Royal Mail

[Odd-no-more]

We only have a few non-barcode stamps left and they will go on the few Christmas cards we still send, ironically I was given the stamps by the post office because they failed to record a recorded delivery, I got another set, this time barcoded, when they did it again. No wonder they don't make money.

 

[gus-lopez]

There is a section named 'U shaped Lounge' which allows and invites non motorhome relayed material.

Yes & there are plenty on here who cannot access the u shaped lounge.so if you want 100% coverage you post it where it can be seen by all.

 

[Wee Bold Davy]

Speaking as an ex-Royal Mail employee of 12 years before privatisation. One of the reasons that the Royal Mail isn't competitive is that when it was privatised it had to agree to deliver to EVERY SINGLE address in Britain 6 days every week, that includes little cottages 6 miles up a farm track on the Isle of Mull or any island or any other address north and west of Crianlarich or Northern Ireland for the price of a 2nd class stamp. The majority of other delivery companies won't even take that business on and the ones that do charge a huge supplement and put the packages into the Royal Mail network, pocketing the profit. Not a level playing field.
Back in the 80s the union was talking about something called 'electronic mail' being a threat to the business and jobs, that was long before the internet so I had no idea what they were talking about (possibly fax)

Yes, I made decent money in the Post Office but I had to put in the hours. A typical month for me was thus;

Week 1 Mon -Fri 5.30am - 1.12pm delivering mail, then 4.15pm - 6.15pm sorting & despatching mail collected from local post boxes, Saturday 5.30am - 10.30am delivering mail. (52.5 hours)

Week 2 Mon -Fri 5.30am - 1.12pm delivering mail, then 5pm - 10pm sorting packages for delivery nationwide at Glasgows main hub Saturday 5.30am - 10.30am delivering mail. (62.5 hours)

Week 3 Mon -Fri 5.30am - 1.12pm delivering mail, Saturday 5.30am - 10.30am delivering mail. (42.5 hours) standard week

Week 4 Mon -Fri 5.30am - 1.12pm delivering mail, then 5pm - 10pm sorting packages for delivery nationwide at Glasgows main hub Saturday 5.30am - 10.30am delivering mail. (62.5 hours)

The overtime was optional, my basic week was 42.5 hours. It was a very successful nationalised company which made record profits year after year. I loved the job and staff tended to stay with it for many years, some for their entire working life because they looked after their staff.
The current strikes have more to do with changes to working hours and conditions than money. In my day the basic week was 5 and a half days, Mon - Sat. Now they expect some staff to work 6 full days out of 7 including Sundays which means their one day off could be any day of the week.

 

[Janine]

In case anyone needs to know.....

Broken Link Removed

 

[Paulypaul]

Royal mail have become more competitive with regards to their small and large parcel prices. Their letter rates however are a bit much but as someone has already said, who sends letters these days?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[westhamman]

Just a couple of comments.
Without unions the ladies amongst us would probably still be earning half as much as the man standing next to her as happened with my my mother. We all would probably have just a couple of weeks off a year before retirement like our parents and many elders members of this group
£25000 a year for a postman in some parts of the country may buy a semi detached house in southern england it wouldn't.
Royal Mail like many employers it would appear, would like staff to work for minimum wage, what's the point of being employed if your failing to to earn a reasonable living.
Unions have without doubt many failings, but so have management and owners.

 

[kevenh]

Yes & there are plenty on here who cannot access the u shaped lounge.so if you want 100% coverage you post it where it can be seen by all.

Oh! Why wouldn’t members be able to access U Shaped Lounge?
If it’s because of misdemeanours and a punishment by a site admin why defeat the penalty by miss posting?
There’ll be a rule to post in the right place.
Otherwise the admin will have to move the thread to the right place - if spotted.
Edit: this: -

Try and post your topic in the respective forum i.e. Mobile Internet questions in the Internet Connections Forum. Don’t worry too much though, a moderator will move it if you make a mistake.

 

[Yorick]

A postman is a strange job.

But it's better than walking the streets

 

[Tombola]

Just a couple of comments.
Without unions the ladies amongst us would probably still be earning half as much as the man standing next to her as happened with my my mother. We all would probably have just a couple of weeks off a year before retirement like our parents and many elders members of this group
£25000 a year for a postman in some parts of the country may buy a semi detached house in southern england it wouldn't.
Royal Mail like many employers it would appear, would like staff to work for minimum wage, what's the point of being employed if your failing to to earn a reasonable living.
Unions have without doubt many failings, but so have management and owners.

a few "probablies there"

effing unions have never been anything but trouble for me. They were responsible for closing a factory I worked in and putting everyone on the dole in the 90s with there stupid bullshit arguments for "the members" the compnay decided it was more cost effective to close and move the work to other factories down south.

Ive never been a fan of any types of "gangs" especially those that have some members that try quite erm"forcibly" to get other staff to be a member. And if you dare to want to work and not strike if you dont agree with it, are then bullied, harrassed and more, by the so called "members and leaders".

Ive seen women and men reduced to tears and depression by what Id call total sheep like t***ers who think cos they are part of a "gang" its ok to do.
I feel sorry for those who take strike action because the are scared of the rest of the militant arsholes. And yes each gang has them we arent all sweetness, light and table negotiators. Some of us are just bastards.

Get to work you lazy bastards or go and get a job with conditions you agree with is my attitude. Imagine this attitude on the front line, they have never lived half of em.

edit : sorry, in answer to the stamp question OP....no it wouldnt worry me

 

[Richard n Ann]

Unions used to be a good thing when workers were abused by companies 200 years ago, but they were allowed to go too far. I always think of the collapse of the British car industry they helped cause

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Tombola]

collapse of the British car industry they helped cause

and the rest

 

[bigtwin]

Without unions the ladies amongst us would probably still be earning half as much as the man standing next to her

I don’t think the underlying principle of unions is under question.

Unions have without doubt many failings, but so have management and owners.

Indeed, they probably do. However, when a business is struggling to assure its future one wonders what logic union leaders apply when trying to further harm the business by striking.

No one has a right to a (specific) job. Everyone within a company should be striving to ensure the success of the company, any other outlook is short sighted. If someone disagrees with the direction a company is taking and is unable to persuade the decision makers, with reasoned arguments, to change course then it’s time to seek alternative employment.

Ian

 

[SpeedyDux]

Unions used to be a good thing when workers were abused by companies 200 years ago, but they were allowed to go too far. I always think of the collapse of the British car industry they helped cause

Most outrageous example I came across were the print unions in Fleet Street. Once on my way to work I walked past a lorry carrying rolls of newsprint being unloaded. I overheard a worker who was doing the unloading complain loudly to his mate that his wage packet must have been short this week because it only contained £600. Presumably net after deduction of tax and NI. That was in about 1977. A lot of money in those days, when the UK average weekly wage for males was £70 before deductions.

In 1986 Murdoch moved his operations to Wapping to break the power of the print unions.

 

[Chocy boy]

Well done Royal Mail staff for striking, now you are going to lose your jobs because of all the money lost by Royal Mail because of your strike action

Gina.

Have just sent a letter recorded delivery to the DVLA £6.85. Losing money make me laugh

 

[Driventemple]

Unions used to be a good thing when workers were abused by companies 200 years ago, but they were allowed to go too far. I always think of the collapse of the British car industry they helped cause

"They were allowed to go too far' Speaking as an ex British Leyland worker I can assure you that the problems were caused by weak management allowing the likes of Red Robbo to dictate. Gave Maggie the excuse to change laws and emasculate them.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[westhamman]

Undoubtedly the unions had to much power at times. I remember my mothers 2nd husband saying that the factory he was working at going out on strike one afternoon because Coventry were playing at home in the afternoon due to power cuts. My mother who wasn't keen on work used to like the occasional strike. A sensible union however prevents management abuse of staff. I would have felt sorry for my mothers shop steward she spent most of her day complaining about something or other.

 

[Gina M]

Have just sent a letter recorded delivery to the DVLA £6.85. Losing money make me laugh

Yes apparently, they are losing a million pounds a day.

Gina.

 

[BikerGraham]

unions are necessary for improving working conditions for their members in relation to bad and abusive employers. Thing is, these are few and far between nowadays. Where they do exist, is usually in the small sweatshops etc where unions aren't generally present. Too many of them become bullies in their own right.

Thing is, if a company isn't allowed to make a profit, then those who invest in it, be it other investors or the owners putting their homes and savings at risk, will take their money elsewhere. resulting in the employees losing their jobs. Employees should remember this and strive to ensure their employers survival. Of course, in the public sector roles and organisations that are ex public sector, then the tax payer ends up coughing up to ensure they continue to exist. Interesting that most of the union action and unrest is generally in these types of industries.. But not exclusively.

During COVID, some good friends of mine, who have their own business, paid all their employees their full salary, whilst they were sat at home during the 1st lockdown. The company was not able to trade. My friends took nothing out of the business and survived on their savings for that period and indeed longer until business income recovered. Fortunately for them, their employees appreciated what they had done. However, this is not the case in many company's and certainly seemed not to be the case with the public sector where we often read posts resenting the fact they had to work whilst the private sector were sat at home on furlough. Yet they ignored the fact that generally, their jobs were safe. No so much in the private sector. Now the unions think they can continue with old inefficient working practices whilst the bill for pay rises is settled by others.

Yes shareholders and company owners, may make a great deal of money when times are good. But who has taken the risk, who has put their money where their mouth is and who has to cough up when times are bad. It certainly is not the bloody unions and generally not the employees.

By the way, i play golf with a couple of postal workers. They know they have some of the cushiest jobs going with a relatively good salary and a fantastic pension to look forward too. The best jobs are reserved as the right of the longer serving employees. I also have a good friend who is an"intercity" train driver, but won't go into how fantastic his employment package is.

Sorry, rant over

 

[Minxy]

Oh! Why wouldn’t members be able to access U Shaped Lounge?
If it’s because of misdemeanours and a punishment by a site admin why defeat the penalty by miss posting?

It's not a defeating the penalty, it's not being able to take part in 'discussions' in the U-shaped lounge which those who are banned from it have likely been overzealous with replies to in the past and caused upset/offence.

I sometimes post stuff in the main forum sections if I deem the info to be useful to ALL members, not just those who can see it if it is only posted in the U-shaped lounge, general chit-chat ones go in there though.

 

[Tombola]

My friend is part of a team of 3 maintenance team at a huge Royal Mail distribution hub.
he sits around most days in the "maintenance room" they take turns in responding for jobs such as a fuse need changing or something wrong on one of the lines, so one does a days work and 2 have a snooze or sit browsing youtube etc. the same on afternoon and night shifts

They even installed a pir sensor in the corridor to the room they are in so that if management came along the pir switched on a light so they could look lively.

9 doing job that 3 could do.

bring on the cuts I say, keep the stamps costs down

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[bigtwin]

unions are necessary for improving working conditions for their members in relation to bad and abusive employers. Thing is, these are few and far between nowadays. Where they do exist, is usually in the small sweatshops etc where unions aren't generally present. Too many of them become bullies in their own right.

Thing is, if a company isn't allowed to make a profit, then those who invest in it, be it other investors or the owners putting their homes and savings at risk, will take their money elsewhere. resulting in the employees losing their jobs. Employees should remember this and strive to ensure their employers survival. Of course, in the public sector roles and organisations that are ex public sector, then the tax payer ends up coughing up to ensure they continue to exist. Interesting that most of the union action and unrest is generally in these types of industries.. But not exclusively.

During COVID, some good friends of mine, who have their own business, paid all their employees their full salary, whilst they were sat at home during the 1st lockdown. The company was not able to trade. My friends took nothing out of the business and survived on their savings for that period and indeed longer until business income recovered. Fortunately for them, their employees appreciated what they had done. However, this is not the case in many company's and certainly seemed not to be the case with the public sector where we often read posts resenting the fact they had to work whilst the private sector were sat at home on furlough. Yet they ignored the fact that generally, their jobs were safe. No so much in the private sector. Now the unions think they can continue with old inefficient working practices whilst the bill for pay rises is settled by others.

Yes shareholders and company owners, may make a great deal of money when times are good. But who has taken the risk, who has put their money where their mouth is and who has to cough up when times are bad. It certainly is not the bloody unions and generally not the employees.

By the way, i play golf with a couple of postal workers. They know they have some of the cushiest jobs going with a relatively good salary and a fantastic pension to look forward too. The best jobs are reserved as the right of the longer serving employees. I also have a good friend who is an"intercity" train driver, but won't go into how fantastic his employment package is.

Sorry, rant over

One of the best posts I’ve seen for a while (no offence to other posters ).

Ian

 

[Richard n Ann]

"They were allowed to go too far' Speaking as an ex British Leyland worker I can assure you that the problems were caused by weak management allowing the likes of Red Robbo to dictate. Gave Maggie the excuse to change laws and emasculate them.

Yes a few causes, that's why I said "helped cause"... I've read the book can't remember what the title was now.

Edit: Here it is

 

[StephandJohn]

Oh dear Posting in the wrong forum brought back memories of 5th December 2002.11.40 am. As you can see; I never got over the verbal pasting I received then for doing that. I'm going to have to have a quiet lay down now.

 

[rob1234]

That’s a bugger, where else are they going to get a job where they can wear shorts all year round?

house removals ,,need to wear them or you cant jump and down the back of the van ,,,

 

[Puddleduck]

Many Royal Mail staff are voting with their feet and leaving whilst they are able to get alternative employment reasonably easily.

My Daughter has left them after several years as has our own regular postman who had been in post for over 22 years.

It's not just the postal deliveries but also the regular postie is aware of vulnerable people on the round and will raise an alarm if things don't seem quite right.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Puddleduck]

The current strikes have more to do with changes to working hours and conditions than money. In my day the basic week was 5 and a half days, Mon - Sat. Now they expect some staff to work 6 full days out of 7 including Sundays which means their one day off could be any day of the week.

That is the main reason why my daughter left. The rotas were never posted more than a week in advance so she was never able to plan her day off which, in turn, impacted on her being able to help wit the caring responsibilities for relatives. Her day off might also be on (say) Wednesday but someone would call in sick and then she would be under pressure to change her day.

Royal mail have become more competitive with regards to their small and large parcel prices. Their letter rates however are a bit much but as someone has already said, who sends letters these days?

I have relied on Royal Mail to deliver a lot of post regarding my father's estate. I am not sure how I would have managed without as original documents were often required. Less than £7 for next day delivery and evidence of delivery was money well spent.

My friend is part of a team of 3 maintenance team at a huge Royal Mail distribution hub.
he sits around most days in the "maintenance room" they take turns in responding for jobs such as a fuse need changing or something wrong on one of the lines, so one does a days work and 2 have a snooze or sit browsing youtube etc. the same on afternoon and night shifts

They even installed a pir sensor in the corridor to the room they are in so that if management came along the pir switched on a light so they could look lively.

9 doing job that 3 could do.

bring on the cuts I say, keep the stamps costs down

I wouldn't last very long in that situation - can't stand being idle!!!

 

[movan]

unions have never been anything but trouble for me. They were responsible for closing a factory I worked in and putting everyone on the dole in the 90s with there stupid bullshit arguments for "the members" the compnay decided it was more cost effective to close and move the work to other factories down south.

Yes. Same here but they moved abroad and totally demolished our town. . Every family was affected in one way or another and even today it hasn't fully recovered.

Too much power, instilling fear in its workers, in ANY quarter is not good.

 

[Wee Bold Davy]

Royal mail have become more competitive with regards to their small and large parcel prices. Their letter rates however are a bit much but as someone has already said, who sends letters these days?

And that is the issue. As I said earlier Royal Mail has a commitment to serving very rural parts of the nation that private companies wouldn't touch, they can 'cherry pick' where they want to provide their service. None of their service areas will lose money because if it does they can drop it without a thought, whereas Royal Mail HAS to serve every loss making rural part of the country every day because no one else will provide that service for that reason.
That's why letter rates are expensive

 

[georgio]

Many years ago aged 16 I applied for a labourers job in a foundry. The bloke came and asked me if I was in the union, I said no , well you can,t have a job the he said. That ended the interview, as a 16 year I did,nt even know what a union was. Ot been keen on the ever since.

 

[Steve and Denise]

And that is the issue. As I said earlier Royal Mail has a commitment to serving very rural parts of the nation that private companies wouldn't touch, they can 'cherry pick' where they want to provide their service. None of their service areas will lose money because if it does they can drop it without a thought, whereas Royal Mail HAS to serve every loss making rural part of the country every day because no one else will provide that service for that reason.
That's why letter rates are expensive

The simple answer to that is to live somewhere within easy access, or go and collect your mail from a drop box or some other dedicated place,

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}