Quiet Mondays in Delivery Offices

goneaway · Post by **goneaway** » 18 Aug 2020, 21:37

I'm not sure how many people who follow this forum also follow the Blue Shirts forum as well, but if you do, you will have seen there have been lots of posts about a shift in the volume of mail received on Mondays and Tuesdays in Delivery Offices. Whereas delivery staff have had "quiet Tuesdays" for some years, this has changed to "quiet Mondays" and Tuesdays have become much busier for incoming mail. There is some suggestion that this is due to reduced shifts in the Mail Centres and a change in when DSA mail arrives with Royal Mail. But I don't think I've seen any posts within the Mail Centres forum about this.

So, can anyone comment on what the real reason is for the sudden change in volumes between what is received in Delivery Offices on Monday and Tuesday mornings. This seems to have happened each week since the "no mail Saturdays" finished for Delivery Offices. Have shifts been cut over the weekend and if so, is it a permanant move, or something that has been advertised as "temporary" or due to coronavirus? Or is it more to do with when bulk mailings arrive with Royal Mail - and if so, is that more to do with when companies want to stuff to enter the Royal Mail network, or is it Royal Mail dicatating when it enters the network.

If the DSA mail still arrives with Royal Mail at the same time it ever did, does the stuff just sit there idle in Yorks for longer and if so, has an agreement been made with the DSA companies/their customers that the service standards for the time to delivery have been relaxed?

Post by **hubbahubba** » 18 Aug 2020, 22:26

goneaway wrote:I'm not sure how many people who follow this forum also follow the Blue Shirts forum as well, but if you do, you will have seen there have been lots of posts about a shift in the volume of mail received on Mondays and Tuesdays in Delivery Offices. Whereas delivery staff have had "quiet Tuesdays" for some years, this has changed to "quiet Mondays" and Tuesdays have become much busier for incoming mail. There is some suggestion that this is due to reduced shifts in the Mail Centres and a change in when DSA mail arrives with Royal Mail. But I don't think I've seen any posts within the Mail Centres forum about this.

So, can anyone comment on what the real reason is for the sudden change in volumes between what is received in Delivery Offices on Monday and Tuesday mornings. This seems to have happened each week since the "no mail Saturdays" finished for Delivery Offices. Have shifts been cut over the weekend and if so, is it a permanant move, or something that has been advertised as "temporary" or due to coronavirus? Or is it more to do with when bulk mailings arrive with Royal Mail - and if so, is that more to do with when companies want to stuff to enter the Royal Mail network, or is it Royal Mail dicatating when it enters the network.

If the DSA mail still arrives with Royal Mail at the same time it ever did, does the stuff just sit there idle in Yorks for longer and if so, has an agreement been made with the DSA companies/their customers that the service standards for the time to delivery have been relaxed?

DSA was usually heaviest on Saturdays before Covid,but since they stopped letter delivery on Saturdays and even though this has been restarted,the DSA that was sent Saturdays is now processed in MCs on Mondays,hence the quiet Monday busy Tuesday

goneaway · Post by **goneaway** » 19 Aug 2020, 06:48

hubbahubba wrote: DSA was usually heaviest on Saturdays before Covid,but since they stopped letter delivery on Saturdays and even though this has been restarted,the DSA that was sent Saturdays is now processed in MCs on Mondays,hence the quiet Monday busy Tuesday

Thanks for that. Do you know if this arrangement is permanent and changes of shifts were agreed with the union, or was this just imposed as "executive action" by Royal Mail before Rico left? I would have thought some Mail Centre staff would have been up in arms about it! Or have the shifts stayed the same and other work is done on the Saturday instead?

Post by **hubbahubba** » 19 Aug 2020, 07:52

I was told by the manager that this was a decision made by the DSA firms in response to the no letter/flats on Saturday that RM introduced at the height of Covid,and that for whatever reason the DSA posters have decided to continue.

wallan · Post by **wallan** » 19 Aug 2020, 15:43

hubbahubba wrote:I was told by the manager that this was a decision made by the DSA firms in response to the no letter/flats on Saturday that RM introduced at the height of Covid,and that for whatever reason the DSA posters have decided to continue.

Surely what they brought in on a Friday was for Sat Delivery ,so if they " Dropped " a day it would Friday not Saturday , you would expect them to bring in extra on a Saturday for Monday Delivery ,
You would expect Mondays Delivery to consist of , Fridays 2nd Cl Postings , Saturdays " DSA" Postings , Saturday Postings i.e Piller Box Collections Etc

yubin282 · Post by **yubin282** » 19 Aug 2020, 19:33

goneaway wrote:I'm not sure how many people who follow this forum also follow the Blue Shirts forum as well, but if you do, you will have seen there have been lots of posts about a shift in the volume of mail received on Mondays and Tuesdays in Delivery Offices. Whereas delivery staff have had "quiet Tuesdays" for some years, this has changed to "quiet Mondays" and Tuesdays have become much busier for incoming mail. There is some suggestion that this is due to reduced shifts in the Mail Centres and a change in when DSA mail arrives with Royal Mail. But I don't think I've seen any posts within the Mail Centres forum about this.

So, can anyone comment on what the real reason is for the sudden change in volumes between what is received in Delivery Offices on Monday and Tuesday mornings. This seems to have happened each week since the "no mail Saturdays" finished for Delivery Offices. Have shifts been cut over the weekend and if so, is it a permanant move, or something that has been advertised as "temporary" or due to coronavirus? Or is it more to do with when bulk mailings arrive with Royal Mail - and if so, is that more to do with when companies want to stuff to enter the Royal Mail network, or is it Royal Mail dicatating when it enters the network.

If the DSA mail still arrives with Royal Mail at the same time it ever did, does the stuff just sit there idle in Yorks for longer and if so, has an agreement been made with the DSA companies/their customers that the service standards for the time to delivery have been relaxed?

I've often thought that quiet/busy days can be 'engineered'

Post by **britwrit** » 23 Aug 2020, 20:29

At HWDC - out near Heathrow - no? In fact, they've started using the new PSMs on Sundays.

They've had a big Sunday shift sorting packets coming into the country by hand for a long time. But this should - in theory - put more work into the system.

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 23 Aug 2020, 20:44

britwrit wrote:At HWDC - out near Heathrow - no? In fact, they've started using the new PSMs on Sundays.

They've had a big Sunday shift sorting packets coming into the country by hand for a long time. But this should - in theory - put more work into the system.

Yep, HWDC is at Heathrow (well one of the adjacent industrial estates). They've had PSMs for years so maybe they've replaced their old PSMs with new, more modern ones

Post by **britwrit** » 23 Aug 2020, 20:55

The big PSM is still there but they stopped/gave up running import through it a few years back.

Part of it had to do with the fact that they opened another building (ILC) in the same industrial park to handle import. The other reason - supposedly - is that the big PSM wasn't fitted to handle red sleeves, just bags.

Post by **paulus103** » 23 Aug 2020, 23:22

hubbahubba wrote:I was told by the manager that this was a decision made by the DSA firms in response to the no letter/flats on Saturday that RM introduced at the height of Covid,and that for whatever reason the DSA posters have decided to continue.

Same at my mail centre
Top brass at my mail centre are forecasting less work when new local Amazon parcel hub opens in a couple of weeks :(
e.g. no Amazon stuff