Delivery 2.0

[Perseus]

There seems to be a bit of sense with this. Right now we’ve got some people going out with hardly anything whilst others are overwhelmed. One thing is for certain tho, there will be daily arguments.

Another reason why they are looking to bring this in, in my view. But like everything the devil will be in the detail.
They already know the huge variance from postcode to postcode in terms of volumes of mail and parcels, and even within an office. Someone came up with a decent idea that would kill any arguments stone dead - pay people a premium to agree to do the recognised 'heavier' sections of this delivery 2.0 frame.

[scoobydo79]

I’m old enough to remember box frames. Now they really were fun

How did they work?

Instead of wing frame Barnacle it was a kind of pigeon hole set up. You still went in walk sequence ie first box you would through in letters for say Acacia Avenue numbers 1-15.It meant throwing the delivery in then going through it again on the desk to get in order.

[ted_e_bear]

I’m old enough to remember box frames. Now they really were fun

How did they work?

Instead of wing frame Barnacle it was a kind of pigeon hole set up. You still went in walk sequence ie first box you would through in letters for say Acacia Avenue numbers 1-15.It meant throwing the delivery in then going through it again on the desk to get in order.

One of our old timers said the same but on the rurals it was slightly more challenging as it would say "rose cottage to cherry cottage" omitting the properties in-between

[Acca Dacca]

[norris9]

Someone came up with a decent idea that would kill any arguments stone dead - pay people a premium to agree to do the recognised 'heavier' sections of this delivery 2.0 frame.

From what I've witnessed - manager's don't have the ability to determine what the 'busier' sections are. They are clueless, they don't do the rounds. You cannot tell how long something takes to deliver by simply looking at the frame - you have to know the round and the distances from each delivery point to the next, how long the driveways are, are there apartments, are the deliveries to the top floor or only to the bottom floor, etc. It's much more complicated than looking at a frame to see the call rate.

To stop almost all the arguments they need more flexible working, more flexible contracts. People don't want to work beyond their contracted hours, but Royal Mail management want us to do overtime. It doesn't work! The system has been broken for years.

[Grinder64]

It is not forced dismissal.
But that is the part of the mission.
Exhausting employees, psychologically draining them and making them despondent will make posties leave voluntarily.
They are not concerned about new entrants leaving under the same conditions either.
Royal Mail want a Amazon workforce. One that is flexible, one that has a revolving door of employees.
Nobody gets old enough or ill enough to get ill health retirement. Nobody is there long enough to create
culture or a community or to make a stance against their treatment.
A workforce as flexible as the delivery frame. Labour perfectly matching workload.

Sadly you're 100% correct, this is a war of attrition that RM have been engaging in since before the pandemic. Grind down those with longstanding connections to the values that underpinned providing a necessary social construct by slowly and systematically eroding standards; 'shareholder value', dividends & management bonuses prioritised over service and obligation. The race to the bottom that the CWU flagged up now sees the union acting as stewards in it's facilitation.

[TopperGas]

It is not forced dismissal.
But that is the part of the mission.
Exhausting employees, psychologically draining them and making them despondent will make posties leave voluntarily.
They are not concerned about new entrants leaving under the same conditions either.
Royal Mail want a Amazon workforce. One that is flexible, one that has a revolving door of employees.
Nobody gets old enough or ill enough to get ill health retirement. Nobody is there long enough to create
culture or a community or to make a stance against their treatment.
A workforce as flexible as the delivery frame. Labour perfectly matching workload.

Sadly you're 100% correct, this is a war of attrition that RM have been engaging in since before the pandemic. Grind down those with longstanding connections to the values that underpinned providing a necessary social construct by slowly and systematically eroding standards; 'shareholder value', dividends & management bonuses prioritised over service and obligation. The race to the bottom that the CWU flagged up now sees the union acting as stewards in it's facilitation.

Or simply a fight for survival against the likes of Amazon, post the pandemic RM itself is hardly a profitable company? If profits and dividends were high then the share price wouldn't be so low that it's now attracted a takeover bid.

[reddevils]

They could have captured more market share in parcels before the pandemic but were to slow to do that.
Now the frontline employees are taking the punishment, reduced terms, conditions and salary.
Line managers have gone from 30,000 a year to 40,000 + a year, plus bonuses to make a healthy nearly
50,000 + for many lead coms.
Yes the company has to remain competitive. But there are decisions to decide how to remain competitive.
Royal Mail has taken the decision to reduce costs through its employees and reward management to push
it through.
Economics is all about choices. Amazon still rely on Royal Mails network for its parcels. We still have a monopoly on letters.
There are tough decisions that need creative thinking. But demoralising your workforce will not increase productivity.

[Hyrrokkin]

It is not forced dismissal.
But that is the part of the mission.
Exhausting employees, psychologically draining them and making them despondent will make posties leave voluntarily.
They are not concerned about new entrants leaving under the same conditions either.
Royal Mail want a Amazon workforce. One that is flexible, one that has a revolving door of employees.
Nobody gets old enough or ill enough to get ill health retirement. Nobody is there long enough to create
culture or a community or to make a stance against their treatment.
A workforce as flexible as the delivery frame. Labour perfectly matching workload.

100%

A revolving door of employees is actually the Amazon business model - which RM want to/are copying.
People are always saying no-one will want to work under these new contracts etc - wrong.
There will always be plenty willing to come in and RM/Amazon know this.
It keeps costs down - simple job done profits maximised.

[postslippete]

Or simply a fight for survival against the likes of Amazon, post the pandemic RM itself is hardly a profitable company? If profits and dividends were high then the share price wouldn't be so low that it's now attracted a takeover bid.

Over a year ago the share price of IDS languished at a 52 week low of 191p. 3 months ago it was 280p and it is now 325p.


Obviously, the takeover bid could still fail and that would likely see the share price fall again

[GRS]

Or simply a fight for survival against the likes of Amazon, post the pandemic RM itself is hardly a profitable company? If profits and dividends were high then the share price wouldn't be so low that it's now attracted a takeover bid.
[/quote]

Nothing to do with RM being a stable or profitable business. This low share price has been manipulated over a period of time to encourage a takeover bid. Who stands to gain most from it? Who was in a position to manipulate the share price to an all time low thus enabling them to buy thousands & thousands of pounds worth these shares?
This has been a long game the Board of Directors have played and unfortunately there will be one set of people who will win out of this & another who will lose!

[scotchy1962]

All these theories have led me to one conclusion, i really need to retire from this. Somehow privatisation and "modern business" have managed to make a workforce verging on victorian labour standards..... worse than that is peoples ability to accept such standards as the norm.
Somewhere along the way in the last 20yrs "big business" have been allowed to run roughshod over workers and government have just let them.
It used to be making a profit was good enough, not anymore, now its bigger and better profits or its not good enough.
As RM have proved they are quite prepared to tell whatever porkie is needed to get their way.
Not sure what the solution is but it must end, once they have finished with the little people at the bottom they will just work their way up until only the top man is left.
I don't know if labour will do anything about it, if only Darren Jones was in charge, but then again they are all politicians and usually do what suits them/fills their pockets most.

[Mr Rush]

I’m old enough to remember box frames. Now they really were fun

How did they work?

Instead of wing frame Barnacle it was a kind of pigeon hole set up. You still went in walk sequence ie first box you would through in letters for say Acacia Avenue numbers 1-15.It meant throwing the delivery in then going through it again on the desk to get in order.

I've asked older colleagues this. When it comes to outdoor I guess since you had everything in one bag you could just switch bundles of mail as you changed streets. Presumably if you knew the optimal route you could eliminate lots of dead walking and backtracking, which is exactly why RM2000 was brought in.

[Barnacle]

I’m old enough to remember box frames. Now they really were fun

How did they work?

Instead of wing frame Barnacle it was a kind of pigeon hole set up. You still went in walk sequence ie first box you would through in letters for say Acacia Avenue numbers 1-15.It meant throwing the delivery in then going through it again on the desk to get in order.

Thank you.

[Barnacle]

I’m old enough to remember box frames. Now they really were fun

How did they work?

Instead of wing frame Barnacle it was a kind of pigeon hole set up. You still went in walk sequence ie first box you would through in letters for say Acacia Avenue numbers 1-15.It meant throwing the delivery in then going through it again on the desk to get in order.

I've asked older colleagues this. When it comes to outdoor I guess since you had everything in one bag you could just switch bundles of mail as you changed streets. Presumably if you knew the optimal route you could eliminate lots of dead walking and backtracking, which is exactly why RM2000 was brought in.

I assume parcels and packets were a rarity?

When they made the walks longer in the last bodged revision, they said, ‘Oh but you won’t have parcels because of the new DPR routes!’
Then they removed the size guide for parcels and refused to allow double ups, and so the parcels we are taking on our longer walks is increasing while those given to DPR drivers is decreasing. We have now been informed that we will be asked to take our oversize again.

It’s an absolute farce.