Royal Mail Vans - Why So Abused?
Discussion
It's always RM / Parcelforce. It's a work van, it'll do 300k miles then they'll get rid and it'll have served it's purpose.
Some of the Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury's vans are covered in dents and scuffs. According to a mate they don't really train you. If you can drive a car then you can drive a van in Tesco.
I once watches an Asda van reverse into the same wall FIVE times trying to get out of a cul de sac.
Guy got out after the two bumps and scratched his head before going for it three times more.
Some of the Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury's vans are covered in dents and scuffs. According to a mate they don't really train you. If you can drive a car then you can drive a van in Tesco.
I once watches an Asda van reverse into the same wall FIVE times trying to get out of a cul de sac.
Guy got out after the two bumps and scratched his head before going for it three times more.
Went to north wales,on holiday. After a bit of sightseeing,i started to 'enjoy' the roads and made some progress....
RM astra van caught right up with me, and on the next straight he made the overtake. Went past me at the speed of sound. Obviously, he knew the roads well. Lesson learnt, don't get in the way of a van driven by a determined local.
RM astra van caught right up with me, and on the next straight he made the overtake. Went past me at the speed of sound. Obviously, he knew the roads well. Lesson learnt, don't get in the way of a van driven by a determined local.
Cosmetic damage does not get repaired unless caused by a 3rd party as it's not cost effective, in any job you get good staff and bad staff. Because we have a strong union to look out for us we get more than our fair share of a
holes. The vans have different drivers most days and some of them treat the vans like dustbins. Because of the new delivery methods where posties share vans rather than use bikes means we have a much larger fleet. My office went from 80 vans to 133. We do get a lot of hit and run damage due to the vans being parked up unattended for long periods on residential streets. We also run vans for longer than ever before, when i first started my job as fleet supervisor in my office VX combo's were changed at 4 years old, now it's more like 8 or 9. Our 7.5 ton's usually cover 1M kilometers before they are replaced
holes. The vans have different drivers most days and some of them treat the vans like dustbins. Because of the new delivery methods where posties share vans rather than use bikes means we have a much larger fleet. My office went from 80 vans to 133. We do get a lot of hit and run damage due to the vans being parked up unattended for long periods on residential streets. We also run vans for longer than ever before, when i first started my job as fleet supervisor in my office VX combo's were changed at 4 years old, now it's more like 8 or 9. Our 7.5 ton's usually cover 1M kilometers before they are replacedsideways man said:
Went to north wales,on holiday. After a bit of sightseeing,i started to 'enjoy' the roads and made some progress....
RM astra van caught right up with me, and on the next straight he made the overtake. Went past me at the speed of sound. Obviously, he knew the roads well. Lesson learnt, don't get in the way of a van driven by a determined local.
Really? What were you driving?RM astra van caught right up with me, and on the next straight he made the overtake. Went past me at the speed of sound. Obviously, he knew the roads well. Lesson learnt, don't get in the way of a van driven by a determined local.
Speed of sound
cirian75 said:
everyone knows that a late royal mail van is the fastest car in the world, Veyrons stand no chance, they are just to slow.
As a former workshop manager once said to me " if you want overtaking in F1 send a few posties out in combo's, Hamilton and Alonso will have no chance"CMYKguru said:
It's always RM / Parcelforce. It's a work van, it'll do 300k miles then they'll get rid and it'll have served it's purpose.
Some of the Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury's vans are covered in dents and scuffs. According to a mate they don't really train you. If you can drive a car then you can drive a van in Tesco.
I once watches an Asda van reverse into the same wall FIVE times trying to get out of a cul de sac.
Guy got out after the two bumps and scratched his head before going for it three times more.
As far as Tesco goes you have to pass a driver assessment, Vans are tracked, Speed, RPM, Braking, Cornering monitered and MPG, Go over 15% of the speed limit and its flashed up and your in for an investigation, Drivers that speed excessively are simply taken off driving. The van damage is due to where the vans go, Where i work its mainly Rural, Farms etc so they pick up a bit of damage, Its all logged.Some of the Tesco/Asda/Sainsbury's vans are covered in dents and scuffs. According to a mate they don't really train you. If you can drive a car then you can drive a van in Tesco.
I once watches an Asda van reverse into the same wall FIVE times trying to get out of a cul de sac.
Guy got out after the two bumps and scratched his head before going for it three times more.
Edited by klunkT5 on Thursday 18th September 11:58
Edited by klunkT5 on Thursday 18th September 11:59
I seem to to remember some years ago a story inside FoMoCo. This was on the good old days of the Post Office. A chassis engineer was sent out to find out why FoMoCo were receiving so many issues with Post Office van failures in Wales, mostly chassis and suspension. Upon his return, he apparently told his boss they could sort the problem by changing the Post Office vehicle spec for Welsh cars to full FoMoCo rally cars!! Apparently, they spent as much time airbourne as on the ground !!!
Magog said:
I often think this, It should be a treasonable offence for a Royal Mail van to leave it's depot with anything but the most minor blemish. Does anyone know when the rot set in?
When the timing rules for deliveries came in. Vans are just consumables that get written down in the books and only last 3/4 years. As such there is no purpose served in investing in keeping them shiny. At the same time, Posties have to deliver to a certain number of doors within a certain time and so one of the trade offs is that scraping a van or clipping a mirror is cheaper than missing these targets. And there is the issue that these targets now mean that many routes that used to be covered by someone on foot now can't so vans are having to go, every day, to many places which are basically obstacle courses for vehicles.
Other posters shouldn't rush to blame the Royal Mail either as it is a business defined by Govt set regulation and hurdles as much as anything.
Edited by DonkeyApple on Wednesday 17th September 08:58
Surprised this hasn't been posted (HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAHHAHA!) yet.
The Royal Nail.
http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/car-talk/406400-mk4...
The Royal Nail.
http://www.migweb.co.uk/forums/car-talk/406400-mk4...
I was a fleet manager for Royal Mail many years ago… The drivers were animals even back then…
And I mean animals… it was not unusual for a driver to take a st in the back of a van and leave it there…
Lots of reasons why it’s like it is…
No pride in the job, never has been for the majority.
highly unionised – the drives felt untouchable… as an example when I worked there I heard of a competition between a group of drivers to see who could wear out the rear tyres on a new Sherpa van the quickest… we had loads of reports of drivers spinning the wheels up every time they pulled away. My tyre budget went through the roof, but management would not do anything…
I was then contacted by a company who had CCTV at their premises and invited to come and look at some video footage. It showed a driver come into the yard, collect the mail, and then drive to the rear of the factory. Another camera picked him up with the front of the van hard against the wall, while he spun the rear wheels until they smoked and smoked! I took the District Head Postmaster to see the video, and we suspended the driver… Result, an all-out strike. 2 days later he was re-instated – no action taken
We had three vans at a rural outstation where the drivers REALY looked after the vans, even polishing them. They were immaculate. So I used to give them a new van each every year, and put their old one into the reserve pool. Union intervened and said it was favouritism.. I was forced to stop it.
I could go on and on…
And I mean animals… it was not unusual for a driver to take a s
t in the back of a van and leave it there…Lots of reasons why it’s like it is…
No pride in the job, never has been for the majority.
highly unionised – the drives felt untouchable… as an example when I worked there I heard of a competition between a group of drivers to see who could wear out the rear tyres on a new Sherpa van the quickest… we had loads of reports of drivers spinning the wheels up every time they pulled away. My tyre budget went through the roof, but management would not do anything…
I was then contacted by a company who had CCTV at their premises and invited to come and look at some video footage. It showed a driver come into the yard, collect the mail, and then drive to the rear of the factory. Another camera picked him up with the front of the van hard against the wall, while he spun the rear wheels until they smoked and smoked! I took the District Head Postmaster to see the video, and we suspended the driver… Result, an all-out strike. 2 days later he was re-instated – no action taken
We had three vans at a rural outstation where the drivers REALY looked after the vans, even polishing them. They were immaculate. So I used to give them a new van each every year, and put their old one into the reserve pool. Union intervened and said it was favouritism.. I was forced to stop it.
I could go on and on…
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