re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

Hmmmm, in a couple of months it's Christmas and New Years Eve again, just about now that the tube drivers threaten to strike and demand more holidays or pay by holding joe public to ransom.

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oc...ert-royal-mail

Argos and other retailers switching to rivals as well. Amazon have not cancelled the contract but at the moment the previous one had expired and has not been renewed while Amazon are doing deals with other groups.

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

I think you'll find they're on quite a small wage, less than 20K, & from the way I see them rush around I'm also sure it's very physical, not sure I could do it at my age now. Some elitists seem to have the attitude that just because a job is not mentally demanding the people must be lazy or incompetent. I worked on telecoms networks, the work was largely IT oriented & I was paid a very good wage though I wouldn't say the work justified the pay, but that's the way of the market, there are many disparities in working life & I have great respect for manual workers. I agree the armed forces should get a lot more but there's not much they can do about it as they are at the whim of government, I'd be interested to know how much an American soldier gets payed? There aren't many people who want to join a profession to get their limbs blown off or even killed.

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

It's more about the skillset and the job market. More people can do manual work than professional skilled worked therefore it's usually the case that the latter is paid more because their is more competition for staff.

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

Interesting figures, but, I think they include and average of ALL ranks:

E2 - Private (Army) - U.S. National Averages

This one works out as twenty-eight thousand dollars, just over seventeen thousand five hundred pounds (basic salary being an equivalent of ten thousand eight hundred pounds). That includes all extras. For an OR1 grade Pvt in the British army (the lowest enlisted grade, out of basic training), the basic salary is about sixteen thousand pounds, then there's all the extra allowances in top.

So, which country's soldiers are paid more?

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

FYI Amazon has 'Cancelled' its contract with royal mail twice since I have been with the company, this will be the third.
Basically like with any bulk mailing company at contract renewal time they look to see if they can get a better deal. At the moment its HDNL, last time it was TNT, the time before I think it may have been UKN. During each of the previous times that we lost the contract TNT forwarded aall the less profitable items onto RM, so in effect we continued to deliver the bulk of Amazons mailings, while TNT only took the larger more lucrative items for themselves.
So basically it has little to do with service and more to do with cost.

---------- Post added at 13:49 ---------- Previous post was at 13:48 ----------

Been doing both of those since the last big strikes. Doesn't work, As long as customers don't notice RM do not care.

---------- Post added at 13:54 ---------- Previous post was at 13:49 ----------

The union Obviously must be wrong or misquoted on that one because the only backlog we currently have is ingoing mail to London due to an unrelated local issue.
And even when a backlog exists it is only M class items that are held and even those only within the predefined limits of the specific M agreement with the business in question. First and second class are handled as per usual, with a delay normally related to the amount of strike time taken. Mail put in the backlog on Monday will be the first out of the mail-centre on Tuesday so Items are not held for months in the backlog, its a constantly changing group of mail.

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

Sorry ZrByte, "M Class items?"

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

I don't think they do, Im only on about 12K PA after bonuses. Admittedly I only work a 27.5 hour weekly contract but I work about 33 hours per week usually with the last 5.5 hours unpaid because my managers wont pay overtime But issue disciplinarys like they are going out of fashion if we try and work to our time.

---------- Post added at 14:00 ---------- Previous post was at 13:57 ----------

Its like 3rd class mail, Its only usable by large businesses and such. If you have an M class you will notice a large M in the top corner where you would normally see 1st or 2nd. M class mail can sometimes arrive at its destination as fast as 1st class post but can also be delayed by upto a month (I think)depending on the specific agreement with the company in question though delay times are decided by management and not individual posties. M class is also optional to your postman for delivery on a Saturday.

---------- Post added at 14:05 ---------- Previous post was at 14:00 ----------

As I have just posted above it doesn't really matter, RM will still deliver most of it, and its not a free service we provide either so though a £25m contract may have been lost RM will likely still see half of that back.
Also we have been one of the test offices for the sorting machine and let me assure you it doesn't do a better job than us. I'm sure the next version or the one after might be able to but currently it doesn't so a similar amount of work still has to be done by deliver office staff to get the walks prepared, Unfortunately due to the large investment by RM they don't want to pay the same amount of hours and use bullying tactics to try and force us to work for free.

---------- Post added at 14:11 ---------- Previous post was at 14:05 ----------

Unless you have put it in writing to the delivery office stating that you want that to be done the others are well within their rights to refuse. Because if you don't have a registered 'safe-place' they leave it there and it goes missing or gets damaged (especially if its recorded or special) they could lose their job. Though if they haven't told you that you have to put it in writing that is out of order.

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

And as long as the customers DO notice, the Union does care?

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

No, because you aren't the unions priority, WE are. However, if you and other unhappy customers complain to the people in control i.e. RM and not your postman on the street or venting on an internet forum RM may actually start to care.

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

No, I'll complain to the individuals who choose to make the public suffer because THEY can't have what THEY want.

Public sympathy? Don't make me laugh.

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

I didn't ask for your sympathy, Don't make me laugh, I couldn't do this job if I needed that.
I'm merely pointing out to you that if you moan at your postie or vent on a forum nothing happens, complain to the people who can make a difference and you might get somewhere.

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

The Union will no doubt (as they've done in the past) claim to have 'public support'.

The more we speak out about this in public (such as to the papers and on the internet) the more they look like idiots for claiming it.

re: [Update] The Royal Mail strike thread
 

Interesting solution you have there, Hows that working so far? It just seems funny to me as I've never heard a public speaker yet who didn't sound like an idiot most of the time.