When does the Xmas rush start and finish?
Just curious cause the pay is pretty good on agency. 
1st Xmas Special out of the VOC I work on agency was today.
Funny you say that, just seen my 1st white Premium of the season pulling an RM trailer, about an hour ago and had the same thought!
Its starts about now, if you want in get your skates on there are some checks to be gone through. When the work finishes, well I will leave that one out there for the comedians.
2nd January.
What I donāt know - is which agencies are putting people into RM this yearā¦?
Iāve heard it said that thereās āno more waiting 12 weeks for parity payā - you get it straight out the gate now.
I was chatting to a long term agy RM driver from Doncaster recently, and it seems they regularly get asked to do 4hr & 6hr shifts, it only get paid the hours worked less breaks. They where suprised to hear that most agy drivers (inc me) get a minimum guarantee of 8hrs pay
Winseer:
What I donāt know - is which agencies are putting people into RM this yearā¦?Iāve heard it said that thereās āno more waiting 12 weeks for parity payā - you get it straight out the gate now.
It depends on each VOC/Mail Centre. Generally Manpower and Pertemps are the main providers. Both provide for Gatwick and Croydon but just Manpower seems to be the primary provider at Jubilee for example.
The 12 weeks parity pay is skipped if you are just there for the Christmas period, where they say goodbye in January. The guys (And gals) who started earlier on and went through the parity pay thing will generally keep the Royal Mail work come January etc - How I understand it from my local Manpower office anyway
I understand most of the Christmas temp drivers will be starting or will have started by the week of the 5th November if that helps
Better get my skates on then, as itāll probably take a few days to set up any assessments that need doing.
Meanwhile, Iāll get a few other irons in the fire elsewhere first.
They wont take you if you have a criminal record bye the way. Its a good number when I did it a few years ago they paid Ā£17.50 between 02.00 and 04.00 A.M. and you could be sleeping at that time, there are couches for drivers to have a lie down.
alamcculloch:
They wont take you if you have a criminal record bye the way. Its a good number when I did it a few years ago they paid Ā£17.50 between 02.00 and 04.00 A.M. and you could be sleeping at that time, there are couches for drivers to have a lie down.
I canāt imagine them offering much by way of career prospects - if you were involved with the Great Train Robberyā¦ But Iāve never heard of a night-cab Bunk being described as a ācouchā before? 
ā¦or did they have some kind of driverās dormitory where you were? 
Yes it was in effect a dormitory, we could get our heads down for a couple of hours before driving for a couple of hours.
already started for the royal mail,but whats the point,you get used to excellent pay for just under a couple of months then you get dropped like a hot potato in the new year cos they wonāt take you on permanent,no point
Spend the money you earn pre-Xmas on a holiday in the new year
truckman020:
already started for the royal mail,but whats the point,you get used to excellent pay for just under a couple of months then you get dropped like a hot potato in the new year cos they wonāt take you on permanent,no point[/quoteThis. Itās a few years ago now but when I did Royal Mail on agency over Christmas I absolutely coined it for a few weeks (six nights driving and the seventh in the sorting office) but after the New Year you were down to three, two or sometimes one night a week (usually Friday which you didnāt want).
Give it a miss.
Take the well paid work you know that its temporary, save some money and go skiing in January. When you get back start working again as things will have picked up.
Weāll be going skiing outside our houses - if it gets much bloody colder this weekend!
Winseer:
What I donāt know - is which agencies are putting people into RM this yearā¦?Iāve heard it said that thereās āno more waiting 12 weeks for parity payā - you get it straight out the gate now.
Pertemps have a banner on the fence at the Rochester streamline hub
chinese6:
truckman020:
already started for the royal mail,but whats the point,you get used to excellent pay for just under a couple of months then you get dropped like a hot potato in the new year cos they wonāt take you on permanent,no point
[/quoteThis. Itās a few years ago now but when I did Royal Mail on agency over Christmas I absolutely coined it for a few weeks (six nights driving and the seventh in the sorting office) but after the New Year you were down to three, two or sometimes one night a week (usually Friday which you didnāt want).
Give it a miss.
ā¦Actually that would suit me via agency now fine and dandy!
Cannot seem to find Pertemps office address and phone numberā¦ Iām sure thereās one near to me, but the nearest office Iāve found on the internet were marked as Crawley, Croydon, and Basildon. 
Winseer:
Better get my skates on then, as itāll probably take a few days to set up any assessments that need doing.
.
Thought you said in the other thread you started that you wonāt do assessmentsā¦