Royal Mail

[edayhouse]

Well i am normally the first person to moan about Royal Mail however....i posted 2 packets to someone in Aberdeen on Thursday at 2pm from the post office in Thurso (Recorded Delivery) and they received them on Friday at 10am - thought that was pretty quick..so thanks Royal Mail!

[percy toboggan]

Frankly this seems no better than you deserved, and no better than should be expected. 96% - ish of first class mail should arrive the following day and when I worked for the organisation (70's) it was an even higher rate.

[Rheghead]

when I worked for the organisation (70's) it was an even higher rate.

Why do you think delivery rates have fallen since then given technological advances and arguably better roads etc.:confused

[tonkatojo]

Why do you think delivery rates have fallen since then given technological advances and arguably better roads etc.:confused

perhaps its the quality of relief postie I got a few of my neighbours important ( hospital appointment tesco statement etc) mail in with mine the other day, looked in the phone book for telephone numbers but the were ex directory so had to drop them off at the local doctor surgery so they could get them to pick up the mail, marvelous isnt it.

[Invisible]

I posted recorded deliveries on a Tuesday and they weren't received until the next week.

I've had mixed experiences with the speed of Royal Mail, could call it Royal Snail. :lol:

Oh that was bad, im not making anymore jokes today.:eek:

[Gizmo]

Frankly this seems no better than you deserved, and no better than should be expected. 96% - ish of first class mail should arrive the following day and when I worked for the organisation (70's) it was an even higher rate.

I would imagine it's down to sheer volume, a lot more mail is sent in the 00's than in the 70's

[joxville]

I would imagine it's down to sheer volume, a lot more mail is sent in the 00's than in the 70's
I don't think it's as easy as that. As Rheghead said, with the advances in technology and better roads you would think the service would be better than the 70's, though the better roads also has seen an increase in the volume of traffic. I'm sure there's probably less mail since so much is sent via email.

[Gizmo]

I don't think it's as easy as that. As Rheghead said, with the advances in technology and better roads you would think the service would be better than the 70's, though the better roads also has seen an increase in the volume of traffic. I'm sure there's probably less mail since so much is sent via email.

Think about the volume of small mail order packets that there are, cd, dvds, video games etc, millions of them weekly, e commerce will have seen the volume of mail grow to a colossal amount, my experience with Royal Mail is not a very good one overall, over the years i have had countless, cds, dvd and video games go "Missing" in transit, and also on most occasions a first class small packet delivery will arrive around 5 days after the post mark stamped on it, and also the Royal Mail re-direction service is a joke, in 2007 i moved house twice and paid for my mail to be re-directed both times, yet quite a few mail items were delivered to my old addresses.

[percy toboggan]

In the seventies the system relied upon overtime in all but the very smallest of delivery offices.
I worked in a small inward delivery/outward sorting office (staff of 70)
and delivered mail on foot for a while. Moral was high - ish . Starting at five am.was like going into a party!
We were fellows of all ages who liked a laugh. Someof the best working days of my life but very hard graft.

AFter twelve hourse overtime the rate went to double time. I was a grabber and often on 'double-bubble' by Wednesday. I'd volunteer for weekend collections in the van - emptying pillar boxes over a wide area and also telegram duties on Saturday afternoons. All gryst to the mill and with a young fmaily to support
(wife stayed at home with children) it was a good opportunity to make money.

I'm not sure volumes are higher now than then - there was no e.mail - in fatc it was the big pariah waved at us by management when they began to change things. I became a Union rep (a good one) for a year - attended several courses and a conference which really opened my eyes. I talk to Postal workers today and the job has clearly gone to pot. Moral is rock bottom. It's another case of managed decline. We used to cut corners but basically took pride in the work. The very big sorting offices in London and major cities fostered a lazier culture which surprised and annoyed me.

Lugging that heavy bag around on one side of my body
didn't do me much good methinks long term but that's life. It's a tough job in winter.Brilliant in summer - and I had '75 and '76 to enjoy !

Later - on shifts - the demands on parcel delivery drivers bordered on the extreme...again very hard work with high workloads for dismal dosh unless you could rack up the hours - o.t. was always available. Back then the Postman's job was only secure because not many people wanted it.
Night sorting was very pressurised- especially close to Chritsmas. One guy sorting the mail for ten blokes who came in at five expecting it all done. Mostly (if you were any good) it was done, but yer hands would be a blur for hours on end - all in all a
good four years and a sackful of good memories.

Happy daze.

[golach]

Percy, I too was a Postman from '64 to '72, and you have described the period with your usual excellence, I could almost feel myself entering Town 5 & 6 DO in Leith, except we were a 5:30 am start. We as Walk Postmen took a pride in our job, and this was before the days of Post Codes. Within 3 weeks or so of starting a new Walk, I and most other Postmen, could virtually identify our regular customers, and we took every effort to get the mail to the correct address, in spite of weather, dogs, and sneaky Inspectors around every corner, ready to pounce if they caught you with a sly ciggie on your round.
Sadly I was one of the stupid union members who believed Tom Jackson, and his words "I will sell UPW House before we go back to work lads", many of us never really recovered from the '71 strike, and we lost our credibility with the public after that.
Many of a Christmas Pressure 12 hour sifts are still fondly remembered, and the camaraderie of my pals in the Post Office, I have never experienced since.
Different times Percy, different values.:(

[percy toboggan]

Thanks Golach ,
Glad I stirred some memories for you.
Different times indeed.

This very morning I took the stick for a walk - I've now sacked the crutch!
My emergence co-incided with the arrival of our Postman. He was sweating profusely - wearing a shirt - no jacket and half walking half running. I engaged him in conversation briefly and he described current working conditions as 'soul destroying'

I doubt I'd want the job today and it's a great shame the way things have gone. Thousands of job losses and a familiarly huge disparity between the wages at the top and bottom of the organisation. In the seventies the rewards for top managers were not so great. Back then of course the profit driven culture did not exist to the same extent.

Is this progress?