[Closed] Post office scrap bicycles for safety reasons

I agree with one of the forum posters that it's not really a H&S thing. It's part of restructuring the delivery process. Sad tho. Ex posties what do you think?

What a waste! Why can't the bikes be shipped to nations that would really appreciate them?

They go to Africa typically.

they're getting rid of bikes anyway. they're soon to be using dual fuel/hybrid vans. very soon in fact,this coming may.

have you seen how posties drive, do you really think this is going to make roads safer?

This was happening when i was still there .Not sure about the C02 calculations but the other budget calcs were a bit suss .
One conversation went like this .Planner "by scrapping bikes and putting 2 people in a van we save 4 duties .Thats 4 x £15000 save £60 k just in this office "
Posties response "But you have to buy 4 new vans @ £15k a pop also equals £60k , so where's the saving ? "
Planners response ."Ahh don't count the cost of the vans " !!!!! 😯
Unbelivable !
I think the comment from the union is the really telling one .Concerning closing offices and centralising .The office i worked at served 2 towns with a total population of around 25k .You either used to deliver to one or the other .Now posties are doing parts of rounds in one town then flitting over to the other and back and vice versa.Thing is when you add up all those 10 minutes wasted tooing froing wouldn't that be more productive staying in one place ?Not to say less cost fuel wise .Glad i got out tbh.

This is completely crazy:

Post Ofice costs will increase:- No vehicle (hybrid or otherwise) can be as cheap to buy or as cheap to run as a bicycle.
The health of the workers will deteriorate
There will be an increase in CO2 emissions
There will be an increase in danger to other cyclists due to increased traffic.
Congestion will get worse.

Mad, I tell you, completely mad.

I did a lot of my winter training/commuting on a Pashley Pronto. 44lbs of hate. It's the only bike I don't mind corroding - at least it means it's getting lighter.

another thought, a bike costs basically nothing to run, i guess the vans will be diesel, at around £1.20 a litre and not getting any cheaper. stop start driving isn't very efficient, neither is reving the crap out of the engine in first and second which is how i suspect the vehicles will get used. Then there is the increase in noise and pollution in the environment that will occur.

Just doesn't sound very sensible.

Friend of mine is a postie, usual shift is something like 5am-1pm. He used to run all of his round, be done by abou 10:30-11ish, then go home. Post office said he wasn't allowed to this any more, he had to stay till 1pm and continue to work. Result? He now walks like everyone else, does exactly the same amount of work he used to do but takes more time and 'his' recipients get their post later. Management are happy because he is now meeting targets...

I expect prices will go up to pay for efficiency savings.

andrewh

you are employed for the hours, not for the work load. he could still run and sit in the office or help other people. if one of my workmates went home after finishing their work and didn't consider helping out others I'd sack them.

andrewh - Member
Friend of mine is a postie, usual shift is something like 5am-1pm. He used to run all of his round, be done by abou 10:30-11ish, then go home. Post office said he wasn't allowed to this any more, he had to stay till 1pm and continue to work. Result? He now walks like everyone else, does exactly the same amount of work he used to do but takes more time and 'his' recipients get their post later. Management are happy because he is now meeting targets...

So - he could do more work but chooses not to? Nice team player then.

Did the same amount of work as everyone else, just more quickly. Management have now slowed him down. Just saying it's an odd way for them to improve effeciency.

andrewh - Member
Did the same amount of work as everyone else, just more quickly. Management have now slowed him down.

Oh - so everyone he works with could do more work in their contracted hours? Now we're getting somewhere.

I think whoever resided over the last 5 years should be very proud of themselves .Halcyon days ;2 deliveries public and business get mail early in the day enabling follow up to be done same day .Workforce started and finish in a time that left time to pursue outside interests .Both side happy and R.M. making a good profit year on year .Government happy to plunder said profits for it's own end .Re investment stifled to no ones benefit .
Now public pissed off , workforce demotivated all in all quite an achievement .Well done whoever you are .

And business conditions are now exactly the same as they were 5 years ago?

Oh - so everyone he works with could do more work in their contracted hours? Now we're getting somewhere.

Yep, if they all ran. Leave aside they may not all be runners, why should they? If they do finish early they have to stay on another couple of hours anyway.

Yep - why should they have to work a wee bit harder for the same pay eh?

Good question.

Interesting reading replies to andrews post .So someone gets their ass in gear and get's on with it .Others in "team" are slackers so he has to dig them out .Yes indeed good team working .We had a similar situation .One "team " who all went out together in a van used to help the "slower" person finish their round so they could all get back .This person soon cottoned on and they found that they were doing more and more of that person's round !
How the f*** is that fair ?is that supposed to create a good team working ethos ?

Spot on oldfart!
Modernisation deal has yet to be balloted on and I suspect a Yes vote,Union are all for the new deal to protect fulltime jobs,takes weight off peoples shoulders and security of the mail will be sorted as there is a big problem.Also means pda,s can be utilized to the full potential for all items tracked.
Being a bike and bag man even though I could chose any van job in the office I will hang on to it untill the bitter end as its so much quicker,H+S is just a smokescreen from the management have you seen some of the idiots that drive the vans!
The runners in the office are slowly realizing that job and finish has gone and more people are stopping using their own private cars due to fuel costs.

Will they still drop the rubber bands?

druid one thing that has changed with business conditions is downstream access .tThis means that although it cost R.M 13p to process a letter the regulator said they could only charge 8p.So the likes of TNT , DHL ,etc cherry pick the RM infrastructure but won't touch with a bargepole the "last mile" delivery .With the best business will in the world if it costs you 13p to make something but someone says you can only charge 8p you wouldn't be able to stay in business for very long .Even if you implemented efficiency measures of which switching from bikes to vans definetely isn't one .Which is where we came in

I think we are missing the story though.

Our postie has a big trolley, that is then topped up during his round. Difference between it and a bike is that it can probably carry double the load safely.

But I think bikes have probably still a place in lower population density areas, but not in more rural areas.

co2 wise, yes it will go up, but then all the courier companies are high anyway - 'cos that's what they do...

from a bike trade point of view it may be a huge blow to pashley.....it has to be the biggest order they get every year

Surely it all depends on what you're employed to do.
If you're on piece rate then the speed you go is up to you.
If you're paid by the hour then you will probably be expected to commit to a full day.
If you're self employed you have to work all the time!

I actually considered being a postie after leaving the forces. I thought it would be a nice pension top up with biking and good working hours. What was not to like? Quite a lot now it seems.

Someone above said "Have you seen how posties drive?" Yes, I have! 😆
My postman tried to park his Transit in my garage...tw*t!
[IMG] [/IMG]

lol wouldnt it go through your letter box? 😯

This decision is nothing at all to do with safety but everything to do with the massive current and future increase in workload.
Royal mail still has to pretend that its own claims about 'diminishing mail volumes' so H+S becomes the cover story.

Druidh, the outdoor work that a postie did WAS carefully calculated on 'a fair time to complete the duty' not on strict hours.
Those that complain about posties getting what was a perk of a traditionally low-paid job- 'job in finish' are usually just being jealous, and having worked in a bike shop, I think you would be shocked at what is expected of the average postie- there are few other jobs where workload has increased by between six and ten times over a decade.

Royal mails(and to their shame, the unions) attitude to cycling is very strange anyway.
There was a big push to make helmets compulsory, and importantly, a sackable offence, yet there has never been much in the way of roadcraft and safety training- when I raised this with my normally good rep, both he and the manager told me that it wasn't important,I didnt know what I was talking about, and that helmets were the main safety consideration.
I was even strongly discouraged from commuting in myself, as cycling or motorcycling 'was an unsafe means of getting to work!

to be fair kipper its pretty logical- for example if i wear a seatbelt when driving thats far more important for safety than understanding how the road should work and my impact on others. hmmm