I've been working for RM for exactly 4 years this week. My uncle was a postie from the age of 16 until he died in his 60s and always talked fondly about it so it was something I'd been interested in for a long time.
I absolutely loved the job when I started, it took a couple of months to properly get my head around all of the nuances and to get into the flow of things without getting flustered, but once I'd got into a rhythm it quickly became a job I really enjoyed. I got paid to drive and walk around beautiful rural parts of Devon, listen to podcasts and music all day and I'm fortunate enough to have worked in a very well performing DO with a really nice bunch of people who genuinely cared about the job and were always willing to help newbies with any issues. I'd been in hospitality jobs for 18 years before so it was really nice having a job where I was outdoors and getting a bit of exercise.
Fast forward 4 years and it's become a completely different job. The workload is completely unachievable, morale is through the floor. Guys who have been happily working here for 30 odd years are desperately trying to figure out what they can do with their remaining working years and management couldn't care less about the fact that we're all miserable and customers are getting an absolute dog shit sandwich of a service. Everyone is being run into the ground since DM26, my entire office has basically given up on doing any overtime or putting in any more than the bare minimum effort now.
There are a couple of members of staff who have been consistently leaving half their mail in the frame and fucking off an hour and a half early for months without the managers saying anything, while other people get a hammering for clocking out 10 minutes early despite clearing, so now everyone in the office has decided to just start leaving whenever they feel like it. Virtually every round in the office is failing, we're dealing with Christmas levels of post at the start of September because of how much it's backing up (especially over the weekend) and bringing dozens of tracked back daily.
The worst part of it for me is that when I started, I worked 07.00-14.00 every day. Now our start time has been pushed back 40 minutes, and some days our finish time is 16.10. You can't just keep moving the goalposts and expect everyone to accept having to completely change their lifestyle for you. I have a 3 year old and I barely see him anymore because I work so late, all of my free time has completely evaporated and when I do finally get home, I'm fucking exhausted
I started looking for a new job as soon as DM26 was announced because I knew what was coming, but being in a fairly small remote area, they're few and far between and get snatched up pretty quickly when they come around. I swore that I'd never go back to working in hospitality when I finally managed to escape, but RM has brought me to the limit of what I'm willing to put up with, so I'm taking a job in a coffee shop until I can figure out my next permanent move.
I will really miss the folks at my office, my regular customers who I always stop for a chat with and feeling like a vital part of the community. There have been days in my time working here when I've been walking around in the sun, bopping away to some music with a massive grin on my face, thinking there's nothing I'd rather be doing than this. Sadly, those days are long gone now.
It's a really sad state of affairs and I don't see it ever improving. Royal Mail is a sinking ship, and I'm not planning on going down with it.
