RM remove Saturday letter delivery

custardy

I know recently Saturdays have been trimmed back to focus on parcels.

Seems they have made it official

We are making some temporary changes to postal services. From 2 May, we will temporarily no longer deliver letters on a Saturday. We will continue to provide a letter delivery service from Monday to Friday. We will continue to deliver most parcels from Monday to Saturday. For the full details, watch this RMtv Special and share the link with your team:

goodfella66

I don't understand why the Royal Mail don't do what the supermarkets have done and what, they themselves do at Christmas...take on some temporary staff!! I have heard direct from the horse's mouth that the amount of post being received is approximately four times the amount they receive at Christmas.

ladyholly

They are advertising in my area and have been since lockdown.

soolin

ladyholly said:

They are advertising in my area and have been since lockdown.

Same here, we had adverts all over the local facebook groups and even on the newsletter we had from the local council.

custardy

goodfella66 said:

I don't understand why the Royal Mail don't do what the supermarkets have done and what, they themselves do at Christmas...take on some temporary staff!! I have heard direct from the horse's mouth that the amount of post being received is approximately four times the amount they receive at Christmas.

Simple. They are not spending money.
They are not paying overtime to clear mail and simply leaving what they need to
The majority of xmas staff are for processing in mail centres. Deliveries generally 'consume their own smoke' with no holidays and overtime.

RFW

custardy said:

I know recently Saturdays have been trimmed back to focus on parcels.

Seems they have made it official

So possibly a dumb question, are large letters always classed as letters or can they go with parcels? One item I send out is 250-300g large letter size. Would they be delivered Saturday or should they now have an extra day's delivery time?

custardy

RFW said:

custardy said:

I know recently Saturdays have been trimmed back to focus on parcels.

Seems they have made it official

So possibly a dumb question, are large letters always classed as letters or can they go with parcels? One item I send out is 250-300g large letter size. Would they be delivered Saturday or should they now have an extra day's delivery time?

In classic RM style there is little guidance/clarity on this. (for customers and staff alike)
A LL is a letter but given the far end of the size allowance they would be deemed as small parcels in postie terms.
however I dont see staff delivering such items in any great numbers if the focus is parcels. 
I would write off Saturday for any LLs

RFW

custardy said:

In classic RM style there is little guidance/clarity on this. (for customers and staff alike)
A LL is a letter but given the far end of the size allowance they would be deemed as small parcels in postie terms.
however I dont see staff delivering such items in any great numbers if the focus is parcels. 
I would write off Saturday for any LLs

I'm pretty much writing off Saturday deliveries anyway. I'm adding a reminder to any messages that there won't be an RM Saturday delivery so if their delivery is already delayed there's an extra day to add to the mix.

I'm sure it's reassuring to all the hard working RM staff having these decisions made remotely by people thousands of miles away!

custardy

RFW said:

custardy said:

In classic RM style there is little guidance/clarity on this. (for customers and staff alike)
A LL is a letter but given the far end of the size allowance they would be deemed as small parcels in postie terms.
however I dont see staff delivering such items in any great numbers if the focus is parcels. 
I would write off Saturday for any LLs

I'm pretty much writing off Saturday deliveries anyway. I'm adding a reminder to any messages that there won't be an RM Saturday delivery so if their delivery is already delayed there's an extra day to add to the mix.

I'm sure it's reassuring to all the hard working RM staff having these decisions made remotely by people thousands of miles away!

RM have thrown a hand grenade in.
This is causing ripples through the whole network,customers and general public.
RMs positioning of 'taking pressure off posties' makes no sense

soolin

custardy said:b

RFW said:

custardy said:

In classic RM style there is little guidance/clarity on this. (for customers and staff alike)
A LL is a letter but given the far end of the size allowance they would be deemed as small parcels in postie terms.
however I dont see staff delivering such items in any great numbers if the focus is parcels. 
I would write off Saturday for any LLs

I'm pretty much writing off Saturday deliveries anyway. I'm adding a reminder to any messages that there won't be an RM Saturday delivery so if their delivery is already delayed there's an extra day to add to the mix.

I'm sure it's reassuring to all the hard working RM staff having these decisions made remotely by people thousands of miles away!

RM have thrown a hand grenade in.
This is causing ripples through the whole network,customers and general public.
RMs positioning of 'taking pressure off posties' makes no sense

I was reading another forum and a postie on there pointed out that the volume of letters doesn’t decrease, all it does is make Monday deliveries even heavier, which seems counter productive if this is meant to help the posties. 

custardy

soolin said:

custardy said:b

RFW said:

custardy said:

In classic RM style there is little guidance/clarity on this. (for customers and staff alike)
A LL is a letter but given the far end of the size allowance they would be deemed as small parcels in postie terms.
however I dont see staff delivering such items in any great numbers if the focus is parcels. 
I would write off Saturday for any LLs

I'm pretty much writing off Saturday deliveries anyway. I'm adding a reminder to any messages that there won't be an RM Saturday delivery so if their delivery is already delayed there's an extra day to add to the mix.

I'm sure it's reassuring to all the hard working RM staff having these decisions made remotely by people thousands of miles away!

RM have thrown a hand grenade in.
This is causing ripples through the whole network,customers and general public.
RMs positioning of 'taking pressure off posties' makes no sense

I was reading another forum and a postie on there pointed out that the volume of letters doesn’t decrease, all it does is make Monday deliveries even heavier, which seems counter productive if this is meant to help the posties. 

Thats right. Given RMs presentation of taking pressure off delivery staff.
How does a double mail Monday sound?
This is why staff/union are sending out alarm calls as this have an iffy smell around it especially given how RM dropped it out the blue.
Ops managers were just as unaware and at this point on Friday there is confusion as to what is actually happening.
I can confirm letters/large letters arent being sent to delivery offices from the mail centres tomorrow.
So in a unit where there are finite vans and staff to drive them (remember social distancing means 1 postie per van)
So what do non driving posties do while the others are out doing packets? Theres no mail to prep/sort for Monday