your change of scene or bailing to go back to less demanding duties.....what would happen if ( hypothetically ) your local MC was closed & instead of redundancy, some people chose delivery ( bear in mind, if they change their tune, all they can do, I imagine, is hand in their notice - no job, no useful, redundancy, no JSA )

TBH, I'm glad that isn't one quandry I'm likely to face.

Agreed Jim, but with the constant reductions being asked for in duties at delivery offices and the proposed enlarging of walks to create longer delivery spans for existing staff I honestly can't think where several hundred staff could be absorbed even in a large metropolitan area like Greater Manchester where closures were proposed for Mail Centres in the surrounding area.

You can't, in law, make someone redundant in order to provide work for someone else - the job becomes redundant along with the affected person, so if there are no vacancies in the local delivery offices people cannot be displaced to accommodate staff from other areas, unless, of course RM work on the principle that " you all work for the same company - in the same area - so you will move where you are told to go" and then start chucking people out on the last in, first out principle, leaving us with a senior workforce (which they don't ideally want 'cos we're all stubborn bastards) who may not be as skilled on delivery as they expect, That will be fun !!!