Hi
Has anyone worked for royal mail, artic, i have a chance at assessment for them i have all the security checks done and passed. would be looking at night trunks
They tell me they give you start and end times to shifts and I’m told run everything on a schedule i.e. 15mins to do this 10 mis to do that etc etc
Any thoughts
Thanks in advance
I done royal mail on artics, not a bad job, all post on cages so a lot of cage work on tail lift unless your lucky enough to get a curtainsider. When i done it you got your paperwork and just got on with it, they didn’t push. If you done your delivery and collections to quick you will end up on a 7.5 tonner 
All scheduled runs. Almost everything now is wheeled cages (called Yorks)
Leave at the time you’re scheduled even if you’ve not been loaded or full up. Some duties require you to load assist, some will have indoor staff load you while on break. You may also interchange with Parcelforce work which is just trailer swaps. You don’t handle any of their stuff, just seal trailer and let the depot staff load/unload.
All yards are big enough to manoeuvre in and 99% of reverses will be driver side.
If you’re working on the VOC side (Vehicle Operating Centre) your duty will be artics and 17t tail lift rigids. The rigids you may do local runs from mail centres to delivery offices. You won’t be driving the 7.5’s unless you’re working for the Mail Centre and not the VOC.
Which area are you going to be in?
don’t know what side i would be on yet to be honest, it would be via agency
Thanks for reply guys, trying to decide what to do as happy in depot I’m on at mo, night trunks for apc seem good no stress or ■■■■ to deal with , easy work TBH money not as good as royal mail though, but that aint everything at end of day!
Gaz
Been on RM (VOC) via agency for the last 8 months. 99% of my shifts are RM based. Very steady, top $$ work. Job & knock. No hassle / pressure. No paperwork bar what they call a 318 (running to time guide). Virtually all runs are RM depot to RM depot (trunking runs). Would love to get in full time but they “recruit” internally so very little chance of that. However live in hope that they may change what seems an outdated policy. They use a lot of agency drivers, would hate to think what it costs them! All in all a a great job.
Mark500:
Been on RM (VOC) via agency for the last 8 months. 99% of my shifts are RM based. Very steady, top $$ work. Job & knock. No hassle / pressure. No paperwork bar what they call a 318 (running to time guide). Virtually all runs are RM depot to RM depot (trunking runs). Would love to get in full time but they “recruit” internally so very little chance of that. However live in hope that they may change what seems an outdated policy. They use a lot of agency drivers, would hate to think what it costs them! All in all a a great job.
They open vacancies up to existing employees first then if not filled they go on their own website for ANYONE to apply (in the real world you’d only really stand a chance if you’re currently agency already working there)
There’s currently massive restructuring at the moment with lots of the 7.5 fleet facing huge cuts in favour of 17t vehicles. They are in the process of offering to train the 7.5 drivers to CE so I do t think they’ll be any outside recruitment until that’s concluded.
I did some agency on 7.5. tonners good money for easy work. The organisation was really poor ,The drivers usually got 2 hours sleep whilst earning £17.00 per hour.
m1cks:
Leave at the time you’re scheduled even if you’ve not been loaded
Do you just have to act surprised at the delivery when you open the doors to an empty trailer?
The main millstone RM have left themselves with these days is that any shift needing cover that is over 12 hours in length - cannot be done by a full timer any more, as the maximum amount of overtime would be exceeded by a single 12 hour shift (ie working their 6th day…)
So… nearly all the 12 hour shifts go out to agency. That’ll mean many of the night trunks, like running to DIRFT, Hatfield, Severn Beach, etc.
I was there as full time, but then the night duties got carved up, so we didn’t have 4x12 hour shifts with built in “Scheduled Attendance” overtime any more. Pay went down, all the cushy shifts were going out to agency, so when a redundancy package came up - I took it, and left. It’s a great place to work though - IF you can get the right shift you want and need to be able to do it standing on your head. I had originally intended to get back in there on agency myself, but there was such a glut of ex-RM drivers available at the time - I never really got a look-in. I was being called to cover “dropped shifts” which is not the lifestyle I wanted at my age. Eventually the work there on agency petered out altogether, and I’ve now got a trunk job at Brakes with a higher basic than RM, albeit with more erratic overtime availability. 
good money if you get taken on permanent,their drivers are apparently on £40,000+ per year from what I have been told
Winseer:
The main millstone RM have left themselves with these days is that any shift needing cover that is over 12 hours in length - cannot be done by a full timer any more, as the maximum amount of overtime would be exceeded by a single 12 hour shift (ie working their 6th day…)
Cannot be done by a full timer■■? Really■■? I don’t know where you make this stuff up from but please stop misinforming people.
m1cks:
Winseer:
The main millstone RM have left themselves with these days is that any shift needing cover that is over 12 hours in length - cannot be done by a full timer any more, as the maximum amount of overtime would be exceeded by a single 12 hour shift (ie working their 6th day…)Cannot be done by a full timer■■? Really■■? I don’t know where you make this stuff up from but please stop misinforming people.
From how I read it he meant they wouldn’t have 12 hours left to do an extra,6th shift as overtime.
which agency do RM use?? is it the same agency for all depots? How about Manchester?
thanks
MancunianAndy:
which agency do RM use?? is it the same agency for all depots? How about Manchester?thanks
Pertemps and Manpower
m1cks:
Winseer:
The main millstone RM have left themselves with these days is that any shift needing cover that is over 12 hours in length - cannot be done by a full timer any more, as the maximum amount of overtime would be exceeded by a single 12 hour shift (ie working their 6th day…)Cannot be done by a full timer■■? Really■■? I don’t know where you make this stuff up from but please stop misinforming people.
FFS. The working week at RM is 36.25 hours. Balance of staff will NOT let you work more than a 48 hour week. POA is NOT recognized at RM.
This means that a full timer CANNOT have a shift with more than 11hrs 45m on duty as “overtime”.
Even if you’ve had a day off that week - it counts as 8 hours against you, so unless that day you’ve taken off allows you to bank some extra hours - eg. you take a 11 hour on duty shift off, and you gain 3 hours. - you won’t get to pick up the 12+ hour shifts as a full timer - they go out to agency.
So let’s give a summary here… If you do a FLAT 36.25 hours and no days off that week - you can only pick up a shift with a max time on duty of 11hrs 45mins. NOT 12 hours or more.
If you have scheduled attendance in the duty - you cannot even pick up a 11hr 45m shift…
The only way I’m wrong on all this - is if the “New” balance of staff people have dropped the firm-wide arrangements that I have outlined above since I left… I’m not party to any “replacement” rules for EU regulations that might have been brought in since 2014, which was the last time I worked there on agency myself.
I worked on the 7.5t and 17t easy shifts for good money even got sent to fort William on a 7.5 with 2 York’s!! Easy work
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I worked on the artics there for years, great job just so so boring.
I can’t think of any shift they would have that is longer than 12 hours after taking off the breaks you would legally be required to take!
Is it pertemps and manpower that supply Birmingham aswell?
Winseer:
m1cks:
Winseer:
The main millstone RM have left themselves with these days is that any shift needing cover that is over 12 hours in length - cannot be done by a full timer any more, as the maximum amount of overtime would be exceeded by a single 12 hour shift (ie working their 6th day…)Cannot be done by a full timer■■? Really■■? I don’t know where you make this stuff up from but please stop misinforming people.
FFS. The working week at RM is 36.25 hours. Balance of staff will NOT let you work more than a 48 hour week. POA is NOT recognized at RM.
This means that a full timer CANNOT have a shift with more than 11hrs 45m on duty as “overtime”.
Even if you’ve had a day off that week - it counts as 8 hours against you, so unless that day you’ve taken off allows you to bank some extra hours - eg. you take a 11 hour on duty shift off, and you gain 3 hours. - you won’t get to pick up the 12+ hour shifts as a full timer - they go out to agency.
So let’s give a summary here… If you do a FLAT 36.25 hours and no days off that week - you can only pick up a shift with a max time on duty of 11hrs 45mins. NOT 12 hours or more.
If you have scheduled attendance in the duty - you cannot even pick up a 11hr 45m shift…The only way I’m wrong on all this - is if the “New” balance of staff people have dropped the firm-wide arrangements that I have outlined above since I left… I’m not party to any “replacement” rules for EU regulations that might have been brought in since 2014, which was the last time I worked there on agency myself.
I was there last year as I was a postman and would go down there on my days off, and I was doing 14 hour shifts ?
Winseer:
FFS. The working week at RM is 36.25 hours. Balance of staff will NOT let you work more than a 48 hour week. POA is NOT recognized at RM.
48 hour average over the 26 week reference period. As overtime you can do 60 hours in a week which lets you do a potential 23 and 3/4 hours over your basic hours.