ANNOUNCEMENT : ALL OF ROYAL MAIL'S EMPLOYMENT POLICIES (AGREEMENTS) AT A GLANCE (Updated 2021)... HERE

ANNOUNCEMENT : PLEASE BE AWARE WE ARE NOT ON FACEBOOK AT ALL!

The "How was your day" thread.

Postal workers discussion forum. Discuss the day to day life in a Blue Shirt.
SpacePhoenix
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 11947
Joined: 12 Nov 2008, 17:03
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by SpacePhoenix »

Mr Rush wrote:
20 Sep 2025, 17:38
What's going on at Glasgow MC? The latter half of this week all our sequenced trays are coming in wrongly labelled. Not that such formalities as prepping a walk really matter anymore, it's just very unusual.
Any changes to the walks coming up? Maybe the walks on the batches have been updated too early. Is it two batches with the same number of walks? if so it could be the person who prints the labels off putting the wrong walk into the pile for a machine. Could be that they've changed which batches get done by what machine but not updated the list by the label printer.
yellowbelly
Posts: 3600
Joined: 23 Jun 2015, 15:51
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by yellowbelly »

SpacePhoenix wrote:
20 Sep 2025, 21:51
Mr Rush wrote:
20 Sep 2025, 17:38
What's going on at Glasgow MC? The latter half of this week all our sequenced trays are coming in wrongly labelled. Not that such formalities as prepping a walk really matter anymore, it's just very unusual.
Any changes to the walks coming up? Maybe the walks on the batches have been updated too early. Is it two batches with the same number of walks? if so it could be the person who prints the labels off putting the wrong walk into the pile for a machine. Could be that they've changed which batches get done by what machine but not updated the list by the label printer.
Not just Glasgow.....
SkiSunday
Posts: 790
Joined: 05 Jan 2025, 18:19
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by SkiSunday »

Mr Rush wrote:
20 Sep 2025, 17:38
Not that such formalities as prepping a walk really seem to matter anymore to the majority of RM employees
Well said Mr Rush. Amen :Applause :Applause :Applause
Mr Rush
Posts: 2996
Joined: 05 Aug 2011, 14:27
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by Mr Rush »

SpacePhoenix wrote:
20 Sep 2025, 21:51
Mr Rush wrote:
20 Sep 2025, 17:38
What's going on at Glasgow MC? The latter half of this week all our sequenced trays are coming in wrongly labelled. Not that such formalities as prepping a walk really matter anymore, it's just very unusual.
Any changes to the walks coming up? Maybe the walks on the batches have been updated too early. Is it two batches with the same number of walks? if so it could be the person who prints the labels off putting the wrong walk into the pile for a machine. Could be that they've changed which batches get done by what machine but not updated the list by the label printer.
No, no changes (although there really should be because everything is a geographic mess). The trays I saw were off by one or two duty numbers - eg, 15's sequenced would be labelled as 16 or 17. I assume it's an error on the human side of the operation.

At least one tray seemed to be missing completely for most of the morning. Either it was at a frame on the other side of the office or it came in on a second run. Ultimately, if the sequenced never showed up it would be inconsequential for the, ahem, indeterminate number of walks not going out.
The machine stops.
SMS1969
Posts: 969
Joined: 28 Jun 2021, 11:36
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by SMS1969 »

My sequenced never showed up at all yesterday, so no doubt double tomorrow,if they happen to find it.:arrrghhh
SpacePhoenix
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 11947
Joined: 12 Nov 2008, 17:03
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by SpacePhoenix »

Mr Rush wrote:
21 Sep 2025, 18:59
SpacePhoenix wrote:
20 Sep 2025, 21:51
Mr Rush wrote:
20 Sep 2025, 17:38
What's going on at Glasgow MC? The latter half of this week all our sequenced trays are coming in wrongly labelled. Not that such formalities as prepping a walk really matter anymore, it's just very unusual.
Any changes to the walks coming up? Maybe the walks on the batches have been updated too early. Is it two batches with the same number of walks? if so it could be the person who prints the labels off putting the wrong walk into the pile for a machine. Could be that they've changed which batches get done by what machine but not updated the list by the label printer.
No, no changes (although there really should be because everything is a geographic mess). The trays I saw were off by one or two duty numbers - eg, 15's sequenced would be labelled as 16 or 17. I assume it's an error on the human side of the operation.

At least one tray seemed to be missing completely for most of the morning. Either it was at a frame on the other side of the office or it came in on a second run. Ultimately, if the sequenced never showed up it would be inconsequential for the, ahem, indeterminate number of walks not going out.
We get given a set of labels, two per walk for the first wave. We box up blue card to blue card (separate walks on the machine). Maybe their label printer is down and they've used an old set of labels. If I think I've got the labels wrong then I remove all the labels and send the boxes without labels. Sometimes if a walk has got more than 2 trays the extra trays won't get a label, that may have thrown things off if has been around the time that a machine has a change of operator.

A group of walk frames in a DO won't necessarily be all on the same batch. For each batch there is a maximum limit for the total number of delivery points. Once that limit is hit, walks have to be taken off that batch and there are a few options:

* Some walks for the DO are moved onto a brand new batch.
* Some walks are moved to a batch for the DO which hasn't hit the limit.
* Some walks are moved onto a "merged" batch.

MCs don't have anything to do with writing the sort plans or creating batches, it gets done centrally somewhere. The office that is responsible base the sort plans and batches on the data in Route Planner, if that data is wrong then the batches will be wrong.
darkknight34
Posts: 6
Joined: 01 Aug 2011, 14:40
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by darkknight34 »

Anyone else absolutely knackered all the time, i just got back from 9 days in Cyprus and came back to double mail on my frame, one day back completely ruined any relaxation i had over the 9 days.
I'm still of the ilk where you complete everyday no matter how much overtime you need to book to get it out to your customers but its getting too much, i've been a postie for nearly 30 years and i've never known it this bad. I'm on a rural with 500 calls which i think is a lot for a rural mainly due to new estates being built on my patch.
It's almost at the point where i want to resign rather than let my customers down.
I know theres nothing to be done and its my own choice to go over but i just wanted to vent a bit.
Moan over.
Barnacle
Posts: 2765
Joined: 13 Dec 2022, 16:58
Gender: Female
Location: Earth

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by Barnacle »

darkknight34 wrote:
25 Sep 2025, 07:17
Anyone else absolutely knackered all the time, i just got back from 9 days in Cyprus and came back to double mail on my frame, one day back completely ruined any relaxation i had over the 9 days.
I'm still of the ilk where you complete everyday no matter how much overtime you need to book to get it out to your customers but its getting too much, i've been a postie for nearly 30 years and i've never known it this bad. I'm on a rural with 500 calls which i think is a lot for a rural mainly due to new estates being built on my patch.
It's almost at the point where i want to resign rather than let my customers down.
I know theres nothing to be done and its my own choice to go over but i just wanted to vent a bit.
Moan over.
Grinds you down ☹️
’You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.’
qwerty2
Posts: 1954
Joined: 30 Jun 2009, 00:42
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by qwerty2 »

darkknight34 wrote:
25 Sep 2025, 07:17
Anyone else absolutely knackered all the time, i just got back from 9 days in Cyprus and came back to double mail on my frame, one day back completely ruined any relaxation i had over the 9 days.
I'm still of the ilk where you complete everyday no matter how much overtime you need to book to get it out to your customers but its getting too much, i've been a postie for nearly 30 years and i've never known it this bad. I'm on a rural with 500 calls which i think is a lot for a rural mainly due to new estates being built on my patch.
It's almost at the point where i want to resign rather than let my customers down.
I know theres nothing to be done and its my own choice to go over but i just wanted to vent a bit.
Moan over.
Don’t work OT - try it - you’ll feel a lot better
Rve83ndxd
Posts: 215
Joined: 09 Sep 2023, 10:56
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by Rve83ndxd »

qwerty2 wrote:
25 Sep 2025, 08:00

Don’t work OT - try it - you’ll feel a lot better
No. I'm still f****d.
Postie45
Posts: 2158
Joined: 21 Aug 2012, 23:05
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by Postie45 »

darkknight34 wrote:
25 Sep 2025, 07:17
Anyone else absolutely knackered all the time, i just got back from 9 days in Cyprus and came back to double mail on my frame, one day back completely ruined any relaxation i had over the 9 days.
I'm still of the ilk where you complete everyday no matter how much overtime you need to book to get it out to your customers but its getting too much, i've been a postie for nearly 30 years and i've never known it this bad. I'm on a rural with 500 calls which i think is a lot for a rural mainly due to new estates being built on my patch.
It's almost at the point where i want to resign rather than let my customers down.
I know theres nothing to be done and its my own choice to go over but i just wanted to vent a bit.
Moan over.
stop taking the responsibility on your shoulders, due to complete mismanagement the job has been made unacheivable. Do your best, work your hours and thats it. From your post its clearly taking a toll on your mental health and you have a great work ethic but dont accept these failings as your fault.
Barnacle
Posts: 2765
Joined: 13 Dec 2022, 16:58
Gender: Female
Location: Earth

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by Barnacle »

Postie45 wrote:
27 Sep 2025, 00:57
darkknight34 wrote:
25 Sep 2025, 07:17
Anyone else absolutely knackered all the time, i just got back from 9 days in Cyprus and came back to double mail on my frame, one day back completely ruined any relaxation i had over the 9 days.
I'm still of the ilk where you complete everyday no matter how much overtime you need to book to get it out to your customers but its getting too much, i've been a postie for nearly 30 years and i've never known it this bad. I'm on a rural with 500 calls which i think is a lot for a rural mainly due to new estates being built on my patch.
It's almost at the point where i want to resign rather than let my customers down.
I know theres nothing to be done and its my own choice to go over but i just wanted to vent a bit.
Moan over.
stop taking the responsibility on your shoulders, due to complete mismanagement the job has been made unacheivable. Do your best, work your hours and thats it. From your post its clearly taking a toll on your mental health and you have a great work ethic but dont accept these failings as your fault.

:Applause :Applause :Applause
’You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.’
Woody84
Posts: 186
Joined: 02 Nov 2024, 12:02
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by Woody84 »

This week has been absolutely crazy.

Tracked double what we usually have!
SpacePhoenix
MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
Posts: 11947
Joined: 12 Nov 2008, 17:03
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by SpacePhoenix »

Woody84 wrote:
04 Oct 2025, 10:22
This week has been absolutely crazy.

Tracked double what we usually have!
We had a massive surge of work in all sections Thursday night. No idea if it was just a load of work held up somewhere upstream of us.
Mr Rush
Posts: 2996
Joined: 05 Aug 2011, 14:27
Gender: Male

Re: The "How was your day" thread.

Post by Mr Rush »

Woody84 wrote:
04 Oct 2025, 10:22
This week has been absolutely crazy.

Tracked double what we usually have!
The end of the month is when volumes usually uptick as monthly pay gets spent. Still, if this is how we're doing in early October I forsee calamity for the remaining 11 weeks of the year. Remember to stay calm and apply your own oxygen mask before helping others.
The machine stops.