Royal Mail Vans - Why So Abused?
Discussion
Nothing new I suspect.
In the 60's my Dad did a Christmas temp postie job. On his first day the bloke he was working with told him "Royal Mail drivers are the worst on the road.
Bloke I went to school with got a job as a postie and ended up driving a van. He wrote it off in the town centre one day but that was okay "because you can write two off before they do anything."
In the 60's my Dad did a Christmas temp postie job. On his first day the bloke he was working with told him "Royal Mail drivers are the worst on the road.
Bloke I went to school with got a job as a postie and ended up driving a van. He wrote it off in the town centre one day but that was okay "because you can write two off before they do anything."
I put a screen in a combo van that a builder had bought from Royal Mail and it was utterly completely f
ked. 1/4 turn each way on the wheel before it steered, every panel was dented and faded. At least half the trim was hanging off and it had something like 370k on the clock. How it got an MOT I do not know.
ked. 1/4 turn each way on the wheel before it steered, every panel was dented and faded. At least half the trim was hanging off and it had something like 370k on the clock. How it got an MOT I do not know.XAF said:
Exactly, I wouldn't want my company logo down the side of a total wreck, not really good for your image. There has got to be a fleet manager job that would pay for itself ten fold out there somewhere in Royal Mail. Imagine if you managed £500 extra per van come resale just by looking after your fleet. That's got to be worth it!
RM do a hell of a lot of management of drivers from telematics data, this piece is a few years old and they've developed further since then but gives you the jist:http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/fleet-management/road-s...
And the savings in fleet costs which would be made by becoming militant over dings to the vans would soon be swallowed up by fines from OFCOM for failing to meet the Universal Service Obligation which states, among other things,:
"At least one delivery of letters every Monday to Saturday to every address in the UK
At least one collection of letters every Monday to Saturday from every access point in the UK that is used to receive letters and postal packets for onward transmission"
There are also heavy penalties for failing to meet percentage targets of each mail category delivered which is monitored by a private company who send test items of every variant of service offered which are tracked by RFID tags.
I used to work for that private company and it was often quoted that each of our test items which arrived late would cost RM £2k in fines. So on balance I can see why they apply a "don't spare the horses" approach to the fleet.
HerrSchnell said:
RM do a hell of a lot of management of drivers from telematics data, this piece is a few years old and they've developed further since then but gives you the jist:
http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/fleet-management/road-s...
And the savings in fleet costs which would be made by becoming militant over dings to the vans would soon be swallowed up by fines from OFCOM for failing to meet the Universal Service Obligation which states, among other things,:
"At least one delivery of letters every Monday to Saturday to every address in the UK
At least one collection of letters every Monday to Saturday from every access point in the UK that is used to receive letters and postal packets for onward transmission"
There are also heavy penalties for failing to meet percentage targets of each mail category delivered which is monitored by a private company who send test items of every variant of service offered which are tracked by RFID tags.
I used to work for that private company and it was often quoted that each of our test items which arrived late would cost RM £2k in fines. So on balance I can see why they apply a "don't spare the horses" approach to the fleet.
Interesting... Can see the argument there, is it attitude or targets that drive (excuse the pun!) the perceived abuse though?http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/fleet-management/road-s...
And the savings in fleet costs which would be made by becoming militant over dings to the vans would soon be swallowed up by fines from OFCOM for failing to meet the Universal Service Obligation which states, among other things,:
"At least one delivery of letters every Monday to Saturday to every address in the UK
At least one collection of letters every Monday to Saturday from every access point in the UK that is used to receive letters and postal packets for onward transmission"
There are also heavy penalties for failing to meet percentage targets of each mail category delivered which is monitored by a private company who send test items of every variant of service offered which are tracked by RFID tags.
I used to work for that private company and it was often quoted that each of our test items which arrived late would cost RM £2k in fines. So on balance I can see why they apply a "don't spare the horses" approach to the fleet.
Triumph Man said:
The normal approach to stopping a vehicle: Bring to a halt using footbrake. Apply hand brake. Take out of gear. Switch off engine.
The RM approach: Tank it up to where you want to stop. Turn off engine (while still moving). Wrench up handbrake to bring vehicle to stop.
RM vehicles are a special build IIRC?The RM approach: Tank it up to where you want to stop. Turn off engine (while still moving). Wrench up handbrake to bring vehicle to stop.
is it true they are tuned for MPG and reliability... would make sense for why drivers rag them everywhere. That and extensive union backed protection for behaviour that would see most drivers fired.
chris1roll said:
They drive like nutters on the country lanes.
I live down a stone track. You need to pick your route to avoid taking the exhaust or sump off, just first gear rolling speed.
The postie comes down at about 30mph.
Pressures of the job. They don't only deliver mail-they collect from post boxes /firms and sub offices with a very tight schedule. Dad was a retired postal worker, who started as a postie. His transport was a bike. He often said on his round a trained horse would be better. But after he retired he became friendly with a postie who did a country small office delivery /collection and box collection. Going was not a problem. But the return meant a trip of 45 miles which ,with collections gave him an hour or the collection from head office would be missed. I live down a stone track. You need to pick your route to avoid taking the exhaust or sump off, just first gear rolling speed.
The postie comes down at about 30mph.
Triumph Man said:
The normal approach to stopping a vehicle: Bring to a halt using footbrake. Apply hand brake. Take out of gear. Switch off engine.
The RM approach: Tank it up to where you want to stop. Turn off engine (while still moving). Wrench up handbrake to bring vehicle to stop.
Haha I saw this in action just yesterday.The RM approach: Tank it up to where you want to stop. Turn off engine (while still moving). Wrench up handbrake to bring vehicle to stop.
also saw at least two 06 reg LDVs, is it normal for large fleets to be running 8 year old (s
te) vans ?Djw John said:
s m said:
Slower than than the 7.5 tonners I see on the M8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUGVd2GwtZo
In Bolton there's a scrapyard next to a Royal Mail office. After a few years the vans tend to just get pushed round the corner into the scrapyard. The yard is often full of them.
Edited by Blakewater on Tuesday 16th September 22:41
Blakewater said:
In Bolton there's a scrapyard next to a Royal Mail office. After a few years the vans tend to just get pushed round the corner into the scrapyard. The yard is often full of them.
https://www.british-car-auctions.co.uk/buy/Useful-information/Types-of-auction/Royal-Mail/
Vipers said:
Lots of police cars get trashed as well, but they don't stay on the road, whisked away for repair. Mentality of it's not my car me thinks.
The police cars always look pretty good, but over the past year or two I've noticed some knackered old sprinter vans seem to have been pulled out of retirement.Oddly enough I almost took a picture of an old 54 reg one just over an hour ago which had two huge rust patches under the windows on the back doors. As it was full of coppers and parked by Canary Wharf I couldn't be bothered with the inevitable explaining I'd have to do though (and when thinking how I'd explain myself I thought it'd be a bit lame
)I live in the countryside just outside Basingstoke. If all Royal Mail drivers are like our local postman then I can understand exactly why they're all trashed. He drives like he's in the WRC quite a few times he's nearly hit my car or cars I've been travelling in and if he's behind you you'll have a good job getting a cigarette paper in between the bumpers.
A few times I've thought of reporting it but doubt it will achieve much except my mail will no longer turn up.
A few times I've thought of reporting it but doubt it will achieve much except my mail will no longer turn up.
The RM depot near me has a fleet of 63 plate fiats and two utterly fked looking 06 LDVs. I'm guessing that the LDVs are punishment for naughty drivers?
When I worked for a bus company doing local service the 'punishment' buses were a manual LDV and a knackered old merc 709D. Needless to say not many defects were reported on the modern stuff :-)
ked looking 06 LDVs. I'm guessing that the LDVs are punishment for naughty drivers? When I worked for a bus company doing local service the 'punishment' buses were a manual LDV and a knackered old merc 709D. Needless to say not many defects were reported on the modern stuff :-)
I am a Royal Mail driver, I like to think I treat the van I use with respect but then I'm a courier not said "postie", but the most of the other drivers I see don't care in the slightest, drive like loonies and never do vehicle checks, they don't care as the union will get them out of any trouble, love my job but the company is not good enough anymore, which is really sad.
My brother in law used to drive for the RM and apparently it used to be the case that they had a fixed time to do their round that was based on them driving comfortably within the limits. He would go around quicker but pop in home for a cuppa in the middle of his shift.
I don't think it's so much the case any more as they are under a bit more pressure and I suspect tracked.
I don't think it's so much the case any more as they are under a bit more pressure and I suspect tracked.
Geekman said:
I've often wondered this - the ones I see in south east london are, almost without exception, utterly ruined on both sides. We're not talking a few scrapes and dents either, but serious damage. None of the other courier companies seem to have vans in such a state, and surely they all get roughly the same treatment?
I'm from Sydenham..They're all battered around here, serious paint fade, like really bad!
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