They are using the reasoning for delivery 2.0 to create more space in depots for parcels as a red herring .Delivery 2.0 is designed to run down the mail side of the business, cut OT and eventually decimate staff to boost profits.
In essence there are duties which people can sign for but in reality workload will be set by the managers traffic numbers and a new system designed to guide the manager to what workload should be taken and is completely at their discretion.
Posties need to stop thinking about the details that don’t matter. People are focusing on it being one frame. There will still be people signed into duties, but Royal Mail are using the delivery method to create a new culture. Rather than thinking of them as duties it is more a geographical area you are assigned to that will expand depending on traffic. They are calling them duties to appease the union but in reality the duty responsibility and seniority of old is gone under this new system. Delivery will be expected and there will be enforcement by counselling and conduct if there are not adequate reasons for non-delivery of mail and packets.
They hope an expectation to deliver, and performance management will also cut down Over Time. If you are in an office where your big parcels are being separated or moved to another depot there will be minimal OT due to frame requiring less prep and a decision to enforce strict management targets for delivery of mail rather than pay the Overtime for people to deliver it. Double/Triple slotted frames with narrow width to achieve more delivery points are what compromises the frame, flat against the wall with no side wings. They want the budget spent on delivering letters as minimal as possible so there will also be less prep due to less duties.
Psychologically, added to the pressure of completing your instructed workload Royal Mail want to destroy any remnants of community. Having everybody turned to the wall with no aisle means communication is restricted to the people to the left and right of you. However due to management having a 360 degree view of staff the environment is designed to be oppressive due to staff feeling they are constantly being monitored. In royal mails estimation this will help to reduce the Union influence even further by removing the community aspect that many depots still have.
They want the large parcels taken out of smaller/medium depots because their plans are to concentrate the future workforce in 350 parcel hubs that are typically bigger in size and in high populace areas with good links to other towns and villages. Then will be then sell the remaining property to give a huge cash boost for the owner. Staff will be either squeezed into bigger depots as smaller depots close. There will be minimal investment in the letter side of the business and only when absolutely required.
Also mentioned is that the parcels being moved from smaller depots into larger ones is a way to concentrate new employees that have highly flexible, exploitative contracts. They see these staff as the future. Posties on the older contracts will be reduced through disciplinary procedure, attrition, Voluntary Redundancy and eventually compulsory redundancy as mail declines further and the USO is reduced. They also want these depots near the motorway and access for HGVs with the greatest tonnage. So depots which are restricted by the size of the vehicle that can unload will be further isolated and more likely to close.
Delivery 2.0 is about cost cutting and boosting productivity by making staff more efficient with the aforementioned tactics. The Union should not be on board with these revisions. It is signing a suicide note to themselves and posties in general.