The Future: Saturday 25th Nov 2023

[mjd24]

Back to the future part 2

Mon June 10th 2024


Started work at 10;15am, Theres next to no mail in so the flats have already been sorted by the full time staff, and they are doing the last packets.
Everyone gets out by 11am and its a wonderful sunny day about 21oc.
The mails that light im missing out every 10 houses as we dont cold call d2ds anymore. Most of the customers have twigged on that to get parcels they need to be in or arrange a redelivery or safeplace so theres only 5 redelivers to do and we are now charging for collection so no ones intrested.

Break time half way in at around 12;30pm for 30 mins at a loverly country pub, then on to do the last side of the village, but its only parcels as most of the mail has fallen off a cliff since its £1;50 per stamp.
Due to seasonal flex finish time is 3;30pm so theres plenty of daylight left to take the wife and kids out later.

Lol

[TopperGas]

It's Saturday 25th Nov 2023 around 4:30pm, I've been on delivery since around 10:15am so just over 6 hrs, I should have finished half an hour ago but my COM informed me this morning that due to heavier than expected traffic that he was 'asking me' to flex up by half an hour. It has hardly stopped raining since I started and I'm soaked to the skin. It is dark and I'm not familiar with the area. I've been provided with a torch, but no batteries (was told I have to buy these myself) so I'm struggling to see some of the house numbers. The PDA has given up the ghost being so wet so I'm trying to write down the tracking numbers as I deliver them but due to the rain my pen has stopped working too. I was trying to take photos on my mobile phone but it's raining so hard that I dare not use it. I have just knocked on a customer’s door to pick up a customer collection but they said it wasn't ready and could I come back later, I said No. I’m just trying to get over a heavy cold so unable to go at a decent pace, the last couple of weeks of bad weather are taking their toll on me but can’t go sick because I had a four day absence around eight months ago when I twisted my ankle on delivery. I have three packets left that were attempted yesterday but they weren’t in so I have to re-deliver today, unfortunately due to the rain one of the address labels has got so damp the address has become unreadable, earlier, before the PDA died I was struggling to scan tracked so was putting them in manually, it was hard though because my hands were so cold. Because my hands are frozen I'm using the otherwise useless PDA to knock on the doors. A close call with a dog roaming around the street with no owner, I had to wait in someone’s garden until it got bored and run off. It is completely dark now and I'm struggling to get anyone to answer when I have packets, customers are not keen to open the door in the dark, the conversation is always the same "KNOCK, KNOCK" "who is it?" " the Postman, I have a packet for you!" nothing happens for a few minutes, lots of whispering behind the door, then see someone looking out of the living room window, then after some time the security chain is removed and a little old lady looks out of the crack of the door before taking the packet. Then onto the next house. The rain coming down harder now which is a blessing because a little earlier there was a couple of dodgy looking guys in hoodies who were following me, I was keeping my trolly as close to me as possible. My shoes are full of water due to the constant rain so not bothering avoiding the puddles, my feet couldn’t get any wetter. I still have around 100 calls left but I'm going to stop delivering the mail and just do the last tracked as instructed by my COM and I'm going to call it a day. I can’t write out any cards either because of my useless pen and my P739 cards are soaking wet so I hope they are all in and answer the door. I would have called my manager but he finished and went home at 10am this morning, I saw him getting in his car to leave as I pulled out of the yard to go out on delivery. Obviously my union rep wasn't in today either as he doesn't work Saturdays. It’s going to take me around 40 mins to drive back through the Saturday pre-Christmas traffic, a journey of 2 miles, so anticipate getting back to the office around 5:15pm, ten mins to pouch off and hopefully I can be leaving to clock off around 5:30pm, So I should be home around 6:15pm. I'm lucky I only live around 3 miles away and shouldn't take me too long in this traffic. Looking forward to my Sunday off tomorrow, it’s been a long week, Monday will soon be here again and expect a grilling off my COM as to why I brought back the hundred calls.

Sounds bleak….
But if you twisted your ankle at work and it’s work related it shouldn’t (unless the policy has changed) be added on to your sick allowance (if it’s a pot hole or whatever make sure you take a photo and inform your manager right away), and remember if it happened in someone’s driveway in the dark you could actually go down the route of legal action.
Don’t use your phone for any parcel/letter issues.
If your place of work are not providing you with proper equipment for you to perform your job (batteries for torch or padlock for trolley) then don’t do it. Health and safety is protected.
As for the dog roaming the street, take a photo, and then leave that entire street as inaccessible. You are just following protocol after all….
And if you can’t get hold of the manager (and only use the pda to call the office, don’t use your own phone) then again you can use that as evidence to back you up. PDA call history will show you tried calling several times and left numerous messages.

But you’re right…. There could be some really lousy shifts ahead…

Wow that speech could have come straight from the mouth of a manager, that’s uncanny.

"Don't use your own phone on delivery" but you can take a photo of a dog with it!

[postieblueshirt]

It's Saturday 25th Nov 2023 around 4:30pm, I've been on delivery since around 10:15am so just over 6 hrs, I should have finished half an hour ago but my COM informed me this morning that due to heavier than expected traffic that he was 'asking me' to flex up by half an hour. It has hardly stopped raining since I started and I'm soaked to the skin. It is dark and I'm not familiar with the area. I've been provided with a torch, but no batteries (was told I have to buy these myself) so I'm struggling to see some of the house numbers. The PDA has given up the ghost being so wet so I'm trying to write down the tracking numbers as I deliver them but due to the rain my pen has stopped working too. I was trying to take photos on my mobile phone but it's raining so hard that I dare not use it. I have just knocked on a customer’s door to pick up a customer collection but they said it wasn't ready and could I come back later, I said No. I’m just trying to get over a heavy cold so unable to go at a decent pace, the last couple of weeks of bad weather are taking their toll on me but can’t go sick because I had a four day absence around eight months ago when I twisted my ankle on delivery. I have three packets left that were attempted yesterday but they weren’t in so I have to re-deliver today, unfortunately due to the rain one of the address labels has got so damp the address has become unreadable, earlier, before the PDA died I was struggling to scan tracked so was putting them in manually, it was hard though because my hands were so cold. Because my hands are frozen I'm using the otherwise useless PDA to knock on the doors. A close call with a dog roaming around the street with no owner, I had to wait in someone’s garden until it got bored and run off. It is completely dark now and I'm struggling to get anyone to answer when I have packets, customers are not keen to open the door in the dark, the conversation is always the same "KNOCK, KNOCK" "who is it?" " the Postman, I have a packet for you!" nothing happens for a few minutes, lots of whispering behind the door, then see someone looking out of the living room window, then after some time the security chain is removed and a little old lady looks out of the crack of the door before taking the packet. Then onto the next house. The rain coming down harder now which is a blessing because a little earlier there was a couple of dodgy looking guys in hoodies who were following me, I was keeping my trolly as close to me as possible. My shoes are full of water due to the constant rain so not bothering avoiding the puddles, my feet couldn’t get any wetter. I still have around 100 calls left but I'm going to stop delivering the mail and just do the last tracked as instructed by my COM and I'm going to call it a day. I can’t write out any cards either because of my useless pen and my P739 cards are soaking wet so I hope they are all in and answer the door. I would have called my manager but he finished and went home at 10am this morning, I saw him getting in his car to leave as I pulled out of the yard to go out on delivery. Obviously my union rep wasn't in today either as he doesn't work Saturdays. It’s going to take me around 40 mins to drive back through the Saturday pre-Christmas traffic, a journey of 2 miles, so anticipate getting back to the office around 5:15pm, ten mins to pouch off and hopefully I can be leaving to clock off around 5:30pm, So I should be home around 6:15pm. I'm lucky I only live around 3 miles away and shouldn't take me too long in this traffic. Looking forward to my Sunday off tomorrow, it’s been a long week, Monday will soon be here again and expect a grilling off my COM as to why I brought back the hundred calls.

Sounds bleak….
But if you twisted your ankle at work and it’s work related it shouldn’t (unless the policy has changed) be added on to your sick allowance (if it’s a pot hole or whatever make sure you take a photo and inform your manager right away), and remember if it happened in someone’s driveway in the dark you could actually go down the route of legal action.
Don’t use your phone for any parcel/letter issues.
If your place of work are not providing you with proper equipment for you to perform your job (batteries for torch or padlock for trolley) then don’t do it. Health and safety is protected.
As for the dog roaming the street, take a photo, and then leave that entire street as inaccessible. You are just following protocol after all….
And if you can’t get hold of the manager (and only use the pda to call the office, don’t use your own phone) then again you can use that as evidence to back you up. PDA call history will show you tried calling several times and left numerous messages.

But you’re right…. There could be some really lousy shifts ahead…

Wow that speech could have come straight from the mouth of a manager, that’s uncanny.

"Don't use your own phone on delivery" but you can take a photo of a dog with it!

scan the dog take photo with pda simples

[world class male]

actually you should add +1hr as it's the day after black friday and we'll be delivering amazon prime deals whilst their workers are on strike

[FilthyBloke]

It's Saturday 25th Nov 2023 around 4:30pm, I've been on delivery since around 10:15am so just over 6 hrs, I should have finished half an hour ago but my COM informed me this morning that due to heavier than expected traffic that he was 'asking me' to flex up by half an hour. It has hardly stopped raining since I started and I'm soaked to the skin. It is dark and I'm not familiar with the area. I've been provided with a torch, but no batteries (was told I have to buy these myself) so I'm struggling to see some of the house numbers. The PDA has given up the ghost being so wet so I'm trying to write down the tracking numbers as I deliver them but due to the rain my pen has stopped working too. I was trying to take photos on my mobile phone but it's raining so hard that I dare not use it. I have just knocked on a customer’s door to pick up a customer collection but they said it wasn't ready and could I come back later, I said No. I’m just trying to get over a heavy cold so unable to go at a decent pace, the last couple of weeks of bad weather are taking their toll on me but can’t go sick because I had a four day absence around eight months ago when I twisted my ankle on delivery. I have three packets left that were attempted yesterday but they weren’t in so I have to re-deliver today, unfortunately due to the rain one of the address labels has got so damp the address has become unreadable, earlier, before the PDA died I was struggling to scan tracked so was putting them in manually, it was hard though because my hands were so cold. Because my hands are frozen I'm using the otherwise useless PDA to knock on the doors. A close call with a dog roaming around the street with no owner, I had to wait in someone’s garden until it got bored and run off. It is completely dark now and I'm struggling to get anyone to answer when I have packets, customers are not keen to open the door in the dark, the conversation is always the same "KNOCK, KNOCK" "who is it?" " the Postman, I have a packet for you!" nothing happens for a few minutes, lots of whispering behind the door, then see someone looking out of the living room window, then after some time the security chain is removed and a little old lady looks out of the crack of the door before taking the packet. Then onto the next house. The rain coming down harder now which is a blessing because a little earlier there was a couple of dodgy looking guys in hoodies who were following me, I was keeping my trolly as close to me as possible. My shoes are full of water due to the constant rain so not bothering avoiding the puddles, my feet couldn’t get any wetter. I still have around 100 calls left but I'm going to stop delivering the mail and just do the last tracked as instructed by my COM and I'm going to call it a day. I can’t write out any cards either because of my useless pen and my P739 cards are soaking wet so I hope they are all in and answer the door. I would have called my manager but he finished and went home at 10am this morning, I saw him getting in his car to leave as I pulled out of the yard to go out on delivery. Obviously my union rep wasn't in today either as he doesn't work Saturdays. It’s going to take me around 40 mins to drive back through the Saturday pre-Christmas traffic, a journey of 2 miles, so anticipate getting back to the office around 5:15pm, ten mins to pouch off and hopefully I can be leaving to clock off around 5:30pm, So I should be home around 6:15pm. I'm lucky I only live around 3 miles away and shouldn't take me too long in this traffic. Looking forward to my Sunday off tomorrow, it’s been a long week, Monday will soon be here again and expect a grilling off my COM as to why I brought back the hundred calls.

Sounds bleak….
But if you twisted your ankle at work and it’s work related it shouldn’t (unless the policy has changed) be added on to your sick allowance (if it’s a pot hole or whatever make sure you take a photo and inform your manager right away), and remember if it happened in someone’s driveway in the dark you could actually go down the route of legal action.
Don’t use your phone for any parcel/letter issues.
If your place of work are not providing you with proper equipment for you to perform your job (batteries for torch or padlock for trolley) then don’t do it. Health and safety is protected.
As for the dog roaming the street, take a photo, and then leave that entire street as inaccessible. You are just following protocol after all….
And if you can’t get hold of the manager (and only use the pda to call the office, don’t use your own phone) then again you can use that as evidence to back you up. PDA call history will show you tried calling several times and left numerous messages.

But you’re right…. There could be some really lousy shifts ahead…

Wow that speech could have come straight from the mouth of a manager, that’s uncanny.

"Don't use your own phone on delivery" but you can take a photo of a dog with it!

Yes because a.) you don’t have to use your phone to call a manager. B.) taking pictures of peoples packets with personal information could get you into hot water and C.) taking a picture of a dog is evidence of the law being broken.

Or you can do what the original poster said and use your own phone in the rain, Limp on in the darkness and hide behind gates in the pouring rain until the dog gets bored.

[Sbutts8182]

They can’t ask u to flex up on a Saturday because it has to be paid back in the same week unless that changes

Given back within 10 days

[rambo1]

Sounds like the rain is your biggest gripe there!
I've been finishing like many of my colleagues who go over in the run up to Christmas, at 5.30-6pm for a few yrs now. Helps if you're on a familiar round granted. Just need a good rechargeable head torch ( which you can use in your daily life too) and it's like daylight delivering.
Are you going to write a summer time scenario too where you finish earlier than normal and less time in the sun? Just to balance it out.
Just saying.

[postslippete]

Sounds like the rain is your biggest gripe there!
I've been finishing like many of my colleagues who go over in the run up to Christmas, at 5.30-6pm for a few yrs now. Helps if you're on a familiar round granted. Just need a good rechargeable head torch ( which you can use in your daily life too) and it's like daylight delivering.
Are you going to write a summer time scenario too where you finish earlier than normal and less time in the sun? Just to balance it out.
Just saying.

I don't know why but I have visions of a postie wearing a headband, shorts and in a short sleeve shirt in the pissin rain with your guns out. No offence.. I know it's just your username

There wasn't that many colleagues that I know that were finishing at 5.30pm last Xmas. Most of them were agency workers and LAT staff.

[theargyspy]

Sounds like the rain is your biggest gripe there!
I've been finishing like many of my colleagues who go over in the run up to Christmas, at 5.30-6pm for a few yrs now. Helps if you're on a familiar round granted. Just need a good rechargeable head torch ( which you can use in your daily life too) and it's like daylight delivering.
Are you going to write a summer time scenario too where you finish earlier than normal and less time in the sun? Just to balance it out.
Just saying.

Guess the difference is you chose to work till 5.30-6pm in the run up to Christmas, this is not going to be a choice, in the future this will become the norm, something that you are happy to do but many are not. The huge differences we all face out on delivery means some of us could be walking round nice 'safe' areas, others in 70's built blocks of flats where the council have housed all the problem tenants, every large town/city have places like that...discarded, used needles, used condoms, drug dealers dealing from street corners, hanging around on bikes, in cars, the dingy flats where you breathe a sigh of relief when you finish them. These areas are not fun to deliver to in daylight, never mind in the dark, you may counter this with " well we used to deliver in the dark back in the day!" yes we did and I still remember some scary encounters with drunks laid out on the stairs in blocks of flats. People shooting up in alleyways, But the difference was that that sort of people, the ones that are going to cause us grief, the drunks, the drug dealers, the people taking drugs, the guys following you asking for their dole cheque, the ones who are looking for you to leave you bike (now trolley) alone for a second so they can swipe some mail on the off change it might be worth something, all those people don't seem to be around at 7am, whereas they are on the sink estates at 4pm+ in the middle of winter, as for your head torch, good for you, but it's not going to stop you feeling unsafe when its dark, your cold and tired with 400 plus calls left in an area you've never been to before

As for the summer I don't understand your statement "summer time scenario too where you finish earlier than normal and less time in the sun?" finish earlier than normal??? it's not going to be like the good old days, we are still going to be out in the hottest part of the day, I get that, even Royal Mail can't be blamed for extreme weather. It’s the job after all but with these new trials, trying to cut the amount of indoor work it could mean we start work at 8am, out the door by 9am and on delivery with flex, until 3pm +. The mark one human body can only do so much, and because of the decline of letters Royal Mails answer is, well just keep working them longer, make deliveries bigger, it can't go on like this, so last year we are out doing 750 calls in 4 hrs +, this year new revisions now we are on 900 calls in 5 hrs+ our next revision they want to take 1500 hrs out of the office, so next revision coming soon 1110 calls 6hrs+ where does this end? in six months 1250 calls 7 hrs+. I understand the problem, the decline in the mail but the answer cannot be just keep adding more calls to each delivery and expect us to go on delivering for longer and longer, that surely cannot be the answer, They want to push us, break us, we leave for a pittance, and they employ new people to use, break, get rid, and repeat

[saintwiz]

It's Saturday 25th Nov 2023 around 4:30pm, I've been on delivery since around 10:15am so just over 6 hrs, I should have finished half an hour ago but my COM informed me this morning that due to heavier than expected traffic that he was 'asking me' to flex up by half an hour. It has hardly stopped raining since I started and I'm soaked to the skin. It is dark and I'm not familiar with the area. I've been provided with a torch, but no batteries (was told I have to buy these myself) so I'm struggling to see some of the house numbers. The PDA has given up the ghost being so wet so I'm trying to write down the tracking numbers as I deliver them but due to the rain my pen has stopped working too. I was trying to take photos on my mobile phone but it's raining so hard that I dare not use it. I have just knocked on a customer’s door to pick up a customer collection but they said it wasn't ready and could I come back later, I said No. I’m just trying to get over a heavy cold so unable to go at a decent pace, the last couple of weeks of bad weather are taking their toll on me but can’t go sick because I had a four day absence around eight months ago when I twisted my ankle on delivery. I have three packets left that were attempted yesterday but they weren’t in so I have to re-deliver today, unfortunately due to the rain one of the address labels has got so damp the address has become unreadable, earlier, before the PDA died I was struggling to scan tracked so was putting them in manually, it was hard though because my hands were so cold. Because my hands are frozen I'm using the otherwise useless PDA to knock on the doors. A close call with a dog roaming around the street with no owner, I had to wait in someone’s garden until it got bored and run off. It is completely dark now and I'm struggling to get anyone to answer when I have packets, customers are not keen to open the door in the dark, the conversation is always the same "KNOCK, KNOCK" "who is it?" " the Postman, I have a packet for you!" nothing happens for a few minutes, lots of whispering behind the door, then see someone looking out of the living room window, then after some time the security chain is removed and a little old lady looks out of the crack of the door before taking the packet. Then onto the next house. The rain coming down harder now which is a blessing because a little earlier there was a couple of dodgy looking guys in hoodies who were following me, I was keeping my trolly as close to me as possible. My shoes are full of water due to the constant rain so not bothering avoiding the puddles, my feet couldn’t get any wetter. I still have around 100 calls left but I'm going to stop delivering the mail and just do the last tracked as instructed by my COM and I'm going to call it a day. I can’t write out any cards either because of my useless pen and my P739 cards are soaking wet so I hope they are all in and answer the door. I would have called my manager but he finished and went home at 10am this morning, I saw him getting in his car to leave as I pulled out of the yard to go out on delivery. Obviously my union rep wasn't in today either as he doesn't work Saturdays. It’s going to take me around 40 mins to drive back through the Saturday pre-Christmas traffic, a journey of 2 miles, so anticipate getting back to the office around 5:15pm, ten mins to pouch off and hopefully I can be leaving to clock off around 5:30pm, So I should be home around 6:15pm. I'm lucky I only live around 3 miles away and shouldn't take me too long in this traffic. Looking forward to my Sunday off tomorrow, it’s been a long week, Monday will soon be here again and expect a grilling off my COM as to why I brought back the hundred calls.

Time for a job then mush

[timbo1234]

It's Saturday 25th Nov 2023 around 4:30pm, I've been on delivery since around 10:15am so just over 6 hrs, I should have finished half an hour ago but my COM informed me this morning that due to heavier than expected traffic that he was 'asking me' to flex up by half an hour. It has hardly stopped raining since I started and I'm soaked to the skin. It is dark and I'm not familiar with the area. I've been provided with a torch, but no batteries (was told I have to buy these myself) so I'm struggling to see some of the house numbers. The PDA has given up the ghost being so wet so I'm trying to write down the tracking numbers as I deliver them but due to the rain my pen has stopped working too. I was trying to take photos on my mobile phone but it's raining so hard that I dare not use it. I have just knocked on a customer’s door to pick up a customer collection but they said it wasn't ready and could I come back later, I said No. I’m just trying to get over a heavy cold so unable to go at a decent pace, the last couple of weeks of bad weather are taking their toll on me but can’t go sick because I had a four day absence around eight months ago when I twisted my ankle on delivery. I have three packets left that were attempted yesterday but they weren’t in so I have to re-deliver today, unfortunately due to the rain one of the address labels has got so damp the address has become unreadable, earlier, before the PDA died I was struggling to scan tracked so was putting them in manually, it was hard though because my hands were so cold. Because my hands are frozen I'm using the otherwise useless PDA to knock on the doors. A close call with a dog roaming around the street with no owner, I had to wait in someone’s garden until it got bored and run off. It is completely dark now and I'm struggling to get anyone to answer when I have packets, customers are not keen to open the door in the dark, the conversation is always the same "KNOCK, KNOCK" "who is it?" " the Postman, I have a packet for you!" nothing happens for a few minutes, lots of whispering behind the door, then see someone looking out of the living room window, then after some time the security chain is removed and a little old lady looks out of the crack of the door before taking the packet. Then onto the next house. The rain coming down harder now which is a blessing because a little earlier there was a couple of dodgy looking guys in hoodies who were following me, I was keeping my trolly as close to me as possible. My shoes are full of water due to the constant rain so not bothering avoiding the puddles, my feet couldn’t get any wetter. I still have around 100 calls left but I'm going to stop delivering the mail and just do the last tracked as instructed by my COM and I'm going to call it a day. I can’t write out any cards either because of my useless pen and my P739 cards are soaking wet so I hope they are all in and answer the door. I would have called my manager but he finished and went home at 10am this morning, I saw him getting in his car to leave as I pulled out of the yard to go out on delivery. Obviously my union rep wasn't in today either as he doesn't work Saturdays. It’s going to take me around 40 mins to drive back through the Saturday pre-Christmas traffic, a journey of 2 miles, so anticipate getting back to the office around 5:15pm, ten mins to pouch off and hopefully I can be leaving to clock off around 5:30pm, So I should be home around 6:15pm. I'm lucky I only live around 3 miles away and shouldn't take me too long in this traffic. Looking forward to my Sunday off tomorrow, it’s been a long week, Monday will soon be here again and expect a grilling off my COM as to why I brought back the hundred calls.

Another Orwellian Distopian view BUT SUPERBLY ACCURATE !

vote yes and this is YOUR FUTURE you may want it and are desperate to go the extra mile for these crooks but i do not !

VOTE NO !!!!

The future - I voted NO. Just spent another day trying to get a job in the rural area where I live. Due to high interest rates, high inflation there is now record unemployment. RM went into administration after we voted NO and announced more strikes. RM made thousands redundant including me. We will have to move house and live nearer a city where there is more chance of getting work. Perhaps in a pub or restaurant where I could work early in the morning , go back home, work 1 hour in the afternoon, go back home and do 4 hours in the evening till midnight. Oh and that is 6 days a week, no sick pay and minimum wage. Still it's better than nothing.

VOTE YES. Regroup, change union leaders and tactics (if you want) and plan the strategy for the future. The CWU would not endorse this agreement without knowing something they have been told or shown by RM. Vent your anger on here but don't make the ballot decision in anger.

[chickenwittle]

It's Saturday 25th Nov 2023 around 4:30pm, I've been on delivery since around 10:15am so just over 6 hrs, I should have finished half an hour ago but my COM informed me this morning that due to heavier than expected traffic that he was 'asking me' to flex up by half an hour. It has hardly stopped raining since I started and I'm soaked to the skin. It is dark and I'm not familiar with the area. I've been provided with a torch, but no batteries (was told I have to buy these myself) so I'm struggling to see some of the house numbers. The PDA has given up the ghost being so wet so I'm trying to write down the tracking numbers as I deliver them but due to the rain my pen has stopped working too. I was trying to take photos on my mobile phone but it's raining so hard that I dare not use it. I have just knocked on a customer’s door to pick up a customer collection but they said it wasn't ready and could I come back later, I said No. I’m just trying to get over a heavy cold so unable to go at a decent pace, the last couple of weeks of bad weather are taking their toll on me but can’t go sick because I had a four day absence around eight months ago when I twisted my ankle on delivery. I have three packets left that were attempted yesterday but they weren’t in so I have to re-deliver today, unfortunately due to the rain one of the address labels has got so damp the address has become unreadable, earlier, before the PDA died I was struggling to scan tracked so was putting them in manually, it was hard though because my hands were so cold. Because my hands are frozen I'm using the otherwise useless PDA to knock on the doors. A close call with a dog roaming around the street with no owner, I had to wait in someone’s garden until it got bored and run off. It is completely dark now and I'm struggling to get anyone to answer when I have packets, customers are not keen to open the door in the dark, the conversation is always the same "KNOCK, KNOCK" "who is it?" " the Postman, I have a packet for you!" nothing happens for a few minutes, lots of whispering behind the door, then see someone looking out of the living room window, then after some time the security chain is removed and a little old lady looks out of the crack of the door before taking the packet. Then onto the next house. The rain coming down harder now which is a blessing because a little earlier there was a couple of dodgy looking guys in hoodies who were following me, I was keeping my trolly as close to me as possible. My shoes are full of water due to the constant rain so not bothering avoiding the puddles, my feet couldn’t get any wetter. I still have around 100 calls left but I'm going to stop delivering the mail and just do the last tracked as instructed by my COM and I'm going to call it a day. I can’t write out any cards either because of my useless pen and my P739 cards are soaking wet so I hope they are all in and answer the door. I would have called my manager but he finished and went home at 10am this morning, I saw him getting in his car to leave as I pulled out of the yard to go out on delivery. Obviously my union rep wasn't in today either as he doesn't work Saturdays. It’s going to take me around 40 mins to drive back through the Saturday pre-Christmas traffic, a journey of 2 miles, so anticipate getting back to the office around 5:15pm, ten mins to pouch off and hopefully I can be leaving to clock off around 5:30pm, So I should be home around 6:15pm. I'm lucky I only live around 3 miles away and shouldn't take me too long in this traffic. Looking forward to my Sunday off tomorrow, it’s been a long week, Monday will soon be here again and expect a grilling off my COM as to why I brought back the hundred calls.

Another Orwellian Distopian view BUT SUPERBLY ACCURATE !

vote yes and this is YOUR FUTURE you may want it and are desperate to go the extra mile for these crooks but i do not !

VOTE NO !!!!

The future - I voted NO. Just spent another day trying to get a job in the rural area where I live. Due to high interest rates, high inflation there is now record unemployment. RM went into administration after we voted NO and announced more strikes. RM made thousands redundant including me. We will have to move house and live nearer a city where there is more chance of getting work. Perhaps in a pub or restaurant where I could work early in the morning , go back home, work 1 hour in the afternoon, go back home and do 4 hours in the evening till midnight. Oh and that is 6 days a week, no sick pay and minimum wage. Still it's better than nothing.

VOTE YES. Regroup, change union leaders and tactics (if you want) and plan the strategy for the future. The CWU would not endorse this agreement without knowing something they have been told or shown by RM. Vent your anger on here but don't make the ballot decision in anger.

Still no from me.

[timbo1234]

It's Saturday 25th Nov 2023 around 4:30pm, I've been on delivery since around 10:15am so just over 6 hrs, I should have finished half an hour ago but my COM informed me this morning that due to heavier than expected traffic that he was 'asking me' to flex up by half an hour. It has hardly stopped raining since I started and I'm soaked to the skin. It is dark and I'm not familiar with the area. I've been provided with a torch, but no batteries (was told I have to buy these myself) so I'm struggling to see some of the house numbers. The PDA has given up the ghost being so wet so I'm trying to write down the tracking numbers as I deliver them but due to the rain my pen has stopped working too. I was trying to take photos on my mobile phone but it's raining so hard that I dare not use it. I have just knocked on a customer’s door to pick up a customer collection but they said it wasn't ready and could I come back later, I said No. I’m just trying to get over a heavy cold so unable to go at a decent pace, the last couple of weeks of bad weather are taking their toll on me but can’t go sick because I had a four day absence around eight months ago when I twisted my ankle on delivery. I have three packets left that were attempted yesterday but they weren’t in so I have to re-deliver today, unfortunately due to the rain one of the address labels has got so damp the address has become unreadable, earlier, before the PDA died I was struggling to scan tracked so was putting them in manually, it was hard though because my hands were so cold. Because my hands are frozen I'm using the otherwise useless PDA to knock on the doors. A close call with a dog roaming around the street with no owner, I had to wait in someone’s garden until it got bored and run off. It is completely dark now and I'm struggling to get anyone to answer when I have packets, customers are not keen to open the door in the dark, the conversation is always the same "KNOCK, KNOCK" "who is it?" " the Postman, I have a packet for you!" nothing happens for a few minutes, lots of whispering behind the door, then see someone looking out of the living room window, then after some time the security chain is removed and a little old lady looks out of the crack of the door before taking the packet. Then onto the next house. The rain coming down harder now which is a blessing because a little earlier there was a couple of dodgy looking guys in hoodies who were following me, I was keeping my trolly as close to me as possible. My shoes are full of water due to the constant rain so not bothering avoiding the puddles, my feet couldn’t get any wetter. I still have around 100 calls left but I'm going to stop delivering the mail and just do the last tracked as instructed by my COM and I'm going to call it a day. I can’t write out any cards either because of my useless pen and my P739 cards are soaking wet so I hope they are all in and answer the door. I would have called my manager but he finished and went home at 10am this morning, I saw him getting in his car to leave as I pulled out of the yard to go out on delivery. Obviously my union rep wasn't in today either as he doesn't work Saturdays. It’s going to take me around 40 mins to drive back through the Saturday pre-Christmas traffic, a journey of 2 miles, so anticipate getting back to the office around 5:15pm, ten mins to pouch off and hopefully I can be leaving to clock off around 5:30pm, So I should be home around 6:15pm. I'm lucky I only live around 3 miles away and shouldn't take me too long in this traffic. Looking forward to my Sunday off tomorrow, it’s been a long week, Monday will soon be here again and expect a grilling off my COM as to why I brought back the hundred calls.

Another Orwellian Distopian view BUT SUPERBLY ACCURATE !

vote yes and this is YOUR FUTURE you may want it and are desperate to go the extra mile for these crooks but i do not !

VOTE NO !!!!

The future - I voted NO. Just spent another day trying to get a job in the rural area where I live. Due to high interest rates, high inflation there is now record unemployment. RM went into administration after we voted NO and announced more strikes. RM made thousands redundant including me. We will have to move house and live nearer a city where there is more chance of getting work. Perhaps in a pub or restaurant where I could work early in the morning , go back home, work 1 hour in the afternoon, go back home and do 4 hours in the evening till midnight. Oh and that is 6 days a week, no sick pay and minimum wage. Still it's better than nothing.

VOTE YES. Regroup, change union leaders and tactics (if you want) and plan the strategy for the future. The CWU would not endorse this agreement without knowing something they have been told or shown by RM. Vent your anger on here but don't make the ballot decision in anger.

Still no from me.

Fair enough. Don't misunderstand my post I am absolutely furious about how we've been treated but my pragmatic instinct overrides my anger. I think we've been outmanouvered at every turn in this dispute and the CWU must learn some hard lessons.

[Postmanham]

When do we get to vote on it. Anybody know?

[moon71]

Talked to my rep this morning. We all hate the deal. But their is no other deal coming.

Sorry I'm voting yes.

Voting no will not get a better deal, it'll be a worse deal plus strikes if any deal at all or the same deal slightly worse.

Instead I'm silently quiting. Walking slower. Pretending to be dumb. Uninterested. It's just clock in clock out now.