Staff costs to income ratio

[billyhayes]

It was people like you I was talking about that are killing the business.

Full of confrontational attitude and no answers

Now you're just being a mug.

I am a classic paradox amongst counter staff. I will say thanks for waiting to all, and I will sell, sell, sell as is the job.

On the other hand if someone is talking bullshit, I will call them out on it. If this is part of a 'confrontational attitude' it has for years rewarded me with 4's on my PDRs.

Over the 15 odd years I've been here, many managers have come and gone in my office. All of them rewarding me for the input I give to the office.

Along with a great team, we consistently pull in quarterly sales incentive bonuses of around £300. This is because we ALL do the job within our office. If someone on the counter doesn't then there are a few of us that will say, "WTF is your game mate? Happy to take the bonus, yes? Then chop chop."

But then again, I have a voice and a pair of bollocks therefore I MUST be killing the business.

Seems to me that you think anyone who speaks their mind obviously isn't doing the job they are paid to do.

Try not to be so obtuse. Think outside of that little box.

If maybe, you had spoke up against your masters, BEFORE getting the boot, and not relying on the gentlemans club known as the CMA to save you, things may have worked out differently for you. Maybe not. Methinks you've left it a bit late to get Mad, Max.

The CWU will not save me, the person next to me, or come to think of it 'themselves'. When we are gone, well, then that's that. Then it's Amen.

My future is in my hands. As is yours. Either move on, or by all means, stay put, and hit out at everyone for the shitty cards you've been dealt.

Oh, BTW as you're bringing class into it I would consider my self well above 'working class'.
My very way of life plus the generous inheritances and trusts, (god bless you nans and grandads ), keep me in a lifestyle above which you obviously think I belong.

[donnac]

The CWU will not save me, the person next to me, or come to think of it 'themselves'. When we are gone, well, then that's that. Then it's Amen.

My future is in my hands. As is yours. Either move on, or by all means, stay put, and hit out at everyone for the shitty cards you've been dealt.

[kathleen1]

Next month i have worked for the post office for 25 years, and i am only 41 years old.I have been in the business since i left school and i still get taken off the counter just to see if i can have a special delivery conversation.I find all the sales culture a bit strange i just give the customer the right product they need and would never use my trust to gain a sale just for the postoffice i just couldn't do it.The postoffice need to address the number of managers to cut the ratio or abms or fss we might be able to save plenty of money thenI am not bitter but i am working class because i work and i always will be and proud of it. I earn over inflated wages £13,000 don't insult me- £160,000 rwbarker thats what i call OVER-INFLATED.Hope to see everyone on the picket line,its our last throw of the dice at least we stood up to be counted not like the managers who haven't got a backbone to fight back.

[billyhayes]

I am not bitter but i am working class because i work and i always will be and proud of it.

Don't sweat it Kathleen, it was aimed at me. My shoulders are broad.

The post office need to address the number of managers to cut the ratio or abms or fss we might be able to save plenty of money then.

Come June the landscape will be very different, as 400 managers from POL are 'leaving'...

...at least we stood up to be counted not like the managers who haven't got a backbone to fight back.

[goggins69]

kathleen 1, have you never thought of becoming a manager with all your experience

[PO1]

kathleen 1, have you never thought of becoming a manager with all your experience

kathleen1's the baby of the office.

[goinpostal]

the business with too many abysmal managers and knowing they have got no chance of earning their over inflated wages anywhere else especially in whsmiths.

The business makes it plain that Crown staff also "earn over inflated wages"

Would you dispute that?

Seems obvious to me, though maybe a manager-friendly poster like madmax can't see it:

Post Office Ltd (POL) made increased profits of £72 million last year, awarded a 2.25 per cent pay rise to managers and increased directors' remuneration by 21 per cent (worth £3.9 million in 2009-10). However, POL has pleaded poverty and refused to consider a pay rise for counter staff.

http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/massive ... trike.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Its just like in every business, they are channelling funds up or trying to maintain high profits from previous years like BT, at the expense of workers' pensions, pay and jobs.

Its the old capitalist proverb that every "working class hero" and many of us ordinary workers know: "you pay the bosses more to work harder, you pay the workers less to get them to work harder".

[goinpostal]

when was the last time post office counters had a pay rise anyways, its been at least two years.

[PO1]

when was the last time post office counters had a pay rise anyways, its been at least two years.

As I've said before on a previous post, my wages have gone up by £60 per month since 2006.

Pay freeze.... we've been on one!

[kathleen1]

kathleen 1, have you never thought of becoming a manager with all your experience

I have been abm in the past just to cover leave but i really enjoyed it, that was in the good old days when we done about £300,000 in benefits in a week queues out the door and when you balanced on your paper balance sheet within £2 imagine the new abm doing that now, our abm can't serve 10minutes without making a big blunder and you know why, too busy with his mouth selling and not concentrating on his job.Believe it or not i am the baby of the office many of my colleagues have been in over 30 years,i couldn't become a manager i have too many principles and morals to listen to the likes of Paula Vennells and her cronies.Too be honest i would be a great manager for the staff but not for pol, thats the problem with new managers they have no people skills and talk to staff like they are 5year old school kids.

[MinisterofCucumber]

Why can't our Crown offices be used as a place where people could pick up the packages they have ordered on the internet?

There must be a way of doing this that brings in revenue and doesn't disadvantage Letters.

It seems like POL have been shedding money makers like ATMs and introducing very average products that are hard to sell. It's almost as if they want to run the business down so that they can cut staff to make it easier for the new franchise owners to hire staff at the lowest possible cost. Securing the network is crucial, as is protecting the higher grades.

A favourite method of cost cutters is to introduce workers on a lower grade and gradually train them up to do the higher grade's work.

The grade undercutting scam works like this:

Higher grade workers are offered overtime doing easier lower grade work but are paid higher grade overtime rates. This means they are less likely to do higher grade work overtime. If none of the higher grades want to do their own grade's overtime, management can argue there is a need to train lower grade volunteers on the higher grade duties to solve this problem (that they created themselves). Lower grades are then paid substitution or lower grade overtime to do higher grade work. Substitution rates are pitifully low as they are based on the difference between the lower grade pay and the starting rate of the higher grade, which is kept very low. When over 50% of the higher grade work is done by the lower grade, management can argue that the higher grade should be abolished.

What is the lowest paid grade working in Crown offices?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Why can't our Crown offices be used as a place where people could pick up the packages they have ordered on the internet?

There must be a way of doing this that brings in revenue and doesn't disadvantage Letters.

It seems like POL have been shedding money makers like ATMs and introducing very average products that are hard to sell. It's almost as if they want to run the business down so that they can cut staff to make it easier for the new franchise owners to hire staff at the lowest possible cost. Securing the network is crucial, as is protecting the higher grades.

A favourite method of cost cutters is to introduce workers on a lower grade and gradually train them up to do the higher grade's work.

The grade undercutting scam works like this:

Higher grade workers are offered overtime doing easier lower grade work but are paid higher grade overtime rates. This means they are less likely to do higher grade work overtime. If none of the higher grades want to do their own grade's overtime, management can argue there is a need to train lower grade volunteers on the higher grade duties to solve this problem (that they created themselves). Lower grades are then paid substitution or lower grade overtime to do higher grade work. Substitution rates are pitifully low as they are based on the difference between the lower grade pay and the starting rate of the higher grade, which is kept very low. When over 50% of the higher grade work is done by the lower grade, management can argue that the higher grade should be abolished.

What is the lowest paid grade working in Crown offices?

Once delivery has been attempted and they have been carded customers can indeed elect to use the "Local Collect" service - problem is they charge £1.50 and that scares them off. http://www.postoffice.co.uk/portal/po/c ... d=95000773" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is however a Local Collect Business service for which they charge £0.75 (+vat) extra to postage - which is probably why businesses don't use it. http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump ... aId=600011" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[bc29]

kathleen 1, have you never thought of becoming a manager with all your experience

I have been abm in the past just to cover leave but i really enjoyed it, that was in the good old days when we done about £300,000 in benefits in a week queues out the door and when you balanced on your paper balance sheet within £2 imagine the new abm doing that now, our abm can't serve 10minutes without making a big blunder and you know why, too busy with his mouth selling and not concentrating on his job.Believe it or not i am the baby of the office many of my colleagues have been in over 30 years,i couldn't become a manager i have too many principles and morals to listen to the likes of Paula Vennells and her cronies.Too be honest i would be a great manager for the staff but not for pol, thats the problem with new managers they have no people skills and talk to staff like they are 5year old school kids.[/quote


In our office we have staff with lots of years service who could be managers and can run rings around our BM and ABM. The reason they are not is because when they hear of the next great scheme to save the business and they think it's wrong then they will say so!All present managers" WILL FOLLOW ORDERS" no matter how bad it sounds.Higher management do not understand the business they have joined, it's not retail it' not banking it's the Post Office! All Post Offices are unique in their customer base and location so there is no one size fits all solution.

[billyhayes]

It's almost as if they want to run the business down so that they can cut staff to make it easier for the new franchise owners to hire staff at the lowest possible cost.

Nail on head.

What is the lowest paid grade working in Crown offices?

£15,525

[PostalOfficer]

Looking back over my years of service, I see so many missed oppurtunities.

Having worked in an office in something of a tourist town we used to be asked "Do you exchange foreign money?" "Nope, go to the bank at the end of the road".

Years later the PO thought of doing BC and now issues us with sales targets.

We had a virtual captive market for car taxes. Did we really staff up for the month end? No so when the inevitable online competition came the customers were only too pleased to bypass us. We could have made a killing on car insurance at a good price then, but let's leave it till the traffic drops to a tenth of what it was and issue some sales targets!

Girobank. Making a profit? Better get rid of that so that we don't have our own bank when the POCA come along.

Let's not pay into the pension for 14 years, then if we hit hard times we'll try and find the money.

Post Office Telephones? They'll make a profit, so we'd better get rid of them.

Now, let's spend £x,000 on a Post and Go machine that will take a few tens of pounds before failing.

I've worked hard through all this. At times I've given my health and nearly cracked up. I'm sorry if some think I'm overpaid. But is the mess we're in really my fault?