Anyone else getting fed up with Royal Mail stikes?

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hashcake

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When they first started to strike, I was sympathetic and accepted their reasons for striking.
Just lately, there seems to be at least one day per week of strike action somewhere in London.
Having to check the Royal Mail website to see if I should stay in to sign for a delivery due to strike action is rapidly reducing my sympathy level to 0.

I know there are a few Royal Mail staff on this forum and this isn't a personal dig at you.
 
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You're not so shallow that a little inconvenience to you would change your mind are you?
 
Steep said:
You're not so shallow that a little inconvenience to you would change your mind are you?
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We all have a tolerance level and it has nothing to do with being shallow in the slightest.
The post around here has been variable with the time daily deliveries arrive for quite some time, long before the strike action took place.
Sometimes it might arrive by 10am and others it might not be until 2pm.
I have no problem waiting in if I know an item is due to be delivered but having to plan my life around strike action is just getting tiresome.
I was shocked to hear from one postman than management insisted he used his own car to take out post.
 
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Heard on BBC London news this morning that Royal Mail in London have 20 million letters in back log which they say they have no hope of clearing and may have to start destroying some of it. How are they going to decide what they destroy isn't important or much needed by someone?
 
nilagin said:
Heard on BBC London news this morning that Royal Mail in London have 20 million letters in back log which they say they have no hope of clearing and may have to start destroying some of it. How are they going to decide what they destroy isn't important or much needed by someone?
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Distroying mail, blimey, suppose they could the 'return to senders' and the junk/promo mail, but cant see how they could every justify anything else. The place was going down hill when i did my electrical aprenticeship with them (RoMEC) but seems to have completely gone to pot now.
 
nilagin said:
Heard on BBC London news this morning that Royal Mail in London have 20 million letters in back log which they say they have no hope of clearing and may have to start destroying some of it.
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That would be illegal as it's not their property and also a breach of contract as they have already received payment to deliver it.


Steve.
 
Steep said:
You're not so shallow that a little inconvenience to you would change your mind are you?
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Personally I have no time for them. I've not seen a decent reason behind a mail strike in a long time (if you think I'm being hard on those striking to stop the RM re-organise themselves to save the company, then how about the strike to prevent the police investigating mail credit card fraud), though at least now the strikes no longer seem to coincide with England 1-day cricket matches.
 
Steve Smith said:
That would be illegal as it's not their property and also a breach of contract as they have already received payment to deliver it.


Steve.
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:plusone: - they would have to refund every customer - so they'd be better off delivering it...

Regarding the post generally - our post (Essex) has been so bad over the last few years, I've not noticed the strikes, just put it down to bad service in general!!
 
3rd day now with no post and I'm expecting quite a few parcels. I think the workers are going to alienate alot more people than find people that will have any sympathy or support for them.
 
You want to see it from my position, even when you explain to people that there is a huge backlog and a strike in their area they still blame the sender for the delay :shake:
 
sorry, no sympathy from me, dont know what its about but its already had an impact on me, if they start destroying my post I will have even less sympathy.

Im sure that there are lots of people who would happily work for the PO, i know 2 people who work for them, and some of the things they come out with get my goat. One told to slow down as he was being too quick for the others in the office? Do me a favour!
 
I'm glad there are more of you who feel the same way as I do.
 
jollyjack said:
Yes, i was ment to get a parcel yesterday by 1pm, when i phoned them they said sorry it was still in the sorting office. So i ask what they were going to do about it, the woman said in a funny tone, what do you want us to do about it.

How about your job i said, i was suddenly cut off.
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If this was a RMSD by 1PM delivery I would get a claim rolling.
It's their responsibitly as it is an agreed timed service.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
You want to see it from my position, even when you explain to people that there is a huge backlog and a strike in their area they still blame the sender for the delay :shake:
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I bet a lot of sellers are getting grief from customers.
 
hashcake said:
If this was a RMSD by 1PM delivery I would get a claim rolling.
It's their responsibitly as it is an agreed timed service.
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I would bet that there is a clause in the T's & C's saying that strike action is exluded from this, along with acts of God and war.
 
destroying post? can anyone actually confirm that this is actually true? i couldnt find it on the bbc news website. Maybe they said the strikes would destroy the royal mail, in terms of customer confidence?

I dont agree with these strikes, such as the recent train strikes, it just holds the general public to ransom. to put it bluntly, if people don't like their working conditions, theres many others out there that will happily take their place. Labour is in excess supply these days, so just be glad you have a job!

sorry, rant over! :bang:
 
Strike action holds no real water these days, Maggie Snatcher saw to that. I do sympathise with the RM workers, being forced to change working conditions for no more money - all due to decades of asset stripping and poor management. I have no sympathy however for the union 'fat cats' out to make a name for themselves on the backs of the rank and file, nor for the greed driven top-heavy management.
In the current economic climate however, perhaps strike action is not the best way to preserve employment.
 
I've just had another customer (the fourth this week) contact me to say her prints have not arrived which is now about 8/9 in total over the last few weeks and it is really starting to **** me off on a number levels - my customers are understanding but it still doesn't look good, I have to pay to get the prints done again and to cap it all I have to pay the ****ing postage again.

Sympathy? Not from here whilst we are in the middle of a recession.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Does anyone know of a reliable courier service that would work for the kind of things I'm selling?
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The Interparcel Economy service is UPS and about £8 for any weight of order you're likely to send. They say 48 hour but it's often next day. £50 cover included. You need to print a PDF address label.
 
I'm probably going to be unpopular here but if you accept a job then you should accept everything that goes with it. They should think they are lucky to have a job to begin with, look at the state of public sector - it carries a forest of dead wood but you can't say anything otherwise they just pick up the phone and mouth the word 'union' to you.
 
I'm a postie. I'm not going to bite on every comment here but i'll add a little to the discussion.

Firstly, as a postie you can't win. If you only read one paragraph in this post read the next one:
You complain you want better service but when RM workers make a stand to hang on to this service the first thing you do is moan. It's like complaining your local post office is being closed down, but then complaining again when the staff are protesting about it. You can't have your cake and eat it!

We haven't had any strikes in our office yet.
I don't like striking. I can't afford to strike. You don't get paid when you strike (you'd be surprised how many people think you do!).

About 18 months ago in the last load of strikes i was in support of them. That was because i knew why we were striking. Services were being cut and the once popular postie was taking the flak!

It didn't work because since management have:

# Delayed our start times (this means we sort the mail later, get out on delivery later, and yup - you get your post later)
# Closed thousands of post offices (this is not only inconvenient for customers, but it affects delivery too. These sub offices were key hubs for getting mail out on delivery).
# Increased our workloads (basically deliveries take 3 1/2 hours once you actually get out of the sorting office. Remember we have already had our start times delayed so now we do not get out on delivery until about 10 am. So the lucky ones at the start of the delivery get mail at 10am, the unfortunate ones get it at 2pm.

You get mail at different times every day because most deliveries don't have a set postie like they used to (another cost saver).
Alot of deliveries are picked up on overtime by someone who has already done a full delivery. This is cheaper for RM because they can fill the delivery slot with a day to day basis instead of employing someone full time to fill the job.

As for Royal Mail destroying mail? Thats the most absurd thing i've ever heard. There is no way regular mail would be destroyed. The most that would happen is the backlog of business mail would be returned (possibly destroyed) and contracts scrapped i.e those credit card letters that say "sign up by september 10th" - not much use if they won't be delivered until september 11th.

I use my car on delivery out of my own pocket. This is because it's a pain in the bum getting back to our office by bus. I have kids to collect from nursery in the afternoon and using my car is the only way i can be sure i'll get there in time.
 
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Mangelwurzel said:
I'm a postie. I'm not going to bite on every comment here but i'll add a little to the discussion.

Firstly, as a postie you can't win. If you only read one paragraph in this post read the next one:
You complain you want better service but when RM workers make a stand to hang on to this service the first thing you do is moan. It's like complaining your local post office is being closed down, but then complaining again when the staff are protesting about it. You can't have your cake and eat it!

We haven't had any strikes in our office yet.
I don't like striking. I can't afford to strike. You don't get paid when you strike (you'd be surprised how many people think you do!).

About 18 months ago in the last load of strikes i was in support of them. That was because i knew why we were striking. Services were being cut and the once popular postie was taking the flak!

It didn't work because since management have:

# Delayed our start times (this means we sort the mail later, get out on delivery later, and yup - you get your post later)
# Closed thousands of post offices (this is not only inconvenient for customers, but it affects delivery too. These sub offices were key hubs for getting mail out on delivery).
# Increased our workloads (basically deliveries take 3 1/2 hours once you actually get out of the sorting office. Remember we have already had our start times delayed so now we do not get out on delivery until about 10 am. So the lucky ones at the start of the delivery get mail at 10am, the unfortunate ones get it at 2pm.

You get mail at different times every day because most deliveries don't have a set postie like they used to (another cost saver).

As for Royal Mail destroying mail? Thats the most absurd thing i've ever heard. There is no way regular mail would be destroyed. The most that would happen is the backlog of business mail would be returned (possibly destroyed) and contracts scrapped i.e those credit card letters that say "sign up by september 10th" - not much use if they won't be delivered until september 11th.

I use my car on delivery out of my own pocket. This is because it's a pain in the bum getting back to our office by bus. I have kids to collect from nursery in the afternoon and using my car is the only way i can be sure i'll get there in time.
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All valid points, thanks for adding to the discussion :thumbs: However what the strikers and the unions fail to realise is that the Royal Mail have their coat on a shoogly peg as it is, if this carries on the government will just take the franchise off them and that'll be the end of it.

If you're old enough to remember what happened to British Leyland in the 70s then basically, to coin a phrase, "that's you, that is"....
 
razor777 said:
I'm probably going to be unpopular here but if you accept a job then you should accept everything that goes with it.
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Hmm.
5 years ago i accepted a job that started at 4am and finished at 12pm.
Now i've had my hours shifted from 7.00am to 3.00pm and there is absolutely nothing i can do about it.
It probably doesn't sound much, but with a working wife and 2 kids this shift in hours is a complete nightmare.
 
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Mangelwurzel said:
# Delayed our start times (this means we sort the mail later, get out on delivery later, and yup - you get your post later)
So the lucky ones at the start of the delivery get mail at 10am, the unfortunate ones get it at 2pm.
You get mail at different times every day because most deliveries don't have a set postie like they used to (another cost saver)
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I won't argue any of the points you have made and the quoted ones, I picked up on from a leaflet RM workers were handing out the other week.
Again a different postie delivered our post today and I had a chat to him about the strikes and he pointed out the difference it's making to his wages.

In hindsight, it's all very well for us to blame the posties but we do have to look at the way management are trying to cut costs that cause a general affect on our delivery times.
 
hashcake said:
I won't argue any of the points you have made and the quoted ones, I picked up on from a leaflet RM workers were handing out the other week.
Again a different postie delivered our post today and I had a chat to him about the strikes and he pointed out the difference it's making to his wages.

In hindsight, it's all very well for us to blame the posties but we do have to look at the way management are trying to cut costs that cause a general affect on our delivery times.
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The real difference is going to be between wages and no wages.

Going back to what I said about BL, when Sir Michael (Mike The Knife) Edwardes took over the unions were striking for a pay rise of around 25% (can't remember the exact figure) and Edwardes said something along the lines of, "okay, you can have it.....but we can only pay you for three months and after that we close the doors. Or, you can take 5% and keep your jobs".

The same sort of ultimatum is going to come about with the postal workers. The money simply isn't there to keep the business afloat the way it is at the moment. It's either the cuts/restructuring and a job or no cuts and no job.

There are plenty of other companies waiting patiently in the wings for the RM to fail.....
 
Well I for one have certainly noticed a drop in service. As you say, we no longer have a regular postie and the delivery is highly variable. He came about half two the other day because he still had a backlog of undelivered stuff from Saturday! I am still waiting for my tickets for Leuchars which were apparently posted last week. First class post used to mean next day delivery, now it's 2-3 days if you are lucky. I can appreciate where the postal workers are coming from, one of my mates is a postie, they are stretched So thin it's a wonder anything gets delivered at all!
 
Flash In The Pan said:
If you're old enough to remember what happened to British Leyland in the 70s then basically, to coin a phrase, "that's you, that is"....
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Another mail worker who has never striked here.
Your comments are not valid because royal mail is the only delivery service that has to deliver to every address in the country, look at the mail you get and the the post mark, more often the then not it won;t be a royal mail stamp it will be something like UKmail or DHL etc. all this is what is called downstream access and we are paid a pittance to deliver it, but the powers that be won't let royal mail out of the agreememnt.
 
Mangelwurzel said:
I'm a postie. I'm not going to bite on every comment here but i'll add a little to the discussion.

Firstly, as a postie you can't win. If you only read one paragraph in this post read the next one:
You complain you want better service but when RM workers make a stand to hang on to this service the first thing you do is moan. It's like complaining your local post office is being closed down, but then complaining again when the staff are protesting about it. You can't have your cake and eat it!

We haven't had any strikes in our office yet.
I don't like striking. I can't afford to strike. You don't get paid when you strike (you'd be surprised how many people think you do!).

About 18 months ago in the last load of strikes i was in support of them. That was because i knew why we were striking. Services were being cut and the once popular postie was taking the flak!

It didn't work because since management have:

# Delayed our start times (this means we sort the mail later, get out on delivery later, and yup - you get your post later)
# Closed thousands of post offices (this is not only inconvenient for customers, but it affects delivery too. These sub offices were key hubs for getting mail out on delivery).
# Increased our workloads (basically deliveries take 3 1/2 hours once you actually get out of the sorting office. Remember we have already had our start times delayed so now we do not get out on delivery until about 10 am. So the lucky ones at the start of the delivery get mail at 10am, the unfortunate ones get it at 2pm.

You get mail at different times every day because most deliveries don't have a set postie like they used to (another cost saver).
Alot of deliveries are picked up on overtime by someone who has already done a full delivery. This is cheaper for RM because they can fill the delivery slot with a day to day basis instead of employing someone full time to fill the job.

As for Royal Mail destroying mail? Thats the most absurd thing i've ever heard. There is no way regular mail would be destroyed. The most that would happen is the backlog of business mail would be returned (possibly destroyed) and contracts scrapped i.e those credit card letters that say "sign up by september 10th" - not much use if they won't be delivered until september 11th.

I use my car on delivery out of my own pocket. This is because it's a pain in the bum getting back to our office by bus. I have kids to collect from nursery in the afternoon and using my car is the only way i can be sure i'll get there in time.
Click to expand...

Mangelwurzel said:
Hmm.
5 years ago i accepted a job that started at 4am and finished at 12pm.
Now i've had my hours shifted from 7.00am to 3.00pm and there is absolutely nothing i can do about it.
It probably doesn't sound much, but with a working wife and 2 kids this shift in hours is a complete nightmare.
Click to expand...

Gremlin said:
Another mail worker who has never striked here.
Your comments are not valid because royal mail is the only delivery service that has to deliver to every address in the country, look at the mail you get and the the post mark, more often the then not it won;t be a royal mail stamp it will be something like UKmail or DHL etc. all this is what is called downstream access and we are paid a pittance to deliver it, but the powers that be won't let royal mail out of the agreememnt.
Click to expand...

Whilst I sympathise that cutbacks create difficulties to lives etc. Most peoples work practices etc. get eroded or changed to cut costs. My wages dropped £10,000 last year because of changes which meant cost cutting. My employer can impose shift changes when ever they want. In reality it is survival of the fittest and cheapest. In my line of work we have to compete with companies in Europe, Asia etc., countries who can manufacture alot cheaper than us. I've been with my employer for 30 years now, it has changed a hell of alot in that time and as FITP has said sometimes no matter how hard it is to accept the change, accept the change is all you can do.
 
its a no win situation, the royal mail is in the govt's hands and is poorly managed. if it is fully privatised, it will go down the route of network rail. If it avoids that fate, I think the postal workers will be squeezed a lot more by a private owner, after false promises made by peter mandelson. Lets hope a private equity consortium doesn't end up with it, or lord help us all!
 
Here's one for all you conspiracy theorists out there......
All the nationalised industries destroyed by Maggie Snatcher were created by government. They had no royal charter. Royal Mail has been a thorn in the side of successive governments for decades, because of this royal charter. An engineered decline in the service will bring about an act of parliament to remove the royal charter and sell off what little remains.
This will clear the road for companies owned (or part owned) by a certain Mr Murdoch.
[/conspiracy theory]
Then again, like most conspiracy theories, it's probably nonsense.
 
striking doesnt engender sympathy. i have a large order that i am trying to get, and the sample i have ordered hasnt arrived, so the client wont get his sample, so i wont get the job. 100k projects screwed over by striking posties = 0 sympathy.
 
start a strike, get a back log of work, get a few months overtime in the run up to Christmas.. how many years in a row have they done this for? although they went on strike a bit earlier than usual this year around here.

my mates dad works in the local sorting office (Stoke) also had a friend who worked their - they loved the huge back ups from strikes to pay for a holiday or presents at Christmas when they did the over time to clear it.
 
matty said:
striking doesnt engender sympathy. i have a large order that i am trying to get, and the sample i have ordered hasnt arrived, so the client wont get his sample, so i wont get the job. 100k projects screwed over by striking posties = 0 sympathy.
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Strikes are acts of desperation. No postie wants to strike and lose wages, annoy their customers and create weeks of backlogged extra work.
18 months ago it got to a point where Royal Mail bosses wouldn't even negotiate with the union/workforce. It took a national strike to bring them back around the meeting table.
I sympathise with you, like all customers. But it's a temporary disruption to service. If there were no action taken the service you'd be getting down the line will be 100 times worse than it is now.

Mattwood said:
start a strike, get a back log of work, get a few months overtime in the run up to Christmas.. how many years in a row have they done this for? although they went on strike a bit earlier than usual this year around here.

my mates dad works in the local sorting office (Stoke) also had a friend who worked their - they loved the huge back ups from strikes to pay for a holiday or presents at Christmas when they did the over time to clear it.
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That just doesn't sound right. In our office they cut overtime completely for weeks and brought in agency staff to deliver the backlog. There was a time when getting into Royal Mail was quite difficult with vetting/background checks and references. Now they don't care. They'll take anyone from an agency and give them your items to deliver.
 
The post arrived here today at 1pm. It used to come at 8am. The delivery today contained three letters, only one of which was for me. The other two were for someone who lives two streets away - his mail (and that for several other local residents) gets dumped through my letterbox almost daily.

Why? Because this is the last house on the round, except one and it's too far up the road for the postman to be bothered walking, so his usually gets dumped here too.

The really annoying thing is that the postie gets the bus back to the sorting office from a bus stop almost directly opposite one of the houses that I get the mail for.

I'm sorry, but with a level of service like that, not to mention the first class recorded delivery package I've sent to a TP member who lives only 6 miles from here that has so far taken EIGHT days and still hasn't arrived, the Royal Mail don't deserve to survive.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
The post arrived here today at 1pm. It used to come at 8am. The delivery today contained three letters, only one of which was for me. The other two were for someone who lives two streets away - his mail (and that for several other local residents) gets dumped through my letterbox almost daily.

Why? Because this is the last house on the round, except one and it's too far up the road for the postman to be bothered walking, so his usually gets dumped here too.

The really annoying thing is that the postie gets the bus back to the sorting office from a bus stop almost directly opposite one of the houses that I get the mail for.

I'm sorry, but with a level of service like that, not to mention the first class recorded delivery package I've sent to a TP member who lives only 6 miles from here that has so far taken EIGHT days and still hasn't arrived, the Royal Mail don't deserve to survive.
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Fair comment. If that happens daily then i'd suggest you complain daily. It's a hassle but someone like that shouldn't be doing the job.
I sleep easy at night because i know i do a good honest job and my customers have commented so. I can't control the time i deliver the mail as it's out of my hands but i know it gets delivered correctly.
 
Got let down this week by a RMSD parcel, first time that has happened, but got one today fine

Still got sympathy though, my late father was a postie and think they have a lot harder time of it now for not great wages
 
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