No delivery staff.. in delivery...

[TopperGas]

As I've said before every office is different and there is no one plan that will suit every office, if your office has been moved to an industrial site in the middle of nowhere of course it's going to be reliant on vans but if you are in walking distance to a large portion of your workload then vans are less important and in many cases will slow you down.

In the next few years I wouldn't put it past RM to move all DOs onto industrial estates. A couple of DOs locally 1 it's a VERY TIGHT fit for the lorry reversing into their yard. For another the lorry physically can't fit and has to park on the street.

The cost of selling off DO's, some of which are linked to PO's, and buying/renting new DO's would be formidable. Perhaps if letters eventually disappear it many be possible but that's probably 5, or even 10, years away

[heraldmoth]

I've done every type of delivery past and present hence the reason I was asking if someone had come up with some new and original way that solves all the issues with ODM etc. 1 person 1 duty sounds like a very 'I'm alright Jack' type of attitude.

Never going to reinvest in vans for that…first step is all DOs need to be fully staffed according to template not a template from 10 years ago…then 2nd class should b binned off on Saturdays and 4 duties into 3 on a Tuesday and Wednesday, what that looks like will be different in all offices but has to include rurals.

Wednesday's are by far the busiest day's, why would you have reduced staff on that particular day? 2c on Saturday's should be dropped as a 1st stage then Tuesday's once RM have proved they can cope with the 1st stage.

I’m going by what I see, Mondays are brutal so DOs need flooded, flop Tuesdays and Saturdays and for me potentially flop a Wednesday 2, might not work where u are but that doesn’t really matter tbh I just think those days there’s the potential to recover with some sort of long and short set up

[SpacePhoenix]

There's now the new 1C DSA product in the mix, already seeing it being used, wonder what the plan is if the uptake of that product ends up being massive.

[Perseus]

Long and shorts only really work if you have the hours to do them in. A 9 day fortnight (for example) would cover both the bases of getting more decent time off, in return for longer days when you are at work. 74 hours over a fortnight worked over 9 days works out at 8hrs 13 mins if split evenly. If you wanted long and shorts you could plus and minus 30 mins from that. Allowing for indoor prep time and break (3 hours max) I suppose it all boils down to would people be willing to do deliveries up to 5hr 30 mins some days and 4.5 - 5 hours on others.

[postslippete]

The cost of selling off DO's, some of which are linked to PO's, and buying/renting new DO's would be formidable. Perhaps if letters eventually disappear it many be possible but that's probably 5, or even 10, years away

With digitisation, letter volumes will continue to decline but RM still has a USO and it’s hard to see that disappearing within 5–10 years. Your earlier comment about reduced delivery frequency (removing Saturday or another weekday) is more likely which would mean double or treble mail on remaining delivery days, so there will still be plenty of post to deliver.

As I've said many times, I don’t believe the business genuinely wants to lose its letter revenue entirely because then they would be forced to compete almost entirely in the parcels market, which is already highly competitive and margins are tighter. Operationally, it makes far more sense to leverage the existing nationwide delivery network to carry both parcels and letters together.

[postslippete]

One person one duty is the best way to deliver but not the most economical.

Yeah, there’s a reason the most senior staff selected singleton duties in the last re-pick.

If RM moves towards a reduced frequency USO model, the only version of solo van deployment that makes operational sense would be one driver covering two rounds, alternating between Round A one day and Round B the next, while delivering all the parcels. That would reflect the reality of declining letters and growing parcel volumes.

However, this would only be viable only if duty sizes were reduced and duties are put back in which is easier said than actually done!! Delivering double mail without resizing loops and delivery points would quickly become unmanageable both indoors and on delivery. Vertical prep and colour coding frames may improve visual organisation but doesn't address the underlying issue of oversized duties and increasing parcel workloads.

As the business becomes more parcel-led, having 2 people in a van for standard delivery isn't the most efficient model when other parcel carriers operate predominantly with solo drivers. The structural constraint remains the number of non-drivers within the workforce, which limits how far a solo van model can realistically be expanded unless alternative indoor, walking or hybrid support roles are clearly defined.

[Thommo44]

The cost of selling off DO's, some of which are linked to PO's, and buying/renting new DO's would be formidable. Perhaps if letters eventually disappear it many be possible but that's probably 5, or even 10, years away

With digitisation, letter volumes will continue to decline but RM still has a USO and it’s hard to see that disappearing within 5–10 years. Your earlier comment about reduced delivery frequency (removing Saturday or another weekday) is more likely which would mean double or treble mail on remaining delivery days, so there will still be plenty of post to deliver.

As I've said many times, I don’t believe the business genuinely wants to lose its letter revenue entirely because then they would be forced to compete almost entirely in the parcels market, which is already highly competitive and margins are tighter. Operationally, it makes far more sense to leverage the existing nationwide delivery network to carry both parcels and letters together.

Double or triple mail would be great, im currently doing 7 days. Bag are too heavy and the loops need redesigning.