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Now however, the Royal Mail are in a right state, especially since they were privatised a few years ago. In a local paper today there was an article on how certain areas are now part of a ‘reform' where mail will be delivered by around lunchtime however if you live in one of these areas you can arrange to collect your mail yourself at an earlier time. I wouldn't be surprised if this kind of thing is happening throughout the country. The cheek of it is, not only has this radical change been forced upon us, we were supposedly notified about the change ages ago. Funny, the first time I know about it is when I read my paper!
So what are we really paying for then in a postal service? Well way back when mail was delivered at a reasonable time, I remember First Class stamps, the ones that used to be in red ink, costing 19p. They now cost a minimum of 28p, and mail is lucky to be delivered within two days, and even then they're not delivered until midday . Second class stamps now cost a minimum of 21p. But why risk that when it could be months and months before it even turns up!
The Royal Mail service is a laugh. For guaranteed delivery by mid day the next day, you have to pay extra. But why should you when you're paying for a 1 st class service anyway? It's ridiculous! You wouldn't pay for first class seats on a plane only to find that you have to share your seat with Shrek and Fiona Ogre with the complimentary drinks being old and warm. So why should we receive a third world service for our first class mail?
This doesn't just inconvenience residential customers however. Businesses employ people to sort through the post and with this new reform in the service, businesses are losing lots of money on their staff who can do nothing but twiddle their thumbs until postie decides to turn up. One company in my local paper stated they lose £30,000 a week now thanks to Royal Mail.
Now I know I'm gonna have to wait until lunchtime on Friday for my two GBA games and Spider-man 2 for Xbox from SR and it's all because of Royal Snail.
Note: Originally posted on www.lorl.co.uk by myself
Now however, the Royal Mail are in a right state, especially since they were privatised a few years ago. In a local paper today there was an article on how certain areas are now part of a ‘reform' where mail will be delivered by around lunchtime however if you live in one of these areas you can arrange to collect your mail yourself at an earlier time. I wouldn't be surprised if this kind of thing is happening throughout the country. The cheek of it is, not only has this radical change been forced upon us, we were supposedly notified about the change ages ago. Funny, the first time I know about it is when I read my paper!
So what are we really paying for then in a postal service? Well way back when mail was delivered at a reasonable time, I remember First Class stamps, the ones that used to be in red ink, costing 19p. They now cost a minimum of 28p, and mail is lucky to be delivered within two days, and even then they're not delivered until midday . Second class stamps now cost a minimum of 21p. But why risk that when it could be months and months before it even turns up!
The Royal Mail service is a laugh. For guaranteed delivery by mid day the next day, you have to pay extra. But why should you when you're paying for a 1 st class service anyway? It's ridiculous! You wouldn't pay for first class seats on a plane only to find that you have to share your seat with Shrek and Fiona Ogre with the complimentary drinks being old and warm. So why should we receive a third world service for our first class mail?
This doesn't just inconvenience residential customers however. Businesses employ people to sort through the post and with this new reform in the service, businesses are losing lots of money on their staff who can do nothing but twiddle their thumbs until postie decides to turn up. One company in my local paper stated they lose £30,000 a week now thanks to Royal Mail.
Now I know I'm gonna have to wait until lunchtime on Friday for my two GBA games and Spider-man 2 for Xbox from SR and it's all because of Royal Snail.
Note: Originally posted on www.lorl.co.uk by myself
> You wouldn't pay for first class seats on a plane only to find that you
> have to share your seat with Shrek and Fiona Ogre with the complimentary
> drinks being old and warm.
That bit made me laugh muchly.
But yeah, the postal service certainly has gone down hill, you're not wrong there. Worse still, we keep having to exchange out mail with some people a couple of roads away due to adress mix ups, it seems these postmen are more postcretins to me.
I suppose the wages don't offer as much financial gain anymore, and postmen won't keep their job unless they sustain other key benefits. Short and flexible hours, it seems.
But im in a similar situation to yourself, if i get my mail before noon i think im in heaven.
Because regulars are being forced into redundancy and being replaced with temps.
Because temps can't join the union, dont get sick pay, can be sent home without recourse etc etc.
And the temps attitude? "Who cares what time it gets there? I finish at 2pm anyway and if I don't get it all done, meh"
I've been a postie since last November and work my ass off to get home by 11am, except for the past week where I've been subbing in a rural office.
Archaic, dusty system that means I don't go out until 9:30am and dont finish the walk until 1pm (if I charge about)
At the end of the day? The Royal Mail doesn't care what time you get your mail, and neither do I. If you're not in the 1st time we try to deliver a recorded? You ain't getting it again, we'll just stick a card through your door in future and save us the lugging of your stupid packets for miles.
A house today had 7 Play.com packets and another 2 recorded. And he wasn't in. So guess who's never getting recorded mail again because I had to stuff 9 DVD packets into an already overloaded bag?
Deal with it.
Oh, and the 9 packets thing sounds very annoying, were you doing the job over Christmas Goaty?
Extra-wide letterboxes get a hallelujah from us because we can just get rid of them all.
Otherwise we have to fill out a card and lug your parcel around with us until we get back - we'd rather post it and get shot of it, less to carry.
It wasn't the fact he had 9 packets, because 7 of those just went through. It was the recorded - nobody in which means you have to go back to the sorting office and leave it at the end of your walk instead of just going straight home.
It's extra time and hassle, and when you've been there since 5am the last thing you want is some goober not being home.
My usual walk, I'm out the door at 7:30am and finished by 10-10:30, but this country sub-office is so old and outdated I don't get out until 9:30am, and it's a 9mile walk so it takes a good 3-4hours down country lanes.
Don't live in Elsenham, your post sucks.
First they had me over on the handstamping tables for a few weeks seeing as i was part of the new lot of part timers and well you have to start at the bottom. Within 10 minutes i had regular staffies and MANAGERS telling me i was working far too fast and i should slow down as it didn't matter that much. I worked the way i was for about a month until i finally looked around and realised no one else was working hard or busting their ass trying to get the mail out on time so eventually i gave up caring and spent most of my time chatting up the cute Italian temp girl or talking to my friends about the football game last night or something, i was getting the same wage so what did i care? Sad attitude i know but that's how working for Royal Mail can sap your enthusiasm.
Then when i properly started nights i was put over on the debanding section, just me sitting there for 6 hours taking bands off letters and putting them on a trolley until i run out, go down the floor, sort the bundles out into 4 sections until my trolley was full then take it back up to my section and deband all over again. Very boring but hardly any work as well so i spent again most of my time just talking to people and listening to my music. I always got my stuff out on time even with my lacklustre work ethic yet my other co-workers doing the other 3 sections were usually late and missed the last pick up on almost a daily basis. God knows what they were doing.
There is a distinct lack of excitement about the job in Royal Mail and there's a very telling attitude of *Meh, Who cares, let the following shift pick up the rest* or at least there was in my office. Also they'd strike at the drop of a hat, the first month i was there i was stuck outside on the picket line about 5 times i think and only one time i would say was actually warranted when some idiot manager put up the opinions sheets of workers about the state of Royal Mail with lots of racist remarks left in.
Still at 18 years old and earning £250 a week for about 35 hours i gladly took it.
But quite frankly, unless I work for the Royal Mail, I shouldn't have to care about how the workers are treated and what morale is like. That's what the management are paid to do. I should expect a service that is actually paid for and I should get it.
If Royal Mail are having staffing problems, then maybe they should change their staff for people who are willing to do the job.