Deliveries???

[31A]

May or may not be relevant but a few days ago BBC Look North followed a postman on his round (in York, as it happens).  He said they had been issued with gloves but not yet any other PPE, although he seemed to indicate that it was the intention to provide more.  He said the 'lockdown' made his round quicker, as everyone was at home to receive packages, but the sorting office part of his job took longer as they were emptying fewer people there, in order to maintain 'social distancing' between colleagues.

 

I've been ordering stuff from small suppliers myself as I hope they'll be glad of the sales in the circumstances, and bearing in mind that I would have been buying at least some of the stuff from them at forthcoming exhibitions that have been cancelled.

 

 

[Steamport Southport]

3 hours ago, Gareth Collier said:

I've seen other comments like this so am replying as a recently retired postie who is still in regular contact with ex colleagues.

Even when I left 2 years ago RM wasn't near enough fully operational. In my office job cuts meant there were more walks than posties and the only way all addresses received their mail daily was via overtime. Staff sickness could mean some walks could go undelivered for 2/3 days. The situation is now far worse at my old office.

Staff cannot possibly get everything delivered and practicing responsible working makes me chuckle. They have zero PPE whilst working in a busy, cramped office, sorting mail shoulder to shoulder. They are being asked to deliver more mail, especially parcels covering more distance in the same timescale whilst standing away from front doors which is often impracticable.

The union is pushing for a temporary 3 day delivery but staff aren't impressed as it will mean having to deliver double when they are in as well as standing shoulder to shoulder for even longer sorting 2 days mail.

Sorry but comments like this from those not in the business aren't helpful and are misleading. RM could seriously do without people ordering their essential tube of glue so they can build that kit that's been in their to do pile for the last decade unless you think your glue is more important than their safety!

 

Another ex postie until fairly recently and most of that is not my experience at all or are you a union rep? Seems straight off a CWU rant.

 

I hated the CWU when I worked for RM and still do. Much of what they are saying is politically motivated as usual. I think they need to get over the fact it's not going to be re-nationalised if they go on strike over every petty grievance and actually help the country rather than make things more difficult.

 

Most deliveries are done by van by one man or one man pushing his trolley. Most sorting offices are now large warehouses where social distancing is easy. Shoulder to shoulder? No way, a frame is far larger than two metres wide as are the "pigeon holes". 

 

Talking to people (including my brother who still works at Sankey) it's quieter than Christmas with the bonus of not having any cazzies (casual labour) or agency staff in.

 

I still drink with many of the posties in town (until the last week or so anyway). So I still have my ear to the ground.

 

 

 

Jason

 

Ex Liverpool Copperas Hill, Warrington (Sankey) MC, Speke DO and Woolton DO.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Royal Mail will, like manny other nationwide operations, have staffing issues in some areas but maybe not all areas.  And like most employers they will find that some of the staff they have are taking personal decisions to self-isolate for varying lengths of time.  

 

Set against that there is the understood (by Government, apparently) need for us to be occupied whilst indoors and that a delivery-based economy with retailers operating from behind locked doors is a part of that.  There could be a time when vans and drivers are appropriated for delivery of food and medical supplies but I have my doubts that will come during this emergency.  Mail vans don't have chilled compartments for one thing.  Many letters and small packets are still delivered by the postie on a bike or with a cart of some sort.  Those could carry small medical supplies probably without overloading the system in many areas.  We occasionally hear how much business the Royal Mail has lost with the advent of electronic communications after all.  

 

Locally we receive daily (except Sundays) delivery of mail and the various courier vans are around every day.  That is in a "leafy" outer suburb SW of London.  Service in other areas will vary.  

 

But i have no qualms in ordering what I need for the hobby especially from the retailers who may be smaller and / or family concerns rather than the largest commercial warehouses.  And it arrives when it gets here.  I am keeping the economy ticking over, I am not impacting on the NHS efforts, I am taking Government advice to shop online and stay indoors and I am supporting those businesses who support our hobby.  

 

I respect the fact that other opinions may differ.  

[Markwj]

Delivery systems may be overloaded but isn't that because everyone else is buying stuff online as that's the only way to get some items?

As long as you don't mind it being delayed I don't see the issue.

My local hospital/GP has the majority of stores delivered by the NHS supply chain with their own vans rather than Royal Mail so I wouldn't worry about holding up vital supplies.

cheers

 

[Joseph_Pestell]

I have no idea what the overall stats might be. But a self-employed DPD driver was quoted early in the week that his round, usually 78 - 80 drops per day, was down to 45. That's a big loss of earnings to him with no significant reduction in costs.

[petethemole]

RM are recruiting casuals at some depots. My son, who did it at Xmas, has applied.

[boxbrownie]

20 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

I have no idea what the overall stats might be. But a self-employed DPD driver was quoted early in the week that his round, usually 78 - 80 drops per day, was down to 45. That's a big loss of earnings to him with no significant reduction in costs.

Did he imply or know why there was such a drop, I would have thought a delivery service would have had more work at the moment.

[boxbrownie]

5 minutes ago, petethemole said:

RM are recruiting casuals at some depots. My son, who did it at Xmas, has applied.

I was told by a mate who works at ASDA that they had just employed 2500 temporary workers and looking for another 5000  , and are using private cars for deliveries.

[AY Mod]

1 minute ago, boxbrownie said:

I would have thought a delivery service would have had more work at the moment.

 

A lot of couriers' business has a fair proportion of B2B deliveries, if businesses are reducing staff/operations this could account for an impact. B2C may be busier now but with (probably) more miles between drops.

[boxbrownie]

1 minute ago, AY Mod said:

 

A lot of couriers' business has a fair proportion of B2B deliveries, if businesses are reducing staff/operations this could account for an impact. B2C may be busier now but with (probably) more miles between drops.

Yes, of course.....didn’t think about that, just my bit 

[Joseph_Pestell]

24 minutes ago, AY Mod said:

 

A lot of couriers' business has a fair proportion of B2B deliveries, if businesses are reducing staff/operations this could account for an impact. B2C may be busier now but with (probably) more miles between drops.

 

That varies a lot between rounds. A 78 daily count would likely be rural and long distance (120 - 150 miles per day) with not that many B2B deliveries. It's 13 years since I was in that business but I think I would have had about 10 B2B deliveries in my 78 on average. 

[chris p bacon]

4 hours ago, Gareth Collier said:

Even when I left 2 years ago

 

 

3 hours ago, Gareth Collier said:

I was merely correcting assumptions and saying how it actually is rather than how uninformed people believe it is.

 

Or was 2 years ago .....in very different circumstances. 

 

I will continue to order items by mail order, if it takes longer to get to me at present that's not a problem. It is up to RM to look after their staff and ensure safe working.

[LBRJ]

There seems to be some small irony in complaining about maybe a few more packages to deliver to a few more doors, when every day RM drop untold reams of unsolicited crap through my letter box.

[kevinlms]

35 minutes ago, LBRJ said:

There seems to be some small irony in complaining about maybe a few more packages to deliver to a few more doors, when every day RM drop untold reams of unsolicited crap through my letter box.

Including the bills!

[25901]

Just some words of warning, my mate works at a Morrison's Daily shop who now do "click and collect" for a well knew auction site and I saw her today at the store. There was a very large pile of parcels in a corner and I made the remark about are they toilet roll. Her remark back was a few four letter words about said selling site and the fact the parcels had been dropped off on Monday, and still weren't booked in with no likelihood of it happening before the weekend.

 

God bless the Royal Mail.

[The Johnster]

2 hours ago, LBRJ said:

There seems to be some small irony in complaining about maybe a few more packages to deliver to a few more doors, when every day RM drop untold reams of unsolicited crap through my letter box.

This is not unsolicited crap, though admittedly you didn't solicit it.  The people who send this stuff out are in general not the sort of people I have any liking for, but that is irrelevant; from RM's point of view they are customers who have paid for a service, and RM's duty to the crown is to provide that service to the best of it's ability (glom of nit and all that).  You pay to send mail, not to receive it, and are thus not a customer.  Mail is mail irrespective of whether or not you solicit it, and while it is in the postal system is the property of the crown, which has set up a mail service for the purpose of delivering for, not to, customers.  I didn't make the rules, take it up with the Queen.

[TheQ]

At work we receive B2B courier deliveries every few minutes, we have UPS large van sat outside our goods out all day and outgoings are loaded directly  in to it, till its taken away at 15:00 each day. 

 

My sailing compatriot is a white van man and covers a large section of Norfolk, over 100 delivers a day is not unknown. 

As it is he's now sat at home,  his needed operation on his motorcycle injuries are now delayed.  He's already been off work for over 6 months.. 

[SM42]

I appreciate the sentiment of the OP but I feel that if we are confined to barracks, so to speak, then the ability to get our non essential shopping still, is a bonus.

 

If it were a problem then it would have been shut down two weeks ago. The Govt have acted to  discourage us from congregating around shelves in shops but has not told us to give up entirely.

 

Mail order is available at present so I see no need not to use it. It could easily have been closed down too.

 

I have made my first order today since shut down to replenish the consumables.

 

Will I do it again? Definitely,

 

Do I feel guilty? No, but then I don't feel 100% comfortable either.

 

Maybe the curtain twitchers are having an affect, maybe the  ever present only go out to shop for necessities etc message is  generating subliminal feelings of guilt about buying non essentials. Maybe I'm worrying about the mechanics of accepting a delivery whilst maintaining social distancing.  Maybe I've become paranoid that every object is alive with vicious germs plotting murder.

 

Who knows? We are living in stange times. Normal has changed. It's bound to have an effect.

 

I expect that delivery services will be under increased pressure, because despite popular perception, not all shopping is via the web, and things may take longer to get to you.

There are no doubt some businesses working hard to adapt quite rapidly to 100% mail order, some with reduced headcounts too, which may affect dispatch  times.

Other traffics may take priority with the courier firms as well , but a delayed delivery is a small price to pay for being able to hobby shop at present.

 

As always with our suppliers, use 'em or lose 'em, ( and the latter is a real possiblilty now,) although we may need to use them in a different format to that which we are accustomed.

 

On the bright side there should  be less "sorry we missed you cards" being used.

 

 

Andy

 

 

 

 

[LBRJ]

3 hours ago, The Johnster said:

This is not unsolicited crap, though admittedly you didn't solicit it.  The people who send this stuff out are in general not the sort of people I have any liking for, but that is irrelevant; from RM's point of view they are customers who have paid for a service, and RM's duty to the crown is to provide that service to the best of it's ability (glom of nit and all that).  You pay to send mail, not to receive it, and are thus not a customer.  Mail is mail irrespective of whether or not you solicit it, and while it is in the postal system is the property of the crown, which has set up a mail service for the purpose of delivering for, not to, customers.  I didn't make the rules, take it up with the Queen.

 

 

I know all that - and you completely missed my point.

 

IF RM are going to be coming to my door with an armful of stuff anyway, I really cant see that one extra letter / small package is going to break the system, can you?

I dunno if it cos of previous addressees here, or cos its a bit of a posh postcode, but I really do get enormous amounts of junk mail...

[The Johnster]

We all do, mate, even in my street which is deffo not posh!  

[GWR-fan]

From a different perspective and a different part of the world.  I had concerns that Australia Post may restrict deliveries and with a stay at home order in force unless essential trips are being made,  I ended my eBay listings.  A few days later an email was received from Australia Post basically stating business as usual with normal social distancing measures at the post office so I relisted a few items.  I then co-ordinate my foodstuff  and pharmaceutical shopping with taking packages to the post office.  

 

As regards mail orders from the UK,  I am awaiting news of a recent large purchase of landscaping items being shipped from a popular store,  however, given the circumstances I am in no hurry to receive them.  With fewer and possibly no further passenger flights to Australia I am wondering how Royal Mail will actually deliver items ordered.  I had wanted to order more items but feel that until the situation of delivery certainty is confirmed then I may hold off.

 

Edit: tonight I received a picking list email so it seems that shipping internationally is still taking place.

Edited April 3, 2020 by GWR-fan
Additional info

[DCB]

Our postie absolutely hates the unsolicited crap sent out by irresponsible characters like our Cotswold District Council ego maniac (Leader) , and of course Bojo, because they have zero value and he has to go to every singe bloody house on the round whether they have anything useful like a tube of glue to deliver or not.  As far as I am concerned RM staff are pretty far down the scale of people risking their health.  There seem to be a lot of snowflakes heading for the hills (literally in some cases) pn 80% wages, at the first hint of danger while expecting other folks in retail on a fraction of their wages to slog on regardless.  My wife works in Tesco and has stayed in bed today with a headache and cough. Just hoping it isn't Chinese Lurgy.  Meanwhile I shall continue to shop via eBay.

[NIK]

Hi,

 

Before the UK COVID19 crisis my brother in law applied to do shifts as a casual worker with Royal Mail.

 

Since the crisis the volume of E-mails for shifts available increased considerably .

 

He can't do them as he is now self isolating as he has managed chronic respiratory conditions which make him vulnerable to COVID19 complications.

 

He volunteered to work from home for the NHS coordinating calls to vulnerable people but they haven't tasked him yet  - but there is a surplus of volunteers.

 

Take care.

 

Nick

[polybear]

3 hours ago, GWR-fan said:

As regards mail orders from the UK,  I am awaiting news of a recent large purchase of landscaping items being shipped from a popular store,  however, given the circumstances I am in no hurry to receive them.  With fewer and possibly no further passenger flights to Australia I am wondering how Royal Mail will actually deliver items ordered.  I had wanted to order more items but feel that until the situation of delivery certainty is confirmed then I may hold off.

 

I've a feeling that, if the current situation continues for a while (as is likely) then RM will stop accepting parcels for overseas - if Aircraft can't fly (and presumably shipping is affected too) then very soon RM will be overwhelmed with packages it can't forward.  Warehouse storage costs money....

[GWR-fan]

32 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

I've a feeling that, if the current situation continues for a while (as is likely) then RM will stop accepting parcels for overseas - if Aircraft can't fly (and presumably shipping is affected too) then very soon RM will be overwhelmed with packages it can't forward.  Warehouse storage costs money....

 

I feel that the larger stores would be amongst the first to be aware of any changes in international deliveries and would advise of a restriction on foreign sales.  If RM were to cease deliveries to Australia then the alternative would be surface shipping should they offer this service,  which is generally not offered by stores and would take around three months,  or possibly all deliveries via a courier/freight forwarding company such as DHL.  This would have the impact of drastically increased postage/shipping charges if a freight company was the only option.  Those who have had to pay the exorbitant rates charged by the eBay global shipping program would know that freight  companies treat all deliveries as commercial transactions.    Some freight forwarding companies also impose brokerage fees and the goods and services taxes as well as the higher shipping costs.