How hard do we actually work compared to other jobs

[stevenw59]

If you are in reasonable shape physically, it is still a decent job. The biggest change I have noticed, is low letter boxes, which are arguably more damaging to the body than being made to walk a few miles extra a day.

If you do packets on the IPS the white Yorks are also a health and safety issue.

I'm sure that what is damaging to the body over time is carrying an overweight bag on the back. The lack of weight distribution causes you to lean to one side and that affects not just your lower back and lumbar spine but also your shoulder, hips and even your legs as it affects your ability to maintain an upright posture.

Always use the trolleys or break the bags up.

I've done 34 years walking and remember carrying "heavy" bags on busy days and bill days so you could get around in time. I haven't done that for many years now. I'm now suffering from plantar fasciitis of my right foot, problems with my lower back and right hip and tendonitis of the right shoulder. Whether these are the results of the way we used to work or just old age I'm not qualified to say. What I will say is that I only felt that I was working hard some days then, whereas now, because of the length of time we deliver for, I feel like I'm working harder> Again, this could be just old age . Just my opinion.

[postslippete]

I've done 34 years walking and remember carrying "heavy" bags on busy days and bill days so you could get around in time. I haven't done that for many years now. I'm now suffering from plantar fasciitis of my right foot, problems with my lower back and right hip and tendonitis of the right shoulder. Whether these are the results of the way we used to work or just old age I'm not qualified to say. What I will say is that I only felt that I was working hard some days then, whereas now, because of the length of time we deliver for, I feel like I'm working harder> Again, this could be just old age . Just my opinion.

Certainly sounds like wear and tear. A few of my mates are now ex-posties that suffered with bad backs. One of them wanted to reduce his hours and work a 4 day week or do more indoor work but the b*stards in charge wouldn't let him, but then allowed part-timers to work a 4 day week instead. I think they had a grudge against him due to his long service so he ended up going on long term sick before they eventually paid him off.

[enskied]

I am one of those lazy managers, as disgruntled call us. I work around 10 hours a day, every day. I am in before all of the staff and still here when most go home.

As for the job being hard, yes it is physically hard walking the streets with heavy bags of mail but it doesn't compare to being on a production line for eight hours a day with a 30 minute break. The money used to be poor at RM but jobs in factories pay a hell of a lot less. I would be prepared to take a delivery job rather than go back to a factory as I used to. I admit delivery work is far harder than it was when I started 23 years ago but once out of the door you are your own man/woman with nobody over your shoulder.

Nonsense... We have a PDA

[qwerty2]

If you are in reasonable shape physically, it is still a decent job. The biggest change I have noticed, is low letter boxes, which are arguably more damaging to the body than being made to walk a few miles extra a day.

Residents with low letterboxes are the people who get mail once a week

Don’t know if you were joking or not but people on my round who have letterboxes on the bottom of the door get more mail and parcels than most people dickheads

[LouBarlow]

If you are in reasonable shape physically, it is still a decent job. The biggest change I have noticed, is low letter boxes, which are arguably more damaging to the body than being made to walk a few miles extra a day.

Residents with low letterboxes are the people who get mail once a week

Don’t know if you were joking or not but people on my round who have letterboxes on the bottom of the door get more mail and parcels than most people dickheads

The low boxes are always ridiculously stiff and sharp. I’ve cut my hand on one box twice in the last week. I might have to resort to refusing to use it at this point.

[CharlesSpooner]

Way higher turnover of staff than when I started which says a lot. Not unusual now to see one or two bin it off within a fortnight of joining - not even young people before the old farts start complaining about 'woke' youngsters or 'millenials' - they're generally the ones who stick it out and still get down the gym afterwards

Plenty of people with experience of working elsewhere genuinely shocked by how crappy it can be and quickly go elsewhere given how little we're ahead of minimum wage.

Back in the 90s when it was a genuinely fairly easy job we had old-timers moaning about how hard it's got compared to when they started. My God what I'd give to go back to that

[Jantyc0611]

A LOT

[Postie45]

The job is hard and demanding physically. I switched to security, get 15 mins break per hour, easy work and higher pay. I remember at RM we started and it was flat out all day and you'd get the side eye from management should you be one of the few taking your actual breaks.

There's better (and worse) jobs out there, keep.your eyes open and take a good opportunity if you see one.

[mjd24]

The mad thing for me is how you can work backside off for years and years, with more and more put on you, and yet it is NEVER ENOUGH FOR THEM.

[Barnacle]

The mad thing for me is how you can work backside off for years and years, with more and more put on you, and yet it is NEVER ENOUGH FOR THEM.

Hard work is entirely unrewarded.

[twoloops]

The biggest change I have noticed, is low letter boxes

The seriously low letterboxes I knock & just tell them I can''t get down, I did have one where I got down on the floor when she opened the door, told her I would happily pay for a wall mounted box, few weeks later wall mounted letterbox fitted, happy days

[xPandabear1992x]

I try and stay mostly chipper, right?

But you know what gets me down?

How inherently s**t your colleagues can sometimes be. Especially if you work in a small office.

I work in one such office. Been at RM 5 years but at this office just over a year. I'm a floater but most of the time I end up covering the same walk over and over.

Lost my licence temporarily due to health issues which is obviously not ideal but not that bad a deal. I can still mostly do the job.

But over the last few months I guess I've been finding out people are just pissy with it and probably have been since the start. It obviously means I have to rely on a driver to get me around etc. People have told me it's fine but obviously it's not.

Whoever I'm on with (it's been the same lad on and off for a while) gets a fair amount of complaints from customers, misorts a lot because he sorts too fast and is in a rush and always, without fail, tells me I'm working too slowly, when if he slowed down a bit he wouldn't end up bringing mail back.

He frequently (despite only being in the job for a year) waits for management to be around) and frequently finds any excuse to say stuff like "do you need me to show you how to do/what do to". It's demoralising.

Other people who like above run around their walks, do free extra work etc, have point blank told me, and have been overheard by me, saying that they think I don't work hard enough, that I don't do my job properly, there must be something I could change etc. Also extremely demoralising. The walk I serve is probably the biggest or one of the biggest in the office. When I take annual leave or have a day off people flat out refuse to do it, or to even be associated with it, for said reason. Nobody else gives it the time of day.

And I get absolutely hammered all the time when I'm in, doing the round, by the people who refuse to do it.

I didnt used to work that hard mentally. Physically, maybe. So so.

Now? Physically, loads. Mentally? I'm teetering.

And for what?

I'm not even joking. I'm running at a loss.

[Barnacle]

I try and stay mostly chipper, right?

But you know what gets me down?

How inherently s**t your colleagues can sometimes be. Especially if you work in a small office.

I work in one such office. Been at RM 5 years but at this office just over a year. I'm a floater but most of the time I end up covering the same walk over and over.

Lost my licence temporarily due to health issues which is obviously not ideal but not that bad a deal. I can still mostly do the job.

But over the last few months I guess I've been finding out people are just pissy with it and probably have been since the start. It obviously means I have to rely on a driver to get me around etc. People have told me it's fine but obviously it's not.

Whoever I'm on with (it's been the same lad on and off for a while) gets a fair amount of complaints from customers, misorts a lot because he sorts too fast and is in a rush and always, without fail, tells me I'm working too slowly, when if he slowed down a bit he wouldn't end up bringing mail back.

He frequently (despite only being in the job for a year) waits for management to be around) and frequently finds any excuse to say stuff like "do you need me to show you how to do/what do to". It's demoralising.

Other people who like above run around their walks, do free extra work etc, have point blank told me, and have been overheard by me, saying that they think I don't work hard enough, that I don't do my job properly, there must be something I could change etc. Also extremely demoralising. The walk I serve is probably the biggest or one of the biggest in the office. When I take annual leave or have a day off people flat out refuse to do it, or to even be associated with it, for said reason. Nobody else gives it the time of day.

And I get absolutely hammered all the time when I'm in, doing the round, by the people who refuse to do it.

I didnt used to work that hard mentally. Physically, maybe. So so.

Now? Physically, loads. Mentally? I'm teetering.

And for what?

I'm not even joking. I'm running at a loss.

That’s horrible PandaBear. Feeling that you are not part of a supportive group of workmates. Small offices are like small villages, they look quaint until you live there.

Can you transfer out?

[Basildon Bond]

Anyone doing stretching? Yoga? Eating mainly "very" or even "quite" healthy food? What's your diet (what you actually eat not weight loss)? Takeaways/ fast food? Packets of sweets or sugary drinks? Drinking hardly any alcohol etc? Not smoking nor vaping? Looked into mindfulness? I'm not preaching here, just wondering - I'm not a diet freak nor do I look like Charles Atlas (just think "Arnie" for those too young to remember Charles).

From what I see and hear in the office(s) I work at, there seems to be an attitude of "it's a hard job, I can eat what I like", or that before or after a shift were you walk miles (this include processing - it doesn't have to be outdoor) fetching and carrying heavy items, twisting, bending and turning, you do not have to do anything to help your body or take care of yourself. Those that smoke say "well, I've smoke for decades, I cannot give up now" - like stopping today, right this moment will not allow your body to heal? It wants to heal but we don't let it.

It's like it's a fait accompli - the job's tough so if it doesn't get you this year, it'll get you next year. Blame genetics: those with good genes will have a happy retirement and probably go on long hikes in the countryside right up to the night they quietly slip away with a smile on their face; those with weak genes will probably be increasingly down to the doctors, more pills every year, in and out of hospital, and eventually keel over after a long battle with their health. You probably could look after yourself better today and this week so you are in better health a year from now, right? Don't surrender, improve your health now.

I do use a foam roller and work all the leg muscles and fascia (front and back - IT band etc.) and the lower and upper back muscles. I do a handful of full chin-ups where I can dangle from the bar and stretch the back and spin out for a few seconds. I don't think I would last very long (few days) if I didn't work the muscles each morning. It really helps. If I get a sore spot in my neck or back I would get a tennis ball and roll the area - either on the floor or sandwich the ball between me and a wall. If I had plantar fascia I'd get a golf ball and roll the bottom of my foot while sitting in a chair watching the TV for ten minutes morning and night for a week - it would probably improve. I do look at what I eat and know what is good for me and what is bad. If I eat badly for a couple of days I make the effort to eat healthy for the next week to offset it. I make sure I'm drinking enough water. I sometimes don't eat anything for 24 hours to give my gut a rest (still drink water). I make sure I get enough sleep. I do not subscribe to the "Gaviscon generation" as I call them - they eat a curry, it doesn't agree with them so they take a reflux suppressant like Gaviscon or Rennie, then they go eat another curry. If the food you eat doesn't agree with you: stop eating it. It doesn't matter if everyone else is eating it, you should stop. And I use the "tools" at work to make sure I am not hurting myself: I lift with my legs (I have to remember to do it); I go get a york from outside and put heavy items on to it and wheel them to the van; If a house has a lot of parcels I don't try to carry all of them in one go; And, importantly I ask for help when I need it.

I'd like to see a show of hands for those doing anything outside of work to keep themselves fit and healthy while at work and so you can be fit to carry on working for many years and so you will not crumble when you decide to retire.

[stevenw59]

I used to be a keen cyclist. Up until April 2023 I regularly rode 70-100 miles a week. I did mountain bike marathons and road sportives. I've done 5 day mountain bike rides, 145 mile road bike rides with 12,500 ft. of climbing in Mallorca. I watched my weight, still eat healthy and I did all the stretches and other exercises that you need to do to help with the cycling. My last event was April 2023 when I did a mountain bike marathon with my grandson. I also did park runs when I a Saturday off. Now I can only ride my indoor trainer because that allows me to step off when my foot/back/ shoulder become too painful. I do the tennis ball exercise for planta faciitis, I do stretches and other exercises for my back and shoulder, all recommended by the physio. I now go to an N.H.S. physio "club" every week too.
So, long winded I know, but to answer the question, I did things outside work to keep fit and healthy. I didn't do them with the job in mind, I did because I loved it. But here I am, coming up to 6 months on the sick and no end in sight.