Royal mail Christmas jobs

[The Family Cyclist]

In the hope of getting some extra beans with prices going up much quicker then wages I have applied for weekend work at the local sorting office in the run up to Christmas

Have any of you done this previously? The application was very basic pretty much details and eligibility to work in UK which I duly completed and said the application had been submitted but this then gave me access to an area which has lots more options such as uploading a CV but at the bottom this has job type and suggests ira for more permanent roles

Anyone offer any insight

[CAMRAMan]

I've worked at a RM sorting office in a part-time position, but not weekend work. I'm not sure what insights I can offer, but I enjoyed my time there. Do you know if you'll be inside or out delivering? I suspect the former, in which case you'll probably be sorting letters into frames or pre-sorting into frame boxes. It will be hard work, though you'll get a break. Is it the whole day or just the morning? Shift times?

[Ripio]

Avoid like the plague.
Terrible company to work for.

[Legs]

... at the bottom this has job type and suggests ira for more permanent roles...

I'd suggest you think carefully before telling your potential employer at Royal Mail that you're considering joining the IRA. 

[The Family Cyclist]

Well needs must

[lissotriton]

I've done it as a Christmas job a few times. I thought it was OK.
Yes, it probably will be indoors, don't think there's many temp staff out on delivery. So a lot of standing in one place, sorting stuff into boxes. Though I think most sorting offices are now automated. Maybe more handling parcels nowadays.

Maybe not much choice of shifts. I usually ended up on evenings/nights. Try and book an interview as soon as possible, before everyone else gets the good shifts.
At least they had decent bike parking.

[CAMRAMan]

There's still plenty of letter sorting, but it's mainly the larger stuff, e.g. magazines, that can't be auto-sorted. You'll also get cards written by Granny/Grandad Pickles, whose arthritis has sadly rendered her/his handwriting to an illegible scrawl when s/he gets the pen out for the annual Christmas card writing marathon. Basically, anything that the auto scanner can't pick up.

The main problem I had was that two colleagues decided to put on the Christmas song CDs on auto-replay from mid-November. Never a fan of such songs before, I am now permanently scarred.

[nobby]

I did it on Christmas leave from the army in 1966.
A few months later I am ordered to the Company Commanders office, marched in by the CSM and accused by my Company Commander and two Special Branch officers of stealing from the post.
Being stubborn I refused to respond to the accusations and was ranted at by the four of them for a couple of hours. The CC and CSM made it clear that I should  confess.
When released I phoned my father - a Met Police officer - who through the wonders of Freemasonry got a senior Special Branch officer to look into the case. A fortnight later the postman whose round I was covering was arrested for the thefts.

None of that will apply to you but it cured me of doing Christmas work 

[The Family Cyclist]

Thanks everyone. I have applied today so will see what happens.

[seasider]

I worked at our main sorting depot a few years ago. I picked nights of the 3 shift system thinking there would be a more laid back vibe. Not a chance, the temps were chased all night, you were stood in front of the frame sorting mail for the full shift (excluding breaks). The regular staff picked the easier jobs which you would expect to happen. What I found unpleasant was the constant supervision. It got a little oppressive being watched all night,when you went to the loo etc. Last thing ten minutes before the 06.00 finish all the temps would have to assemble the large stillages with all sorted mail to be sent to the local sorting office. The temps were paraded in front of some manager first night and what became clear was that the younger people were taken to sort parcels and the older ones to the letter/card sorting.It never failed to amuse me how little knowledge of UK geography many people have.The rate of pay was not special.Minimum rate with a small nights premium. It will be a big jump when they start the £15 an hour rate!!!. I took the job after redundancy from a job where we didn't have a lot of supervision so maybe a little unused to such practices. Needless to say I didn't go back the next year.

[The Family Cyclist]

Yeah I'm not expecting it to be great it will just hopefully be some extra cash in the run up to Christmas

[FifeingEejit]

I signed up to be a "casual postman" and did the 2hr induction one year, well I know it was 2004 because i was between jobs and I got the first of my current chain of them the same christmas.

IIRC I got 18 quid for the induction and then holiday pay followed that too.
I was never called in to do any actual work.

[Paul H]

I worked one winter of nights in a sorting office about 12 years ago, it was OK, in many ways like seasider describes, except there was a reasonably good atmosphere, among the casuals at least, no over supervision if your work rate was adequate.  It was also just over the road from where I was living and we were knocked off up to an hour early if everything was loaded. Hourly rate was OK, subsidised canteen was good, the only real gripes were it started two weeks later than offered and finished a week or so earlier, at a days notice, so 9 weeks money had to stretch to 12.
Whenever I've needed winter work since, I've found better. Plenty of choice in warehouse/logistics round the E Midlands, though that might not be the case elsewhere. Weekend workers in particularly high demand, nearly all of it agency work, might be worth registering with a few even if they don't seem to have what you're looking for. All crap jobs of course, but I'm quite tolerant of that if it's just for a few weeks and it pays well.

[phantasmagoriana]

In the hope of getting some extra beans with prices going up much quicker then wages I have applied for weekend work at the local sorting office in the run up to Christmas

Have any of you done this previously? The application was very basic pretty much details and eligibility to work in UK which I duly completed and said the application had been submitted but this then gave me access to an area which has lots more options such as uploading a CV but at the bottom this has job type and suggests ira for more permanent roles

Anyone offer any insight

Haven't done it, but considered it last year and your post has made me think about it again...

Not sure if it might be a bit much on top of a regular full-time job, but as a short-term thing it might be ok.

[Frank9755]

There is a big push across the delivery industry to recruit extra workers this peak season.  There are reports of some paying 30% above normal rates.  I expect Royal Mail will be very happy to have you!

[phantasmagoriana]

I got as far as submitting the application but got an automated response saying they've had enough applications already so can't progress it.

[The Family Cyclist]

Just got a follow up email for proof of residency NI etc which will sort this weekend

[fruitcake]

I worked at a RM delivery office one summer during the 1990s. 'Walk sorting' mail into frames from about 4am to 6am, then delivering mail as postman til about 11am, or earlier if I was fast. Enjoyed being out in the world before everyone else woke up. I was lucky with the weather.

The management culture was 'interesting', with an emphasis on reducing working hours as far as possible by having staff work faster to reduce the salary bill. Tension between management and unions, and between management and staff had led to barely suppressed frustration which flared up from time to time. Temps weren't part of this culture, and so they were treated with suspicion by permanent staff, though a few staff went out of their way to be friendly. There was also a trend of staff nicking the new items of work equipment from each other.

I guess the tips I'd have given new temps would have been: keep your head down, work efficiently, make friends quickly, and store your stuff where it won't be nicked.

This culture may have been unique to the office where I worked, and it may have changed in the meantime.

[pcolbeck]

I did a Christmas as a mail handler on York station. Pulling trolleys of mail from the lift down to the tunnel that connects the station to the then sorting office to the right platform then putting the mail on the trains and vica versa.
I always did night time shifts. Good crew to work with but cold !
Lots of waiting around then bursts of heavy manual labour. We only had five minutes or less to get all the mail sacks on and off the train when it pulled in before it had to set off again and there were lots of mails sacks !

That was in the 80s though and there isn't a York sorting office any-more nor are there any mail trains and the normal trains don't carry mail any-more either. So this was a pointless post really ....

[nobby]

I did a Christmas as a mail handler on York station. Pulling trolleys of mail from the lift down to the tunnel that connects the station to the then sorting office to the right platform then putting the mail on the trains and vica versa.
I always did night time shifts. Good crew to work with but cold !
Lots of waiting around then bursts of heavy manual labour. We only had five minutes or less to get all the mail sacks on and off the train when it pulled in before it had to set off again and there were lots of mails sacks !

That was in the 80s though and there isn't a York sorting office any-more nor are there any mail trains and the normal trains don't carry mail any-more either. So this was a pointless post really ....

....But enjoyable for its historical content.

[FifeingEejit]

That was in the 80s though and there isn't a York sorting office any-more nor are there any mail trains and the normal trains don't carry mail any-more either. So this was a pointless post really ....

Not true, there's no more TPOs but Class 325s are still dithering around taking the mail up the west coast to Shieldmuir
Although todays service...
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:C05928/2021-10-08/detailed

[John Stonebridge]

I worked three Christmases for the Post Office in the mid 80s when I was a student. 

Unsurprisingly it was a very early start - 5am iirc so without a pal who had a car it would have been virtually impossible (I could have cycled but it was about an hour each way & I wasnt up for cycling that route at that time of day).  The early finish also allowed me to make the most of the day.

Luck of the draw saw me allocated to Craiglockart a leafy suburb of Edinburgh while my flatmate got to deliver giros to Wester Hailes.

My abiding memory was the laddish & drinking culture - on day 1 I shadowed the "real" postie and he was delighted that I was as fit as a flea - chiefly as it allowed us into the Cross keys through the back door around 1030 between deliveries.

Cans of beer abounded on 24/12 even at 5am. 

It may have changed since then of course.   
 
The money was good and we got paid in cash on our final day, no waiting which was fab.   

Overall I enjoyed it though I got lucky with the weather each time (though if youre going to be in a depot that wont be an issue really). 

[Paul H]

There is a big push across the delivery industry to recruit extra workers this peak season.  There are reports of some paying 30% above normal rates.  I expect Royal Mail will be very happy to have you!

This.
RM are paying their standard rate and everyone else is upping theirs.
Agency I worked for three years ago (Processing returns in a distribution center for a High St retailer) have offered the same temp job again, 20% more than it paid then, plus bonuses that amount to another 20% for just turning up and staying for three months, and it wasn't poorly paid to start with.  Plus if someone referred me they'd get £100 if I stayed a month. I'm almost sorry I've agreed something else.

[The Family Cyclist]

They have offered me the Saturday afternoon/evening shift but doesn't start till December, had thought would start a bit earlier so may look for something that starts a bit sooner

[fruitcake]

IIRC it takes a while to vet new staff to make sure they're not spies, or something.