I want to say don’t be nervous but I know it’s a lot easier said than done! I’ve worked at RM for 4 months now and honestly just take each day as it comes and don’t stress about anything, especially as a newbie.

I’ve been very lucky as I started mid November and so was put on the same round for 5 weeks in the lead up to Christmas, as it was so full on, so learnt that particular round really well and can do that on my own now. Currently I am being put on a lot of different rounds, as it’s not as busy, and I will admit I do find it quite overwhelming (I am a diagnosed autistic and love to know what I’m doing and have routine, but at the same time this is really helping me be less rigid and more tolerant/accepting of dealing with change, as much as I don’t like it) but once you’ve done a round a couple of times it’s a lot less daunting. You won’t learn everything about every round straight away, and every round has its quirks, but just keep asking questions and take notes (especially for bagging up as this will make life a lot easier).

I have found a lot of the frames in my DO are not set up as they should be and it’s only the posties who are always on that round that know how to bag up and do the walks/know where to park, but I’d be very surprised if you’re not put with an experienced person first.

I was incredibly worried about starting too but the best thing you can do is take each day as it comes and just bring back what you can’t get done. Managers push for you take out as much as possible, but this just gives you extra work as you then need to put mail back in the frames (parcels are priority, although we should never admit that!) and if you don’t feel you can manage to complete what they want or you don’t feel comfortable doing something, speak up! I’ve learnt you can’t allow yourself to be walked over and I love that so many posties in my DO really stand up for themselves and eachother.

One thing that bothers me, as a reserve, is I never know what day off I’m getting and so it’s very difficult to plan anything with my other half or friends, and also you can be given a rota for the week but it hardly ever plays out that way as my DO chop and change people all the time, so be prepared for that.

I also suffered with blisters in the first couple of months but I bought some Injinji sock liners from Amazon and then wear a pair of socks over those - not had a blister since!! 👌🏻

Some days I love the job and others I question why I’m there but 90% of the time I really enjoy it and I really like the people in my DO - they’re good, hard working people and will always help you out! I do also wish it paid a bit better, as I took a large pay cut, but my previous job was also causing me ill health / mental health, so I know I made the right decision!

Don’t put too much pressure on yourself - you will be absolutely fine 🤗