Left RM last week

[2214MN]

Hi guys,

I left the company on Saturday after over 10 years service. I’ve often been more of a lurker on here than a poster and that will probably continue. Just wanted to wish you all the best of luck with the ongoing industrial action.

Here’s a post I made on my social media which I’ll share on here. Maybe a bit deep and full of shite , but I am sad to leave this job and all the good people working there.

“Walking on average 50-60 miles a week in all weather conditions, many of them in their 50s or 60s, working the whole way through the pandemic. It’s the people at ‘the bottom’ of this company who are the ones that make it special. Recruitment bans and part time contracts putting more pressure on those that remain to take on an extra workload trying to fit in their work in an unrealistic time frame.

It’s a shame the way it looks this company is heading. Maybe that’s just business, maybe these unskilled workers are too well paid for an unskilled job, they deserve to be flogged so hard they have no energy when they get home for a life outside the job and end up with serious knee and hip problems.

I used to find myself a bit embarrassed when I got asked what I did for a job, it wasn’t some fancy title. I’m just a postman. We get judged in society for what we do, like it’s some dick measuring competition.

Sure money gives you options and it’s a balance you have to provide for yourself and your family but don’t make life about money and status. We’re all the same when you strip us all back.

A job that allowed me 21 months off to follow my dreams of travelling and walk back into the job a week after getting back and a job that allowed me to move to a different part of the country at short notice.

Do what makes you happy, not what society expects you to do and it’ll set you free.”

[iHateD2Ds]

Yes ,you are quite right in whats happening NOW at Royal Mail ,purposely short staffed enforcing the extra work on existing employees.
Nearly thirty years in the job and it is at the worst ,i really can't see myself in this job much longer too.

You will have no regrets in leaving.
No doubt Better paid and managed properly.
All the best.

[amhopkins1]

I'm currently looking for jobs too, do you feel much better for leaving? Seems most people do. What job have you gone in to if you don't mind me asking?

[Ad_bee]

The very best of luck to you. Quite right too.

[derekm]

Quite a few have left our office recently and all guys with 10+ years experience. Reasons were this s**t will go every year till we are run into the ground, my body can’t take this anymore and fed up to f@@@ fighting with managers because you want to finish on time. All left for decent jobs and similar wages.best of luck mate

[priority102]

Quite a few have left our office recently and all guys with 10+ years experience. Reasons were this s**t will go every year till we are run into the ground, my body can’t take this anymore and fed up to f@@@ fighting with managers because you want to finish on time. All left for decent jobs and similar wages.best of luck mate

That's because it is 100% true. I left after just over 25 years and I have never felt so good, the best decision I made by a country mile. As you will see by this forum and Facebook pages, the minds of existing employees are never off the job - one person has even posted on RMC tonight moaning as to why can the actor postie on Eastenders get the new uniform and real employees cannot? This says how the job is grinding you down.

This sh1t will never cease. Whatever (if anything) is agreed in this dispute, ANYTHING that RM failed to get implemented will be straight back on the table next year, when this pathetic merry-go-round will start all over again. Never be in doubt, everything they want will eventually happen.

It's toxic, and it's only when you're out of it can you see just how much it was grinding you down, and IS grinding you down for those still in it.

[Flashman_]

Well done for escaping! If I was to leave I would only want a part time job, but I do not see many suitable ones at all. Plenty of FT ones out there though, at the moment, many of which seem to offer better terms if not pay. However when I do leave this s**t-shower of a company, I feel it would be to give up regular work for good, so I am waiting to see if EVR may be on the cards.

[HTPostman]

I’m close to leaving myself, there’s a job 10 minute walk from my house working 6am till 11am, Monday to Friday. You get a paid a half hour daily break so in effect it’s just over 22 hours a week. It’s £15k a year so not great money but I’m not on much more here at RM (I’m on a 4 day week).

There is one manager who does the exact same work as everyone else. If someone falls ill, yes you each do a bit of their work but you also drop some of the not as urgent work you usually do. No pressure, no stress, no constantly trying to change your terms and conditions. No reporting work as being done to an unseen upper manager purely to save your bacon even though you know he’ll only cut hours from your office anyway.

The thought of finishing each day at 11am, and especially finishing on a Friday at 11am and not having to be at work until Monday is very appealing.

[roman]

Wheres this job !!!!

[2214MN]

I'm currently looking for jobs too, do you feel much better for leaving? Seems most people do. What job have you gone in to if you don't mind me asking?

Yeah I do feel better for leaving, although it was only Saturday so time will tell in the long run I guess.

I’m doing an LGV driving apprenticeship with a supermarket. I applied for the LGV driving academy with Royal Mail but it’s deflating when over 6000 people applied for 500 spots and only 250 of those were car to MGV licenses. 11 years seniority and not in with a sniff, I realise 11 years isn’t much in this company but just shows how hard the progression is and lack of opportunities. I realise this job will be stressful in different ways but hopefully it will provide more opportunities in the future.

There are lots of things I will miss about the job when you strip away all the bullshit you have to put up with and simply it to spending a few hours having a laugh with your colleagues and then being out in the fresh air effectively your own boss - it is a good job but it’s not getting any easier. I’m only 30, physically fit but it leaves me physically exhausted not wanting to leave the sofa to play with my kids when I get home.

[2214MN]

Quite a few have left our office recently and all guys with 10+ years experience. Reasons were this s**t will go every year till we are run into the ground, my body can’t take this anymore and fed up to f@@@ fighting with managers because you want to finish on time. All left for decent jobs and similar wages.best of luck mate

Cheers Derek. This is essentially it isn’t it, you’re made to feel guilty for working your hours and wanting to finish on time and in return for doing overtime you are even more exhausted with no energy to do anything when you get home.

[2214MN]

I’m close to leaving myself, there’s a job 10 minute walk from my house working 6am till 11am, Monday to Friday. You get a paid a half hour daily break so in effect it’s just over 22 hours a week. It’s £15k a year so not great money but I’m not on much more here at RM (I’m on a 4 day week).

There is one manager who does the exact same work as everyone else. If someone falls ill, yes you each do a bit of their work but you also drop some of the not as urgent work you usually do. No pressure, no stress, no constantly trying to change your terms and conditions. No reporting work as being done to an unseen upper manager purely to save your bacon even though you know he’ll only cut hours from your office anyway.

The thought of finishing each day at 11am, and especially finishing on a Friday at 11am and not having to be at work until Monday is very appealing.

Seems like a no brainer! Of course the trade of is financially but if you can make it work financially then your mental health and happiness will improve tenfold.

It’s all well and good working all the hours under the sun and getting a nice pay packet but in this job to do that you have no energy to do anything with the money, you end up spending more on takeaways cause you are exhausted etc.

Wish you all the best if you make the choice, I’m sure your body and mind will thank you for it!

[WASD]

I was going to wait a while before i dug up an old thread and post, but this one popped up...

I Ieft RM after about 4yrs with the business. I worked my ass off for most of that until i had enough and just coasted through the last year, but i still made the effort with colleagues, customers and overtime. This company has really ground my attitude down. I still work hard if it benefits me or colleagues, but i make the effort now to be anti corporate.

I find it hard to remember the actual stressful feeling of RM manager discussions, or the feeling of hurting joints and legs from the job. It's amazing how much at ease i'm at now, despite actually really enjoying the postie job previously. I do miss the good bits, but they really are just majorly overshadowed by the cons.

I understand RM needs to change, but the reality is it won't ever be successful due to poor leadership and the culture it has engrained. I don't think holding on at RM is a good idea unless you're happy there, which most aren't.

I took the gamble to move in an unstable economic climate as jobs are aplenty now which increased my chances of success. I had some experience of interest to my new employer, but i didn't have a trade which they wanted. I'm used to changing jobs, and it's hard still, but as others with much longer time in RM have said before in other threads, they don't regret moving.

[HTPostman]

I’m close to leaving myself, there’s a job 10 minute walk from my house working 6am till 11am, Monday to Friday. You get a paid a half hour daily break so in effect it’s just over 22 hours a week. It’s £15k a year so not great money but I’m not on much more here at RM (I’m on a 4 day week).

There is one manager who does the exact same work as everyone else. If someone falls ill, yes you each do a bit of their work but you also drop some of the not as urgent work you usually do. No pressure, no stress, no constantly trying to change your terms and conditions. No reporting work as being done to an unseen upper manager purely to save your bacon even though you know he’ll only cut hours from your office anyway.

The thought of finishing each day at 11am, and especially finishing on a Friday at 11am and not having to be at work until Monday is very appealing.

Seems like a no brainer! Of course the trade of is financially but if you can make it work financially then your mental health and happiness will improve tenfold.

It’s all well and good working all the hours under the sun and getting a nice pay packet but in this job to do that you have no energy to do anything with the money, you end up spending more on takeaways cause you are exhausted etc.

Wish you all the best if you make the choice, I’m sure your body and mind will thank you for it!

Thank you. For the short term I am staying - overall I do enjoy this job, I work in what sounds like one of the better offices and have an ok relationship with managers (they don’t bully here - not that I’ve seen - but are incompetent).

I’m also trying not to repeat my previous mistake when I left RM and 2/3 months later everyone received a large amount of free shares, that’s always irked me!

I’m going to see how things play out and take whatever kind of sweetener we receive then make my decision. I’ll also use the system to my advantage, so if/when in my head I decide to leave I’ll stick around for a year or so longer, stack all my annual leave at the end of the holiday year and leave partway through so I get a small wedge of holiday pay.

With the potential new job it’s fortunate that it’s very secure and a few times a year they advertise for new staff, so I don’t need to go for it before they pull up the drawbridge.

[priority102]

I’m close to leaving myself, there’s a job 10 minute walk from my house working 6am till 11am, Monday to Friday. You get a paid a half hour daily break so in effect it’s just over 22 hours a week. It’s £15k a year so not great money but I’m not on much more here at RM (I’m on a 4 day week).

There is one manager who does the exact same work as everyone else. If someone falls ill, yes you each do a bit of their work but you also drop some of the not as urgent work you usually do. No pressure, no stress, no constantly trying to change your terms and conditions. No reporting work as being done to an unseen upper manager purely to save your bacon even though you know he’ll only cut hours from your office anyway.

The thought of finishing each day at 11am, and especially finishing on a Friday at 11am and not having to be at work until Monday is very appealing.

Seems like a no brainer! Of course the trade of is financially but if you can make it work financially then your mental health and happiness will improve tenfold.

It’s all well and good working all the hours under the sun and getting a nice pay packet but in this job to do that you have no energy to do anything with the money, you end up spending more on takeaways cause you are exhausted etc.

Wish you all the best if you make the choice, I’m sure your body and mind will thank you for it!

Thank you. For the short term I am staying - overall I do enjoy this job, I work in what sounds like one of the better offices and have an ok relationship with managers (they don’t bully here - not that I’ve seen - but are incompetent).

I’m also trying not to repeat my previous mistake when I left RM and 2/3 months later everyone received a large amount of free shares, that’s always irked me!

I’m going to see how things play out and take whatever kind of sweetener we receive then make my decision. I’ll also use the system to my advantage, so if/when in my head I decide to leave I’ll stick around for a year or so longer, stack all my annual leave at the end of the holiday year and leave partway through so I get a small wedge of holiday pay.

With the potential new job it’s fortunate that it’s very secure and a few times a year they advertise for new staff, so I don’t need to go for it before they pull up the drawbridge.

You must be mad! Staying because something "may" happen if I stay. The only thing they are giving you now is LESS!