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Work related stress

Postal workers discussion forum. Discuss the day to day life in a Blue Shirt.
aiden01
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 7001
Joined: 27 Feb 2013, 21:43
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by aiden01 »

cookie wrote:
27 May 2023, 22:01
I can see a lot more going off stressed as most walks are over 5 hours and totally unmanageable, added to that is auto redelivery so we are out there even longer... After mental health week, the bullying message delivered to us from above is computer says yes we have enough time and to work faster or be conduct coded! :cry
Why get stressed start an finish on time.
ted_e_bear
Posts: 4085
Joined: 03 Sep 2012, 19:37
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by ted_e_bear »

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Last edited by ted_e_bear on 30 May 2023, 18:44, edited 1 time in total.
ANDREW CROCOMBE
Posts: 247
Joined: 06 Apr 2018, 18:36
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by ANDREW CROCOMBE »

Put us all back on single duties, removing 75% of my stress immediately. Everyone says start/finish times but that aint easy especially on the indoor part. Never had problems until van share and working with differerent people to cover days off.The last resign had duties so s**t there were'nt any worth applying for.
Boltonian-White
Posts: 138
Joined: 22 Sep 2010, 16:20
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by Boltonian-White »

ANDREW CROCOMBE wrote:
30 May 2023, 11:01
Put us all back on single duties, removing 75% of my stress immediately. Everyone says start/finish times but that aint easy especially on the indoor part. Never had problems until van share and working with differerent people to cover days off.The last resign had duties so s**t there were'nt any worth applying for.
Van share was the way forwards in a bright new future… one delivery to every address in the country of letters and packets. What bright spark came up with this one? Probably someone straight out of uni who’d never done the job.

Unfortunately as a result it caused so many issues.

The first being the amount of fuel it costs Royal Mail vs the savings Royal Mail made when posties used their own cars.

Secondly productivity goes down when one partner has to wait for the other partner to finish a loop. I remember one fella having to wait an hour after his first loop as his partner HAD to deliver ALL the bulk packets.

Third was the amount of problems it causes when posties do not get along for whatever reason ( so many reasons here). See above for an example. Some folk have to work a certain way that makes sense to them but only them.

Fourth. The ageing fleet that Royal Mail has to maintain / replace.
Oh dear
pieoftheday
Posts: 1834
Joined: 11 Mar 2010, 16:43
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by pieoftheday »

Boltonian-White wrote:
30 May 2023, 13:20
ANDREW CROCOMBE wrote:
30 May 2023, 11:01
Put us all back on single duties, removing 75% of my stress immediately. Everyone says start/finish times but that aint easy especially on the indoor part. Never had problems until van share and working with differerent people to cover days off.The last resign had duties so s**t there were'nt any worth applying for.
Van share was the way forwards in a bright new future… one delivery to every address in the country of letters and packets. What bright spark came up with this one? Probably someone straight out of uni who’d never done the job.

Unfortunately as a result it caused so many issues.

The first being the amount of fuel it costs Royal Mail vs the savings Royal Mail made when posties used their own cars.

Secondly productivity goes down when one partner has to wait for the other partner to finish a loop. I remember one fella having to wait an hour after his first loop as his partner HAD to deliver ALL the bulk packets.

Third was the amount of problems it causes when posties do not get along for whatever reason ( so many reasons here). See above for an example. Some folk have to work a certain way that makes sense to them but only them.

Fourth. The ageing fleet that Royal Mail has to maintain / replace.
Oh dear
Posties used their own cars? Good grief.
ted_e_bear
Posts: 4085
Joined: 03 Sep 2012, 19:37
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by ted_e_bear »

pieoftheday wrote:
30 May 2023, 18:10
Boltonian-White wrote:
30 May 2023, 13:20
ANDREW CROCOMBE wrote:
30 May 2023, 11:01
Put us all back on single duties, removing 75% of my stress immediately. Everyone says start/finish times but that aint easy especially on the indoor part. Never had problems until van share and working with differerent people to cover days off.The last resign had duties so s**t there were'nt any worth applying for.
Van share was the way forwards in a bright new future… one delivery to every address in the country of letters and packets. What bright spark came up with this one? Probably someone straight out of uni who’d never done the job.

Unfortunately as a result it caused so many issues.

The first being the amount of fuel it costs Royal Mail vs the savings Royal Mail made when posties used their own cars.

Secondly productivity goes down when one partner has to wait for the other partner to finish a loop. I remember one fella having to wait an hour after his first loop as his partner HAD to deliver ALL the bulk packets.

Third was the amount of problems it causes when posties do not get along for whatever reason ( so many reasons here). See above for an example. Some folk have to work a certain way that makes sense to them but only them.

Fourth. The ageing fleet that Royal Mail has to maintain / replace.
Oh dear
Posties used their own cars? Good grief.
Yeah it worked for some, going back to the heady days of job and finish, the idea was you drove out to your duty, did it, then went home, so assuming you lived in the general area of your walk it was ok as at the time you didn't have to return to office so any undelivered items you "pouched off" at a post office and went home.

Obviously times have changed.
pieoftheday
Posts: 1834
Joined: 11 Mar 2010, 16:43
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by pieoftheday »

It was never royal mail policy to allow that,.did they have business insurance? The mail in the car wouldn't have been insured even if they did have business insurance. I'm not sure RM were saving huge amounts on fuel if a few were doing it. We had the odd one that did it when we did 2nd deliveries but they inevitably got caught and got a bollocking :thumbup
Scotland1990
Posts: 62
Joined: 12 Sep 2016, 15:41
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by Scotland1990 »

I once had a manager come to my house when I was off sick. Is it ok if I come in for a chat? No it’s absolutely not as I s**t the door in his face, he took the hint.
Zicomurphy
Posts: 576
Joined: 24 Oct 2014, 06:40
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by Zicomurphy »

pieoftheday wrote:
30 May 2023, 18:10
Boltonian-White wrote:
30 May 2023, 13:20
ANDREW CROCOMBE wrote:
30 May 2023, 11:01
Put us all back on single duties, removing 75% of my stress immediately. Everyone says start/finish times but that aint easy especially on the indoor part. Never had problems until van share and working with differerent people to cover days off.The last resign had duties so s**t there were'nt any worth applying for.
Van share was the way forwards in a bright new future… one delivery to every address in the country of letters and packets. What bright spark came up with this one? Probably someone straight out of uni who’d never done the job.

Unfortunately as a result it caused so many issues.

The first being the amount of fuel it costs Royal Mail vs the savings Royal Mail made when posties used their own cars.

Secondly productivity goes down when one partner has to wait for the other partner to finish a loop. I remember one fella having to wait an hour after his first loop as his partner HAD to deliver ALL the bulk packets.

Third was the amount of problems it causes when posties do not get along for whatever reason ( so many reasons here). See above for an example. Some folk have to work a certain way that makes sense to them but only them.

Fourth. The ageing fleet that Royal Mail has to maintain / replace.
Oh dear
Posties used their own cars? Good grief.
Different times. Throw your bags (all 3 of them) in the boot, drive out to your duty and get it delivered. No having to cycle out to the start of your delivery or wait to be accelerated out by a van driver. No having to hang about on street corners waiting for your 2nd and 3rd bags to be dropped off to you (in pre mobile phone times you were very reliant on having a decent support driver who wouldn’t overlook a bag and leave you standing on a street corner until they realised their mistake)

If I was doing a delivery near enough to where I lived I would even drive home and have some breakfast at home. Quite often got first delivery done by 8.30 and didn’t need to be back at office until 10.15 to do the little bit of IPS for the day mail. Most days back home indoors by 11.30 at the latest.

No idea what official policy was at the time but loads of people openly used their own cars and all managers were absolutely fine with it. It was just seen as acceptable if you wanted to do that.

This is going back over 30 years. Very different times.
richietns
Posts: 1085
Joined: 17 Oct 2011, 18:09
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by richietns »

aiden01 wrote:
27 May 2023, 22:55
cookie wrote:
27 May 2023, 22:01
I can see a lot more going off stressed as most walks are over 5 hours and totally unmanageable, added to that is auto redelivery so we are out there even longer... After mental health week, the bullying message delivered to us from above is computer says yes we have enough time and to work faster or be conduct coded! :cry
Why get stressed start an finish on time.
Its easy saying that but some people get bullied/pressured easier than others and it becomes unbearable for some,strangely though the start and finish time if used correctly and with the right temperament does work.
Boltonian-White
Posts: 138
Joined: 22 Sep 2010, 16:20
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by Boltonian-White »

Zicomurphy wrote:
31 May 2023, 07:22
pieoftheday wrote:
30 May 2023, 18:10
Boltonian-White wrote:
30 May 2023, 13:20
ANDREW CROCOMBE wrote:
30 May 2023, 11:01
Put us all back on single duties, removing 75% of my stress immediately. Everyone says start/finish times but that aint easy especially on the indoor part. Never had problems until van share and working with differerent people to cover days off.The last resign had duties so s**t there were'nt any worth applying for.
Van share was the way forwards in a bright new future… one delivery to every address in the country of letters and packets. What bright spark came up with this one? Probably someone straight out of uni who’d never done the job.

Unfortunately as a result it caused so many issues.

The first being the amount of fuel it costs Royal Mail vs the savings Royal Mail made when posties used their own cars.

Secondly productivity goes down when one partner has to wait for the other partner to finish a loop. I remember one fella having to wait an hour after his first loop as his partner HAD to deliver ALL the bulk packets.

Third was the amount of problems it causes when posties do not get along for whatever reason ( so many reasons here). See above for an example. Some folk have to work a certain way that makes sense to them but only them.

Fourth. The ageing fleet that Royal Mail has to maintain / replace.
Oh dear
Posties used their own cars? Good grief.
Different times. Throw your bags (all 3 of them) in the boot, drive out to your duty and get it delivered. No having to cycle out to the start of your delivery or wait to be accelerated out by a van driver. No having to hang about on street corners waiting for your 2nd and 3rd bags to be dropped off to you (in pre mobile phone times you were very reliant on having a decent support driver who wouldn’t overlook a bag and leave you standing on a street corner until they realised their mistake)

If I was doing a delivery near enough to where I lived I would even drive home and have some breakfast at home. Quite often got first delivery done by 8.30 and didn’t need to be back at office until 10.15 to do the little bit of IPS for the day mail. Most days back home indoors by 11.30 at the latest.

No idea what official policy was at the time but loads of people openly used their own cars and all managers were absolutely fine with it. It was just seen as acceptable if you wanted to do that.

This is going back over 30 years. Very different times.
I think it was 2011 that park and loop was started in my old office. Some were still using their cars years later ( warned numerous times not to).
Clappedoutpostie
Posts: 1260
Joined: 05 Nov 2021, 21:46
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by Clappedoutpostie »

Omega853 wrote:
25 May 2023, 13:18
I would record any phone calls from them too.
Defiantly do this, put your phone on speaker when the call comes in and use another to record the conversation. We had a girl do this about 18 months ago and then she emailed HR with the voice notes attached. Funny enough she doesn’t get bothered anymore but the manager in question is still in post.
kazardaimenu
Posts: 1391
Joined: 13 Apr 2022, 19:11
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by kazardaimenu »

Some went back to using cars during the covids and it worked nicely. Van shares can work but can also be pretty unproductive. If one wants to do some overtime but one wants to work their time they’ll need dropping off at the office before the other can continue. Would make sense to have singleton duties with large parcels included rather than van shares and an extra parcel driver covering the same roads.
SpacePhoenix
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 12140
Joined: 12 Nov 2008, 17:03
Gender: Male

Re: Work related stress

Post by SpacePhoenix »

kazardaimenu wrote:
04 Jun 2023, 18:22
Some went back to using cars during the covids and it worked nicely. Van shares can work but can also be pretty unproductive. If one wants to do some overtime but one wants to work their time they’ll need dropping off at the office before the other can continue. Would make sense to have singleton duties with large parcels included rather than van shares and an extra parcel driver covering the same roads.
In that "deal" it mentions iirc PF slowly being merged back into RM so that has to be factored in