Refusing to do double mail

[Mickeybrowneyes]

Hi there

Can I refuse to do a duty tomorrow with double mail?
Basically I’ve done double mail every day this week apart from Monday and Im completely fed up.
My back is aching and there are plenty of people in the office who aren’t ever moved around.
As tomorrow has early finish I am really not happy to take double mail out again
The managers know I’m not happy but just fob me off because essentially I always help out and usually get moved / do double mail a couple of days a week nearly every week to help them
But what I want to know is if tomorrow I genuinely refuse to do the duty will I get disciplined ? Does anyone have any experience of this working etc ?
I’m very calm and wont act out but just plan on refusing.

(I’m rest week cover for 5 duties and the duty I’m actually meant to be on this week will have single mail as I did double mail on it today and I want to take that out)
Many thanks

Are they utilising the reserves properly before moving you on to a belated duty.
If not than say no. Tell them to move the reserves first.
If they have moved all available reserves onto belated walks and you are the only duty holder regularly moved then that is unfair and raise that concern with you rep/manager.
You are no longer a reserve.
Reserves will know their rest days in advance but can and will get moved on day for operational needs above duty holders.
Tell the manager you feel you are being treated unfairly for the reasons above, have a rep present when you do.

[Londonsburning]

Like all the previous answers here, you need to tell your manager that you won't be working past your finish time. Put the ball in their court. "This full duty is unachievable within my time, what would you like me to leave? Oh, you want me to take it all? Who do I phone/text XX.XXpm when I am ready to return to the office?" f**k those bullies, make it their problem

[HTPostman]

I know how frustrating it is. I was on a cover duty, in my last 2 years I did the rounds I was meant to 3 weeks out of 92. RM are meant to treat people equally - you can’t move one person every single day but not touch Joe Bloggs who’s only ever done his round. It angered me being bumped off my cover job every day because the duty holder would only work their day off on their round.

It ground me down, I went to the branch union rep (utterly useless, ignored all my communication), area rep (non existent, promised to help but didn’t), tried to state my case to management (‘it is what it is’), spoke to the duty holders concerned (‘we’ve all been through it’) and then gave up.

The only thing that worked for me was saying I had to be done on time each day and what would they like me to do.

Like everyone else says, don’t get drawn into arguments, just calmly and clearly explain you are working your hours. And if they mention performance, politely ask them to come out on delivery and show you what you’re doing wrong.

[michael147]

Maybe i am just old fashioned and fair minded.
I will not make it a condition of working my day off that i must do my own duty and screw my cover man.
To me if you are prepared to work your day off its `as directed` or at the very least clear it with your cover man.
Otherwise you only want the overtime on your terms. that is fine by me unless you are screwing your colleagues, then it is not.
Its true that my office is reasonably small so still has a sense of community, also i was a reserve for a while so i know what its like.
Last christmas i came in on my day off and did a van share in cold temperatures with sleet showers, now that is my choice.
However on the same day two people much younger than me came in on the previso that they did parcels only.
I will take my turn, no problem. They did exactly the same thing the week after, which i think as purely personal opinion is a bit pathetic.
I also appreciate the fact that the manager probably could not turn their offer down.
More fool me i suppose for having a set of values!

[postman2014]

This happens to certain people unfortunately. If you've cleared double mail once then your manager is always going to leave you with double mail. This crap won't happen with senior guys because they will just plod along and bring most of it back. You get paid to work not to finish!! once you start bringing it back he will find a new victim.

[Perseus]

I agree, that it can be very disheartening being given double, triple and even more mail each day whilst other duties are single every single day.
I also hate the stigma around making an issue of it with things like 'Billy will make a big stink if I remove him from his duty and cause all sorts of problems'. Kind of de facto refusing to do it - isn't it?
It's yet another failure by management and CWU at local level.

[kazardaimenu]

This happens to certain people unfortunately. If you've cleared double mail once then your manager is always going to leave you with double mail. This crap won't happen with senior guys because they will just plod along and bring most of it back. You get paid to work not to finish!! once you start bringing it back he will find a new victim.

Very true. As one old boy told me ‘don’t be a hero’ they won’t pay you more for it.

[kazardaimenu]

How did it go anyway?

[postslippete]

Are they utilising the reserves properly before moving you on to a belated duty.
If not than say no. Tell them to move the reserves first.
If they have moved all available reserves onto belated walks and you are the only duty holder regularly moved then that is unfair and raise that concern with you rep/manager.
You are no longer a reserve.
Reserves will know their rest days in advance but can and will get moved on day for operational needs above duty holders.
Tell the manager you feel you are being treated unfairly for the reasons above, have a rep present when you do.

Many of the reserves in our office are on fixed duties. Instead of having a full revision and re-pick, it took our office over 2 years to advertise a few of the duties and then said that x number of duties could not be advertised as the posties had now been on them for over a year.

I totally understand the frustrations of the OP though. Never spur a willing horse springs to mind.

[Mickeybrowneyes]

Are they utilising the reserves properly before moving you on to a belated duty.
If not than say no. Tell them to move the reserves first.
If they have moved all available reserves onto belated walks and you are the only duty holder regularly moved then that is unfair and raise that concern with you rep/manager.
You are no longer a reserve.
Reserves will know their rest days in advance but can and will get moved on day for operational needs above duty holders.
Tell the manager you feel you are being treated unfairly for the reasons above, have a rep present when you do.

Many of the reserves in our office are on fixed duties. Instead of having a full revision and re-pick, it took our office over 2 years to advertise a few of the duties and then said that x number of duties could not be advertised as the posties had now been on them for over a year.

I totally understand the frustrations of the OP though. Never spur a willing horse springs to mind.
[/quo

Yeah, they will not be moved based on continuity.
However if the original poster wanted to push it and it was evident that he was being treated unfairly based on his flexible nature and willingness to help then the managers would soon change their tune.
Seniority should be upheld and reserves should be utilised first when an office is struggling.
I know it is frustrating when you start but there needs to be some order and structural fairness in place.
The rep needs to ensure the managers are following the correct protocol on this.
Otherwise they will pressure those who they feel they can manipulate and at time bully.

[matthew68]

Speak to the union rep and say you feel like you are being given more work and being stitched up all the time whilst others have it easier. The manager needs to have more flexibility from everyone not just te same guys, but unfortunately they are scared of upsetting long termers. Say you think you are being picked on unfairly compared to others and it’s a form of bullying. They keep going on about how the want to stop bullying from management so say you will go over his head because you feel unfairly treated and start doing the job properly following procedures, use trolley and don’t leave anything unsafe they will soon realize it’s not worth stitching you up

[Playmail]

I have the opposite the cover person thats ment to cover my day off keeps going on other duties and with a overtime ban in place the last 8 weeks my day off hasn't been covered it's a nightmare

[dazzler123]

If you are only moaning now about having to take double mail you have had it very good. Weve been doing it for about 18 months now and its the new normal. You have to get out of the mindset thinking you can complete it all, its designed to fail

[Londonsburning]

If you are only moaning now about having to take double mail you have had it very good. Weve been doing it for about 18 months now and its the new normal. You have to get out of the mindset thinking you can complete it all, its designed to fail

Yup, delivery is absolutely set up for failure and has been for many years now. Bosses still get their bonuses, shareholders will still get their money back, the soon to be owner will make money hand over fist when ofcom agree that the USO is unsustainable. Everyone pulling the strings will get their kickbacks and the job as we know it will be reduced to a gig economy shitshow.

[Hyrrokkin]

If you are only moaning now about having to take double mail you have had it very good. Weve been doing it for about 18 months now and its the new normal. You have to get out of the mindset thinking you can complete it all, its designed to fail

Yup, delivery is absolutely set up for failure and has been for many years now. Bosses still get their bonuses, shareholders will still get their money back, the soon to be owner will make money hand over fist when ofcom agree that the USO is unsustainable. Everyone pulling the strings will get their kickbacks and the job as we know it will be reduced to a gig economy shitshow.

Nail on head - everyone in the room will get their slice of the pie
We the ones you make the money will get shafted as always - so f**k RM/Ofcom/CWU