Now i'm sure we aren't seeing a true representation of the company as a whole but no matter if you blame the unions, the staff, the management or the government it looks a right mess to me.
I've seen both sides. I've worked as a temp in a mail centre and also worked with the top brass of the company but it seems there is no answer. Hooper and the introduction of competition was supposed to help but seems to have made no difference.
i was suprised about how much packages are thrown and bashed about.
i just started working in a courier company loading and sorting lorrys for some bike fund cash, they are really hard with the packages and im not suprised that some things are broken when they come to me!
yeah, used to temp for securicor/omega and we had competitions to see how far you could throw packages down a forty foot trailer
[Caveat]
I was young and very stupid
[/Caveat]
haha we aint done that yet 
just get thrown onto the belt, but must say some parcels are stupidly heavy!!!
hence the predominant use of temps, you have no union to fall back on over maximum lift weight/hours etc, Royal Mail is stuck with the unions which albeit good for the staff is just as open to corruption as the management
Is this a new Dispatches programme?
As I've not seen it I cant comment, but much of the content and accusations in the last Dispatches on this subject turned out to be false.
I understand a recent Panorama was much fairer.
I'm not sure that working as a temp in a mail centre gives you much insight into the frontline TBH, especially if it isn't recently, things seem to change almost weekly.
By the way, Neither deregulation, nor the Hooper report was done with a view to benefit the public, only private companies and bulk mail senders.
i was suprised about how much packages are thrown and bashed about.
its even worse when there outside your house doing it with your parcel even though it had fragile all over it... 
turned out to be a pretty crap program really
all turned a bit sour grapes at the end and it was fairly short on anything to back up it's claims.
sure the tabloids will see it differently though
What was the gist of the programme?
undercover workers again, found some evidence of theft/lackadaisical management/lazy agency workers/union belligerence.
nothing sensational
and it all got a bit school yard at the end around the response from RM and their response to the accusations
RM accused them of picking known trouble spots to place their undercover workers, dispatches says they didn't choose, that the agencies chose. Strikes me that if you go to a temp agency in Tooting you are going to get RM work in that area
only fact i found interesting was the figures on automated walk sorting compared to Europe. They stated 0% in the UK but i'm pretty sure their are trials going on.
Out of interest we got a from-the- top official briefing this week that mail was to be prioritised in the followng way-
First; Downsteam access business mail (the loss-making forcibly sub contracted stuff)
Second; Door to door (the unaddressed 'junkmail' leaflets)
Royal mails own First, Second, and Mailsort class products are now to be considered "low priority"!
Why would any business choose to send things Royal mail when they could receive the same service, cheaper, under Downsteam access?
To me as a dumb postie, it just seems like commercial suicide.
Out of interest we got a from-the- top official briefing this week that mail was to be prioritised in the followng way-
First; Downsteam access business mail (the loss-making forcibly sub contracted stuff)
Second; Door to door (the unaddressed 'junkmail' leaflets)
Royal mails own First, Second, and Mailsort class products are now to be considered "low priority"!
Why would any business choose to send things Royal mail when they could receive the same service, cheaper, under Downsteam access?
Really !!!!!! 
Yes, postierich, those were the exact words... The prioritisation of packets is also now to be decided on a day-to-day basis.
I temped years ago (about 15yrs or so) at a Parcelforce sorting place and got told off because i was carefully taking parcels off a conveyor and trying to stack them relatively carefully in the back of the lorry trailer.
Bloke came in & said I was doing it wrong and literally started grabbing parcels off the conveyor and slinging them against all the other parcels. Even stuff that had fragile written on it, he just ignored it & gave them a good old hurl.....I only did that day & refused to go back.
i applaud your morals stumpy, i needed the money too much!
I've worked in several delivery offices, and can honestly say I've never once seen stuff being deliberately mishandled. Sorted briskly, in a rush, yes, but never abused.
@west kipper are you having to prioritise some mail over others as there isn't enough capacity (staff etc) to get it all out the door and delivered?
(off work today, ya beautie!)
Pretty much bang on ctznsmith.
Despite everyones claims that mail volumes are falling, we at the pointy end are not seeing this, and the company relies on the fact that people are going to work over their time (unpaid)
Staff are, most days, still doing that, but on the occasions when things are too busy, or short staffed, the above ranking of importance seems to be (senior) managements priority.
Having seen a few programmes like these based on Ambulance services I never watch them now, they want a one sided story so only show the parts from that. Utter **** drivel.
Was about the most depressing bit of TV imaginable. Everyone, management, staff, temps are miserable, seemed content to do the minimum. Never seen an organisation so in need of shutting and replacing......
How exactly does Adam Crozier go from huge jobs at the FA to the Royal Mail to ITV? At least ITV is a total balls-up before he gets there.
mcboo, Going on the last discredited Dispatches I wouldn't trust what you were seeing.
"Content to do the minimum"?, I wish!, I arrive at work, enter panic-station mode, and dont have a seconds break until I'm on my way home.
During the recent cold snap I was still spending 9 hours a day sweating!
(anyway I'm off up the hills!)
I arrive at work, enter panic-station mode, and dont have a seconds break until I'm on my way home.
It's the same here.
It seems to me that these 'investigative' program makers go into known trouble spots. Walk into our unit (30 staff) and you won't see what you saw on TV last night.
Logistics get in the way more than anything. We have had 3 vans break down in the last week - we have a budget for hiring others but the hire centre we are forced to use doesn't open until 10am. 2-3 hours of somebodys working day is lost just like that - it's that sort of stupidity that is getting Royal Mail into the trouble it's in.
Every office probably has people that seem to get away with doing as little as possible. I go to work at 6am and finish 7 - 8 hours later entirely sattisfied that I have done my job better than what is expected of me. No employer can ask for more than that.
I used to work as a postie and if your sending packets these days its just better to use a courier. I have been waiting for some wheels for over a week and there currently in delivery office with four containers of parcels! Just because no one can deliver them. They wont give over time to get them delivered! Its not uncommon sometimes to get a large parcel two weeks after a posted date. Simply beacuse the drivers just knock off and leave them. This is one of the main reason things go missing too. Things left hanging around inadvertently do a dissapearing act! A lot of stuff what the media comes up with is just the tip of the iceberg.
Our postmen are good,when they have a parcel to deliver to me they just leave a card,even when im in,they seem to think im out,i then drive 4 miles to the office that only opens half days, to pick it up,from a nice lady,who tells me i could have had it redelivered.
the post office/royal mail is shite ......... FACT !
Ah!, just back fae the said hills, now, back into character... 
I'd admit Royal Mail isnt great Goog, but it used to be.
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