Royal Mail workers.

[rualexander]

All you might want to know about working at RM and a lot of what you don't want to know, is available on the Royalmailchat forum
https://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/community/index.php?sid=5c006648e4cf5142d5afb5ae9f88c3f2

 

[Deleted member 26715]

My son tried it just after Christmas, unfortunately he didn't last long, the weather was horrendous, wind, rain, snow, sub zero temperatures, they provided no clothing nor suitable footwear, his feet ached from midway through day 1 & never stopped, he'd had enough after 3 weeks.

 

[Deleted User]

I would imagine like most outdoor jobs, if you're not suited to it you'll hate it.

I'm in the CWU due to working in Telecoms and the vast majority of the paper we get is Royal Mail related so I assume they're relatively well represented.

Our Postie is ace, mid 50's I would say and always got a smile on his face and a tale to tell.

One thing I would be aware of though when reading any related forum's is that all the old 'lags' that have been there for years will have seen changes that have made the job less 'easy' so to speak and may well be very negative, we have it where I work, whereas if you join now you won't know any different so can take it on face value.

Good luck.

 

[postman]

One thing I would be aware of though when reading any related forum's is that all the old 'lags' that have been there for years will have seen changes that have made the job less 'easy' so to speak and may well be very negative, we have it where I work, whereas if you join now you won't know any different so can take it on face value.

So true so very true.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I don't know my current postie, recently they seem to get rotated so fast here that you don't get to know them. It's a new face every couple of months, if that.
The last one that did the round long enough to get acquainted with to any degree used to tell me about her daily routine, so I know she did a lot of sorting in the morning followed by the delivery round in the afternoon. I think she'd been a postie a long time, I did ask her if it was a decent job to do and she said that thing that anyone says with any longevity in a service role... "It's okay, but not like it used to be". (See Shep and Postman's views above). I think being shifted around different rounds / routes was one of her niggles. She said it paid decent enough money and that there was always plenty of overtime available after deliveries if you wanted it, mainly sorting mail for other rounds.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Most of the contracts seem to be 24 or 26 hours, my nipper's on 26 but has all the overtime he wants. He's earning about £22k PA doing what amounts to a full time job. Also, it does seem pretty flexible and the benefits are about the best you could expect in a manual type job in this day and age.
Ken, our long established, very reliable, trolley round postie has just delivered by the way.

 

[Dave Davenport]

I don't know my current postie, recently they seem to get rotated so fast here that you don't get to know them. It's a new face every couple of months, if that.
The last one that did the round long enough to get acquainted with to any degree used to tell me about her daily routine, so I know she did a lot of sorting in the morning followed by the delivery round in the afternoon. I think she'd been a postie a long time, I did ask her if it was a decent job to do and she said that thing that anyone says with any longevity in a service role... "It's okay, but not like it used to be". (See Shep and Postman's views above). I think being shifted around different rounds / routes was one of her niggles. She said it paid decent enough money and that there was always plenty of overtime available after deliveries if you wanted it, mainly sorting mail for other rounds.

My son's been there about eight years, it was at least two before he got his 'own' round, before that he was all over the place.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

The job looks to have changed since I did it in the 80s. Then it was a 5.30am start sorting the mail firstly into areas then at your desk into your own route. Out to start delivering at 7am. First delivery finished by 9.30, back to the office for a break before sorting the second post and out to do the second delivery around 11. Finished by 1, in the pub by 2, bed by 8.

It was a good job initially but it started to slide as new managers instituted changes to working patterns. As meter mail increased (junk mail), the bags got heavier and heavier, necessitating more second bags being left around the route. This led to strikes as we weren't getting paid any extra for this work. Strike was settled when management cut a deal with the CWU to increase bonuses for staff at the big sorting centres in London and Birmingham (?) whilst every other postie got nothing. That led to a lot of resentment.

There was a great cameraderie amongst the posties, lot of ex-servicemen. A surprising amount of writers and creative sorts as well. It's a good job for not actually having to think a lot and (back then) it was seen as a job for life. I took over from Sandy on the Crossroads route, who had been my postman for as long as I could remember so there was a continuity which the public liked. But management started to insist we all changed routes regularly to make it easier to cover holidays and do away with the floating cover role - usually the job occupied by the union delegate, who tended to be a long serving postie.

Nowadays there looks to be a lot more agency staff and posties get shuffled around the walks more. A side effect of that is they'll get less tips at Christmas

However as rightly pointed out earlier, a new start won't have all this on his/her mind and can treat it as a blank canvas. I never really minded the bad weather - it's great being the one to put the first footsteps in snow - and the walking keeps you warm.

 

[fossyant]

RM tried to shut our local sorting office. There was a huge uproar and they changed their mind. Crazy thing is it's a really busy depot.

 

[oldwheels]

It is now many years since I was postie and the main points have already been covered in previous posts.
I rather enjoyed it as I had a bike for my main route [Could not really call it a walk] and it made carrying easier. I got rows from the union rep tho' for being back at the office too soon as it set a bad example to management so I had to loiter a bit to waste time. Finishing at 2 o'clock in the afternoon gave me the rest of the day to myself. I had a spell of starting at 4.30 in the morning which was not so good as I tended to fall asleep early in the evening. My girl friend was not impressed.

 

[Moodyman]

I imagine it's a bit like cycling to work. Great on a warm day in July, but less so in deep winter during one of those Atlantic storms.

 

[T4tomo]

All joking aside if I'm on a round with shops,schools etc it's no problem.If it's purely residential I thought that's what back alleys were for ?

My Mother was a postie 40 odd years ago, rural village round, 9 mile walk if all the outlying places had mail.. She'd have places she'd called in for a cup of tea and pee mid-round, old boys and girls she'd unofficially collect prescriptions for etc. I'm sure that would be frowned upon nowadays.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I've thought about it once or twice, maybe something I could do part time after I leave the NHS. What worries me is, how do you know where to go? Do new starters get shown the routes or do you have to follow your phone and work it out for yourself?! I've always fancied driving (non-HGV) as well but I have the same fears because my sense of direction is terrible.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

I've thought about it once or twice, maybe something I could do part time after I leave the NHS. What worries me is, how do you know where to go? Do new starters get shown the routes or do you have to follow your phone and work it out for yourself?! I've always fancied driving (non-HGV) as well but I have the same fears because my sense of direction is terrible.

You go out with an experienced Postman who shows you the route - not just the house numbers but the house names. Can't remember how often.

 

[PapaZita]

My parents have an outdoor toilet (in addition to one of those new-fangled indoor ones). Many years ago the postman asked nicely and was allowed to use it. The knowledge must have been passed down, as it is still in regular use, several generations of postie later.