I know people who use the PDA to put parcels in a route, they all say that it is incredibly inneffecient, you end up going back over yourself.
That’s because they don't optimise and adjust their manifest before finalising, probably because they lack the geographical knowledge. I never go back on myself — well, hardly ever! Trust me, used right, it is the most efficient way. Evri use the same principle, so does DPD, so does Amazon, so does every other carrier. Are they all wrong and inefficient as well?
You need to have local knowledge to adjust the manifest, no?
That said, I've split a DPR route route before now, and I was delivering one address and the other guy literally next door.
There were maybe 40 drops in between.
It's not accurate with or without local knowledge.
Everything you state all sounds plausible,"Professional multi-drop drivers" has really got me though. Two years in and now we are "professionals" and while i sort of guess it's a truthful comment, i can't help but think it's a bit of a dig.
I personally know my area like the back of my hand and would never need anything to tell me where to go and in what order and that includes 240+ tracked a day on a heavy day, but i have also covered, over covid, areas i knew nothing about far away from my home office and used a phone app to guide me and give a order for them and found them useful.
I guess you don't know the area you deliver.
I have been a multi-drop driver this time round since 2018, and I have held an LGV Class C licence for almost 25 years (admittedly I haven’t driven a truck in 20 years). As such, I think I am entitled to refer to myself as a professional driver, though I apologise if it gets anyone’s backs up. It wasn’t intended as a dig.
I don’t use the PDA to plot my route for me — I let it suggest its route, then I move the stops around as to how I would deliver it. Although I didn’t for the first few months, admittedly, I now know our patch like the back of my hand.
I hope that answers your points.
And without picking holes in your own point, 240+ tracked (Covid kits?) is not the same thing as 240+ parcels. As you know, tracked can be DL-sized envelopes or postable items.
So 7 years, just the 18 years for me, but sure who's counting.
240 + parcels is a normal and has been for months in my little sub as we are very short handed at the moment, and covid kits were never anywhere near 240+ anyday where i am. Yes tracked are all sized but no matter what size you still have to deliver them.
Normally on my van share we get close to 200 tracked most days + mail and now you see why we keep failing.
Over Xmas I did encounter a manager or two who seemed to think having a “van assistant” would somehow increase productivity. Having tried it a few times, usually on account of there being no spare van for the “van assistant” to go out with his own parcel route, it — predictably — was a complete disaster and actually ended up taking longer than if on your own…
If doing that on a parcel route which is over a large distance- then yeah - it isn't going to be efficient.
When running out of time and needing to clear the Tracked, managers in our office claim that it's more efficient if the van-driver goes and does parcels alone, while the passenger continues doing the typical letter/parcel loops. I am not so sure about this....
On a van-share round that is compact - going round together doing parcels can be quick. Driver doesn't have to keep stopping as much. As long as you manage it efficiently giving each person the same amount of parcels then it is efficient.
Problems I saw:
1. When doing it on the Ad-Hoc, our respective PDAs didn’t update to show parcels delivered by the other, meaning there was constant confusion as to whether we had delivered certain parcels. You have to keep cancelling the route and reload in Outdoor to get it to update, and even then there is a lag.
If you sort the parcels into street order why do you need a PDA to inform you if you have delivered them all, as once they're all gone there's clearly no more you can deliver?
I don’t sort into street order. Sorting into street name might be possible with 40 or so parcels, perhaps 80 parcels at a push if you’re in an LWB van, but it just doesn’t work for the volumes we professional multi-drop drivers deliver. I’m talking approximately 200 large-format parcels crammed in, utilising almost every inch of space in the back of a Boxer L3. With a high-density parcel route the parcels need to be stacked like Tetris blocks, in strict drop order, preferably numbered too so that you can grab and go from the back of the van with no idle time. And the PDA obviously solves the empirical issue of “Where to next, Bob?” without needing to constantly keep looking at hidden/obscured address labels in the back of the van.
Yes, your method perhaps enables you to throw a small quantity of parcels into the van, you’re thinking you’ve loaded them into a good run order, slam the doors and hit the road quicker than anyone else, but the downside is you waste all that time and countless inefficiency hunting for parcels in the back, and/or driving past a house you’ve got a parcel onboard for and only realising an hour later and then having to double back.
Everything you state all sounds plausible,"Professional multi-drop drivers" has really got me though. Two years in and now we are "professionals" and while i sort of guess it's a truthful comment, i can't help but think it's a bit of a dig.
I personally know my area like the back of my hand and would never need anything to tell me where to go and in what order and that includes 240+ tracked a day on a heavy day, but i have also covered, over covid, areas i knew nothing about far away from my home office and used a phone app to guide me and give a order for them and found them useful.
I guess you don't know the area you deliver.
I know people who use the PDA to put parcels in a route, they all say that it is incredibly inneffecient, you end up going back over yourself.
Yes, that’s true. If you have no idea of the area, it obviously helps, but knowing the area makes a massive difference because you know the cut throughs, know that you have to go to the back of flats and not the front, all that sort of intel makes you more efficient than relying on the tech.
That’s something the higher ups never understand. They think anyone can walk in from the job centre and do the same job as us with a day’s training.
I know people who use the PDA to put parcels in a route, they all say that it is incredibly inneffecient, you end up going back over yourself.
That’s because they don't optimise and adjust their manifest before finalising, probably because they lack the geographical knowledge. I never go back on myself — well, hardly ever! Trust me, used right, it is the most efficient way. Evri use the same principle, so does DPD, so does Amazon, so does every other carrier. Are they all wrong and inefficient as well?
How long does that take tho? I know the route I want my manifest to be in but to get it showing that way on the pda id have to individually shift the order so I don’t bother or is there another way?
I know people who use the PDA to put parcels in a route, they all say that it is incredibly inneffecient, you end up going back over yourself.
That’s because they don't optimise and adjust their manifest before finalising, probably because they lack the geographical knowledge. I never go back on myself — well, hardly ever! Trust me, used right, it is the most efficient way. Evri use the same principle, so does DPD, so does Amazon, so does every other carrier. Are they all wrong and inefficient as well?
How long does that take tho? I know the route I want my manifest to be in but to get it showing that way on the pda id have to individually shift the order so I don’t bother or is there another way?
You can only move six drops at a time, dragging them up and down as needed, so can be a bit fiddly. I usually spend five minutes or so rejigging it, admittedly sometimes quite extensively (which can turn it into 10 minutes!), but it’s more than recouped when your van is perfectly loaded, the next parcel always at your fingertips — even if you have them crammed to ceiling height!
That’s something the higher ups never understand. They think anyone can walk in from the job centre and do the same job as us with a day’s training.
The believe that the PDA can replace the brain of a duty holder with local knowledge. Once some rando off the street is handed a PDA with all the dog warnings and safeplace requests and directions to the address and so on then the effect is, allegedly, the same. It isn't and they know that, because the real intended effect is driving down wages.
That’s something the higher ups never understand. They think anyone can walk in from the job centre and do the same job as us with a day’s training.
The believe that the PDA can replace the brain of a duty holder with local knowledge. Once some rando off the street is handed a PDA with all the dog warnings and safeplace requests and directions to the address and so on then the effect is, allegedly, the same. It isn't and they know that, because the real intended effect is driving down wages.
I'm not convinced they know that, I suspect they really think they can drag anyone in off the street give them a PDA and off you go, that's why they're also of the opinion this is nothing more than a min wage job
Over Xmas I did encounter a manager or two who seemed to think having a “van assistant” would somehow increase productivity. Having tried it a few times, usually on account of there being no spare van for the “van assistant” to go out with his own parcel route, it — predictably — was a complete disaster and actually ended up taking longer than if on your own…
If doing that on a parcel route which is over a large distance- then yeah - it isn't going to be efficient.
When running out of time and needing to clear the Tracked, managers in our office claim that it's more efficient if the van-driver goes and does parcels alone, while the passenger continues doing the typical letter/parcel loops. I am not so sure about this....
On a van-share round that is compact - going round together doing parcels can be quick. Driver doesn't have to keep stopping as much. As long as you manage it efficiently giving each person the same amount of parcels then it is efficient.
This was a mixture —parcels and packets off walks in the morning, so high density, followed by LATs in the afternoon.
Problems I saw:
1. When doing it on the Ad-Hoc, our respective PDAs didn’t update to show parcels delivered by the other, meaning there was constant confusion as to whether we had delivered certain parcels. You have to keep cancelling the route and reload in Outdoor to get it to update, and even then there is a lag.
2. It also didn’t help that my helpers were also much slower than me, meaning I was constantly waiting on them and couldn’t move on.
3. Lost opportunities to lose parcels with neighbours across the road who the other was delivering to, meaning we brought back way more 739’d work than necessary - esp as both helpers quite lazy with trying neighbours.
Maybe with some finessing it could be executed better, but I am most efficient on my own.
This is why parcel people should train indoors as posties for a few months before starting parcels, because two posties working together will not be faffing about with parcel lists on the pda and will rattle through delivering to an area much quicker than a DPR working on their own.
Faffing around?! I rattled through 200 tracked today — four whole walks’ worth — plus 10 boxes, two customer collects, 5 specials, in just 4.5 hours outdoors. No postie in our depot, let alone region, comes anywhere close to how quickly I rattle through.
Let’s quote me right non drivers will be scheduled workload for the Saturday which could be indoor and outdoor such as a van assistant to the first class routes where they have high density of parcels.
Turns out you forgot to mention you've sat down in your fancy meetings and floated the idea of these 'van assistants' doing not two duties but three. You couldn't do it Martin. You wouldn't do it. This is a sellout, simple as. You're expecting the members to create massive profits to go in the bosses pockets on the pretence this is about saving jobs. Productivity for the workers, millions for the bosses. Even in the darkest days of the trade union movement it was never this bad. Last night the CWU allowed three representatives to lecture the members about sustainability whilst never mentioning this is a multi-billion pound industry that pays its bosses millions. Have you even asked the bosses to take a pay cut to help save the company?
"The leadership will sabotage the fight and only make the slightest move under fear of powerful working class action" - Des Warren
Ive heard from a trustworthy source that the trials arent going very well. The call rate seems to be the problem! Thats one hell of a problem if you ask me. In fact thats the only problem as it means the jobs cant be completed within duty hours. Yet theyre rolling it out nationwide this year. Anyone in the ACTUAL TRIAL offices have any knowledge of whats going on. The union seem to have a default response to anything USO trial related so it would be nice to hear from someone in a trial office.
It’s obvious to most that we won’t be able to complete on time, as the duties will be too big to deal with up to 3 days of mail. Bring it on , I’ll be using a trolley which will slow me down, if and when they push this sh1t through.
It’s obvious to most that we won’t be able to complete on time, as the duties will be too big to deal with up to 3 days of mail. Bring it on , I’ll be using a trolley which will slow me down, if and when they push this sh1t through.
Ive heard from a trustworthy source that the trials arent going very well. The call rate seems to be the problem! Thats one hell of a problem if you ask me. In fact thats the only problem as it means the jobs cant be completed within duty hours. Yet theyre rolling it out nationwide this year. Anyone in the ACTUAL TRIAL offices have any knowledge of whats going on. The union seem to have a default response to anything USO trial related so it would be nice to hear from someone in a trial office.
I am in a trial office. Ours hasn’t started yet. The trials which have started, Newton Mearns started 24th Feb and call rate is high but small office. Cumbernauld and Girvan started on Monday. Cumbernauld is a larger office of approx 45 walks so it will be more of a test.
’You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.’
It’s obvious to most that we won’t be able to complete on time, as the duties will be too big to deal with up to 3 days of mail. Bring it on , I’ll be using a trolley which will slow me down, if and when they push this sh1t through.
Early summer for that
Only complete morons would push ahead with a delivery model that does not work or save the expected amount of money.
’You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.’
