Post in Sydenham

The place for serious discussion, announcements and breaking news about Sydenham
parker
Posts: 564
Joined: 26 Mar 2009 21:15
Location: Sydenham Wells

Post by parker »

Yep, i recieved post this morning too!! :shock:

Something fishy going on alright.
Gaz
Posts: 366
Joined: 17 Sep 2007 23:22
Location: Sydenham

Post by Gaz »

Barty wrote:So did I!!!

AND, to the correct address!!!!! It's a miracle!!!!!
Especially if they used the mail-train! :shock: 8) :D
ALIB
Posts: 1553
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 21:34
Location: East Sussex

Post by ALIB »

i am quite angry at the moment as i have had Sunday morning to fester a bit. My wife and i have been waiting over a month for some letters and packages we were expecting.
I have tried to use the Royal Mail website to register a complaint, but it is obstructive in giving me an email address. (Do they really think i want to submit a complaint by post?)

I am going to contact FH delivery office tomorrow, unless anyone has any other suggestions?
Barty
Posts: 653
Joined: 14 Dec 2008 09:25
Location: With Mrs Barty, or at work texting Mrs Barty

Post by Barty »

All I could find was a "complaints form" on the website, a web based thing that will leave nothing in your email "sent items" as proof that you ever contacted them.

I typed out my complaint letter in Word, then copied and pasted into their website form, so at least I had a copy of what I sent.

Not that it did any good.
ALIB
Posts: 1553
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 21:34
Location: East Sussex

Post by ALIB »

Yes, that's what a i found. A generic 'tick box' complaint form that didn't address specifically the issues I have. That is why i have the Forest Hill sorting office telephone number, which i shall be calling tomorrow. Then I will be making a personal call to visit the manager.
Postman
Posts: 50
Joined: 16 Sep 2008 14:22
Location: Sydenham/Brockley

Post by Postman »

Hello Everyone, Just thought id add my comments on the matter..

I have been a postman for 5 years now and the changes that i have seen since i have been there is quite remarkable. Im sure you can all remember when you was getting you post nice and early and even maybe use to talk to your postman and even get to know him.

Because of the amount of work we are forced to take out, most days postman cant even complete there round. Royal mail will not pay over time and believes we should stay out past our working hours for free!

And now there new mordernisation plan "absorption" means that when another postman is on holiday or on sick, we have to sort up there round and delivery it for free before we even start our own!

On an average day i take out about 110kg of mail, in all conditions. Its easy to make a mistake and easy for you to complain. Its hard to get the public on side when they dont know whats going on. Postman are getting bullied by managerment and the work load just keeps getting more and more. If we dont complete our round, it means we have to do it again the next day with tomorrows post. But if we cant complete with a normals day work, how can i complete with the extra bit i didnt complete the day before? And if Royal Mail wont pay over time when will it get done? Im contracted 6am til 2pm. How many of you would work 2 hours over your time for free, and when you have children to pick up from school?

Royal Mail's modernisation plan will mean the next two-three years could see up to 50,000 full-time jobs being cut, half of mail centres being closed and up to two-thirds of delivery offices being closed. So look around your office and imagine one third of people disappeared - or maybe the whole office as seen here in sydenham.

When Royal Mail says they have no plans to force anybody to go part time, or for compulsory redundancies, that isn't a guarantee they won't in the future - but that's what they want people to think now, so they don't feel threatened enough to go on strike.

Royal Mail continues to argue that postal workers are 25% overpaid and 40% underworked. That is why despite £321 million in profits, we got a pay freeze this year and managers got massive bonuses worth thousands of pounds. And if we don't stand up to them now, they might in the future decide to actually cut pay - what would stop them? Both Labour and the Tories are talking about cutting public sector pay in the next year, so Royal Mail will have the perfect excuse.

We do not want, to not finish our round and we dont wont to go on strike, but we have no choice. The last thing i wont to do is lose money at this time in the economic climate. If we dont stand up for our jobs now there will be no postal service. You will get later deliveries but do you honesly think the postman wont to be out later then he has to be. Its very easy to complain when the public dont know whats going on...

Thanks for reading :)
simon
Posts: 966
Joined: 11 Oct 2006 15:35
Location: Longton Avenue

Post by simon »

Great post Postie!
And good luck with your struggle.
ALIB
Posts: 1553
Joined: 12 Oct 2006 21:34
Location: East Sussex

Post by ALIB »

Thanks Postman. I wasn't having a dig at the Royal mail workers (excluding temping staff), but with all management decisions the brown stuff trickles downwards.
I went to the FH sorting office and chatted to some postmen and the Manager. They mirrored what postman has said above.
The Manager is going to monitor our mail from this end and i am going to register a complaint on the Royal Mail website.

I was a dustman for 4 years many moons ago. The management implemented loads of changes, bad decisions were made and it was always the dustman who got the brunt of the complaints/abuse from joe public.
My gripe with such companies is mostly with the management.
Postman
Posts: 50
Joined: 16 Sep 2008 14:22
Location: Sydenham/Brockley

Post by Postman »

We are just the messengers! I hope your problem will be sorted out soon. Glad i could help :)
Barty
Posts: 653
Joined: 14 Dec 2008 09:25
Location: With Mrs Barty, or at work texting Mrs Barty

Post by Barty »

I have to be sympathetic, because I spout the same story when people attack Southern! Front line staff cop it because of management decision, happens in all sorts of service companies.

I do feel that Royal Mail is in the mess it is in now because it's stuck in a downward spiral. Because mail gets lost and misdelivered, the public switch to other ways of communication - e-mail and electronic bank statements and bills etc.....which means volume of mail shrinks, which means management must cut costs, which means increased workload for posties, which means increased mistakes by posties, which means mail gets lost and misdelivered.....

All that said, Royal Mail's customer service procedures are $h!t. Basic customer service principles surely require that if a representative of an organisation promises something to one of it's customers, it must do it.

I am still waiting for a promised contact from the FH office manager to arrange a collection of a regularly growing pile of misdelivered mail.
William Baitranger
Posts: 1
Joined: 9 Oct 2009 13:18
Location: Sydenham

Post by William Baitranger »

I sympathise with postmen and women who have had heavy extra workloads imposed upon them and who are expected to work unpaid overtime. However, as an ordinary person there is not much I can do about this bad situation except to ensure that as much of my post as possible is eliminated by the use of online communication. For example I no longer receive bank statements in the post and have only today arranged for my water bill, TV licence and gas and electricity bills to be available online only.
This has the added advantage of ensuring that noone can use the documents for indentity theft.
Increasingly, when I order something online, it is delivered by a company such as DHL and I must agree that the postmen and women are not really helping themselves by going on strike at a time when doing so will only have the effect of the Post Office losing business to competitors.
I write as someone who was once a workplace trade union leader myself and who organised some effective one days strikes. I am in favour of strikes if they are justified by the situations workers have imposed upon them AND if they are likely to be effective. I must say that I cannot see how striking now is going to do the postal workers any good at all. Strikers may feel a bit better because they feel they are taking action - but that feeling will be temporary.
Trawlerman
Posts: 318
Joined: 17 Sep 2009 13:56
Location: Sydenham

Post by Trawlerman »

I agree, William.
I was also a workplace union steward [some time ago] ...
I am very sympathetic with the post workers' case...but it is probable that, by striking now, the post workers will only serve to 'shoot themselves in the foot'. Remember the miners?

The private delivery companies must be rubbing their hands together in anticipation [and when our post service is 'delivered-up' on a plate to privatisation...the service as a whole will suffer]
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