3 day week - is this the future?

[denhamhoop]

I don't think they can make full timers reduce their hours to part time. They could make people redundant, they could add extra parcel delivery to routes, they will make walks longer, and don't forget you will be working Sundays.

They're taking large parcels away from walks to be done by dedicated duties. that leaves 2 viable options:

1) All non-parcel DO staff get reduced to part time
2) All walks made much longer

Over time as the technology evolves I can see RM looking into the viability of walk sorting packets, which will reduce the indoor work in DOs

Well they could add more indoor work to duties because well not all work can be mechanised in spite of what Royal Mail and YOU seem to believe. Could maybe add Postbox/ Post Offices or Firms Collections onto Delivery especially with later starts as even a company run as poorly as Royal Mail must see it as sensible to have only one Postie visit a firm each day

The technology to walk sort packets already exists, it's just slow. I don't know what the processing speed is like but the tech also already exists to sequence packets as well

What even the small Chinese packets of which there are quite a large amount which have to be sorted manually every day because quite frankly I a human being struggle to pick out the actual address let's see a path file pick it out

Surely it would be worth the cost to buy one for each MC/SuperHub* delete where applicable

I once saw a machine that was actually designed to sort them Chinese packets

[SpacePhoenix]

Would it actually be worth the cost of buying a machine just to sort the Chinese/Hong Kong stuff? It seems like gradually more and more of it is arriving in containers then broken down into individual shipments and then entering RM's system as Tracked. Think it's more likely long term that RM will look into at least walk sorting all packets by machine, if not sequencing them as well.

[Barnacle]

Sequencing packets is a waste of time.

[SpacePhoenix]

Sequencing packets is a waste of time.

Not so sure, if everything gets sequenced, would RM even need DOs? They could just deliver what's to be delivered that day by a postie to them in the street

[DGH]

Not so sure, if everything gets sequenced, would RM even need DOs? They could just deliver what's to be delivered that day by a postie to them in the street

Out the back of an artic?
Or are you envisaging artics unloading into smaller trucks somewhere (presumably in a layby on an A road) who then unload on the street into the postie's van?

Would they rendezvous again after nightfall to collect collections and any returned mail/packets?

How would this be co-ordinated?

But this is indeed a bold and imaginative idea. Forgive my nit-picking questions.

[Barnacle]

Sequencing packets is a waste of time.

Not so sure, if everything gets sequenced, would RM even need DOs? They could just deliver what's to be delivered that day by a postie to them in the street

It’s a waste of time because the sequence rarely matches a walk. Posties put the sequenced mail in the frame and then when it is time to bundle up, pull this and that and slot it about, until the loops are the way the walk is actually done. There are far fewer packets than letters so it makes no sense to put packets in any order when they may be matched with oversize or some other loop or the neighbouring walk.

[postieblueshirt]

Sequencing packets is a waste of time.

Not so sure, if everything gets sequenced, would RM even need DOs? They could just deliver what's to be delivered that day by a postie to them in the street

It’s a waste of time because the sequence rarely matches a walk. Posties put the sequenced mail in the frame and then when it is time to bundle up, pull this and that and slot it about, until the loops are the way the walk is actually done. There are far fewer packets than letters so it makes no sense to put packets in any order when they may be matched with oversize or some other loop or the neighbouring walk.

This statement cannot be true...i thought we were just a parcel company now...

[pieoftheday]

Sequencing packets is a waste of time.

Not so sure, if everything gets sequenced, would RM even need DOs? They could just deliver what's to be delivered that day by a postie to them in the street

It’s a waste of time because the sequence rarely matches a walk. Posties put the sequenced mail in the frame and then when it is time to bundle up, pull this and that and slot it about, until the loops are the way the walk is actually done. There are far fewer packets than letters so it makes no sense to put packets in any order when they may be matched with oversize or some other loop or the neighbouring walk.

Frames? Letters? What's all this talk? Packets on a bench surely?

[HTPostman]

Not so sure, if everything gets sequenced, would RM even need DOs? They could just deliver what's to be delivered that day by a postie to them in the street

Out the back of an artic?
Or are you envisaging artics unloading into smaller trucks somewhere (presumably in a layby on an A road) who then unload on the street into the postie's van?

Would they rendezvous again after nightfall to collect collections and any returned mail/packets?

How would this be co-ordinated?

But this is indeed a bold and imaginative idea. Forgive my nit-picking questions.

Not sure it’s an imaginative idea. On my way to work I pass an EVRI small truck parked in a lay-by, all the parcels in those giant square canvas containers which are then handed over to 2/3 white vans parked next to the lorry. There’s no need for them to rendezvous later, because as we know they make sure they get rid of everything.

I hope we don’t go down that route. We wouldn’t be organised enough, you’d end up with parcels for another delivery in with yours, the truck would go to the wrong lay-by. Plus it seems a huge security risk.

[SpacePhoenix]

It’s a waste of time because the sequence rarely matches a walk.

That's most likely down to someone at the DO not doing there job, not making sure that the data in Route Planer is up to date. When the sort plans are written, what batch a letter goes to and where it is in the sequence is based on the Route Planner data, if that data is wrong then the letters will end up in the wrong places

Posties put the sequenced mail in the frame and then when it is time to bundle up, pull this and that and slot it about, until the loops are the way the walk is actually done. There are far fewer packets than letters so it makes no sense to put packets in any order when they may be matched with oversize or some other loop or the neighbouring walk.

Don't forget that RM is looking at bench merging again, if they go ahead with it, you won't have any frames

[HTPostman]

They could save even more room by closing Mail centres and having the workers there instead setup small parcel sorting machines in their garages, spare bedrooms or in the local village hall.

Then just outsource distribution to Eddie Stobart and everyone is happy.

[SpacePhoenix]

They could save even more room by closing Mail centres and having the workers there instead setup small parcel sorting machines in their garages, spare bedrooms or in the local village hall.

Then just outsource distribution to Eddie Stobart and everyone is happy.

I think outsourcing of distribution and logistics is going to happen at some point anyway.

If letter delivery goes over to three days then it might be alternating between shifts where walks are prepped and shifts were you're out for the whole shift delivering.

[Barnacle]

Letter delivery isn’t going to be reduced to 3 days. Only in ST’s dreams.