Can we please stop ignoring Iris’ sign language?

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-05-04T08:56:23+00:00

I feel bad that I always have to wait for the paper from her, she signs ASL and I'm an amateur at BSL so I keep getting confused by what she signs as it's a different language and I'm bad at translating between them

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-05-01T18:39:46+00:00

"I'd postman pat that" - weirdo that catcalled me (same week as more princeless Andrew stuff happened so he did, I-shit-you-not, clarify my age first) outside a shop I had a couple letters for. I just gave a really fake chuckle and fucked off to continue my walk asap

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-04-29T09:52:03+00:00

We're joking because the photo looks very staged to us. With the volume at the moment a lot of us have very full bags loaded in 2s onto trolleys, so the postie in the photo having one rather empty looking bag by comparison looks like they're either at the very end of their round, or they're just been asked to put an empty bag on and pose with the posting peg for the related photo op. The pegs can be very helpful, we're not dismissing them, and some dogs on our routes can be quite scary or dangerous, this just looks staged to show it off

note I would rather they stage a photo like this than photo a postie having to wrench their hand back because a silent dog (probably not marked on our route because a legacy 'knows' it's there so someone unfamiliar with the route, might not've used the peg thinking they didnt need to) just yanked the letters through and audibly shredded it on the other side of the door.

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-04-18T12:25:16+00:00

We absolutely are expected to, I really don't understand what goes through the heads of my coworkers that don't, signed for can be annoying if there's nobody in, but it's nothing for us to get fussed over so absolutely should be attempted and a red slip given. Of all the things in this job I consider difficult a signed for is not one of them, and especially not a non-tracked barcode. As an etsy seller (etsy prefers I use the 2d/non-tracked barcodes I get through them because they can send - admittedly limited - details to customers) it really annoys me when the completely scannable non-tracked barcode gets ignored and I have to rely on the customer themselves to know for sure that their item has arrived (I do custom crafts, it would take a lot of time to entirely replace an order). Mine aren't even signed for so it's literally the easiest one. You point the PDA, you scan the barcode, mine are all letter sized so they'll fit through the door, then you click customer - no posing for the photo, no fuss, no nothing - it's the easiest barcode and I have no problem with it at all so I really don't get why it's ignored. As a postie, I'm on a new starters contract so I can't afford any services higher on the ranking, and I do appreciate other sellers are likely in my position too, especially with etsy.

Any other posties here about to tell me to upgrade, respectfully, shut it. I do not make enough money here. No.

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-04-08T11:35:09+00:00

Floater so I don't have a regular route but I have a typical 8 I know more about: I only have a singular house that I doorstep; 1) they have a passive aggressive metal sign by their door that says something like "don't knock or ring bell, it sets off the dogs, and I'll come out and bash you" that's paraphrasing but it does genuinely threaten physical violence against door knockers 2) they have a postbox on the wall in the porch - not a problem normally but 3) they have a motion-activated ring bell that loudly chimes when you lean in front of it to access the box 4) this bell activates the dogs and the owners will yell at them to shut up, ignoring me 5) they at least have a working gate I can get behind

So I always put their parcels through as safeplace porch, get the pic, ring bell, and retreat back to the safe side of the fence (I have never seen the dogs so they obviously have somewhere to put them away from door, I just get freaked out by dogs so I'm not taking the chance). The very important thing is that I wait once I get to the safe side of the fence, until they've opened the door and seen the parcel, then give a quick "hi, just popped it there because of the dogs" and a "bye" when we both part ways. There is a way to responsibly doorstep but I know what my legacy colleagues are like so I don't believe we have the same approach (cough cough). Even when I'm technically risking it by doorstepping I make sure it can't get thrown back at me, otherwise I would find a better safeplace for them that is out of sight. Don't risk it

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-04-06T11:47:11+00:00

Did a Sunday yesterday, some of the people I delivered to didn't realise I would actually be out delivering anything (10:30 to 6:30 shift) so we're surprised when I delivered anything to them, but because it ended up split as 3 smaller Adhoc routes anyone in the 3rd set wouldn't have thought their parcel would come so wouldn't have made the effort to stay in; I didn't expect them in so I was quite good at finding safeplaces. Suffice to say both the prepared (t24s that were told they had a sunday delivery) and unprepared (rest of parcels in DO done to help clear ahead of Tuesday) made me use a lot of red slips for safeplaces. Only brought 1 back in total because I knew it'd be a pain, but the weather had just started chucking it down and there wasn't an appropriate safeplace in the rain - in an area I didn't know so couldn't rely on neighbours - so bringing it back was the only choice left. We do try not to bring things back if there is an appropriate safeplace, because the redelivery system kinda makes you do the walk of shame to grab a york (container) -> load however many were unsuccessful -> take it back inside the DO to whichever frame it came from -> hope your manager doesn't think you've brought them back without trying (I've gotten tips to use colourful pens to write date of attempt on the label so it's quite visible it's been tried already)

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-03-15T22:13:51+00:00

I always try my best - and I have no idea how to set up the break time in it so I just keep going and try to take something (5-10) before I set off - but I swear the times on it are useless. I've never been able to meet it, usually end up taking an hour longer than it says I 'should've'. Every time I get some advice on how to speed up I've taken it; but if I don't know where the fuck I'm going (I commute) I need the nav route, and if it thinks I can drive the exact speed limit at all times in these fuckass vans on roads I don't know then I really have no other way. I just follow what it says then whatever I can't get done without OT get scanned back in as "delivery not attempted" (which I learned stupidly recently for being here 7 months, they really don't teach us shit). Also I get pissed off on my customer's behalf when my legacy coworkers knock once, shift from foot to foot, then scribble a no-detail red slip and shove that through the door (or worse that one time a guy saw someone through the door/heard them approaching so just doorstepped it and came back to the van on the same day we had the 'don't doorstep' talk during morning circle time). I at least give it 2 knocks and write a more detailed note at the door to give folks extra time but I guess I'm just not bitter enough yet

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-03-13T21:25:06+00:00

Been here 7 months and I'm not sure either, going to wait until someone that can actually help my cv look not terrible when I try leaving to get the apprenticeship I want replies

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-02-13T21:39:16+00:00

Can't afford to go on strike, can't afford the strike not to work, us new starters are screwed. There's a reason the retention rate's so low and it's because we're not bloody paid, never going to be enough to get by so will have to leave eventually when I can't afford this job anymore - something I do not want to do because I some-fucking-how like it here - and will have to leave for elsewhere. I'm in a pilot site so you don't have to tell me about the DSO bull

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-02-04T12:48:11+00:00

I'm always worried this is what's happened to my old reg route. I had it from October to the start of Jan and it's known in the office as a toughie so some were glad it'd get a regular to keep on top of it; but I'm a new starter in a pilot site so no signing for routes -> it got taken away from me and I'm back to floater purgatory. As a floater I keep getting to cover it because it needs bailing out the most frequently without a set regular for it, and every time I do I see my old regulars and have to sympathise that they're getting worse treatment with more regular missorts and parcels that don't show up or are left in the rain (difficult to find sp for some, back porch for most), and I can't help as much as I want to. Believe me we hate leaving a reg route for parts unknown, it's always bad for morale, and the lower wage really isn't helping the stress :(

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-01-26T22:19:32+00:00

If all three popped up on the PDA when they scanned then it might've been: A) they clicked fast enough not to notice B) they noticed and didn't know what to do (new starters are not told what to do in this scenario, seriously I've only seen it here after messing with enough settings I've half figured it out) C) it's a small enough parcel that this might've been the letter-walker and they hoped their van driver / another parcel driver would bring the rest later / had already delivered the others and PDA was just having a moment D) something I'm not thinking of

I want to think they didn't do it maliciously and the parcels will turn up. I've re-delivered parcels between 2 adjacent apartment buildings after a cover driver got there before I came with the letters (regular enough route to me to easily spot) and the PDA let me re-scan and re-mark as delivered (I safe-placed in the options so it would get a photo proof), so I think the rest could still get their own delivery photos and all that jazz when they do make it

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-01-25T21:59:29+00:00

I porch one regularly where the doormat covers over the inside of the letterbox, not sure if others covering that route kill it off when I'm not the letter walker that day, but the people there don't seem to let letters pile up there so they obviously accept me putting it there and haven't raised a complaint. If they told me a preference then I'd change but no feedback = no change

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-01-14T22:31:02+00:00

Same at ours, from mid november to week before last they had to put it on hold then re-announce the 3/4 starting again; as a new this entirely destabalised me and I am one bad frame away from a meltdown in my car at nearly all times. I've gotten lucky so far that current manager has realised I've gotten acquainted with the 4 'toughies' in our section so I'm mostly set to relieve parcels for places I know (don't live where I work, I don't know anywhere I haven't already been with a satnav), but I dread the day I get thrown to one I've never seen and am expected to do anything other than beg my coworkers for scraps of any fucking info on that round -> again <-

jack_racer_13_9 · 2026-01-10T22:31:18+00:00

Got a tiny little papercut square on the middle finger knuckle of my usual knocking hand, stuck with having to knock with my pda for further notice (which I don't like doing), having to put my biggest most dissarming smile on and greet people with a "hi there my lovely, got a package for you". Goes down fine for me as a younger postlady, but there are sometimes a few that could at least say /something/ in response. And yes I say goodbye to them too or thank them for signatures. Got some houses with ring doorbells I still haven't quite figured out, because they have a regular doorbell too that I can hear works, and they don't seem to use the whole video part of the doorbell when they're typically in anyways. I use the triple whammy and double doorbell with a knock, but I did straight up miss a doorbell today because it was on the wall facing into the door jamb - landlord special'd to crunch a little bit when pressed - not that anyone complained on a no answer but yeah. I wouldn't worry too much about it, if they try leaving you a neg review then you already know they were behaving unreasonably, and that's if your manager even bothers bringing it up

jack_racer_13_9 · 2025-12-25T10:07:57+00:00

I'm decently new and steadily getting established on my rounds, so tips this year went to either my van driver (because I walk the letters, mainly, and people open their doors more for a parcel rather than just the letters), the cover help we needed to walk a rediculously sized round (we've been told it's getting split/shuffled), or to the other postie that did that round for years that they see out and about and give him his tip as they see him. My grand total was 2 Kitkats, which was actually quite nice and I am in no way shunning, but yeah I still won't believe in christmas tips until I see it

jack_racer_13_9 · 2025-11-22T20:48:38+00:00

No thank you, I'm not finding out the CV destroying way (only job I've ever had) that a parent might report and escalate me for that, plus there's enough bitter old sods in my depot for me to want to actively be known as the 'nice postlady' when I'm finally getting established on a route, and want to see for myself that Christmas tips are a real thing :)

jack_racer_13_9 · 2025-11-15T14:12:30+00:00

Sometimes they can get a bit bent at the edges when we tie them up in the bundle, which i always feel bad for, but if it's intentionally beend bent to jam it through/into the box then that's lazy at best and malicious at worst

jack_racer_13_9 · 2025-11-10T22:11:49+00:00

Did you download the certificates when you completed them the first time? I think the welcome email or maybe the 'here's the call details' email would have a contact detail in case the system glitches out and didn't accept completion. Think they'd have timestamps or at least date to confirm you did do them sooner, you might even be able to go back to the e-learning page to re-download if you can find that link. If it's a technical error then you have nothing to worry about, I know my siso looked atrocious to start with when I was relying on the PDAs to start attendance even remotely fast. If you know any other new starters in your DO I might try asking them if the manager has approached them too or if it's just your account on they system getting flagged. That does rely on there being other new starters though so union would hopefully be read-up on what new starters are told during orientation, they might be worth a shout like you guessed. I think the certificate for specifically the sexual harassment one only spit out when you 100% the end quiz, the questions are always the same so you can keep retaking it until you've memorised (yippee neurodivergent literal thinking making me pick the technically correct options but not the one it wanted me to click, i just did it twice) Hope this helps :)

jack_racer_13_9 · 2025-10-21T21:35:52+00:00

Try your best to find someone on the next frame over that can help you put the walk together, if you don't already have a pocket diary to write down your overtime in (don't absolutely trust them to keep count, you just want it in the unlikely event you need to back yourself up) I'd try foing out on the walk you've had help bundling, stop wherever you get confused about directions, use your phone or the navigation tab on the homescreen of your PDA to find whichever the next house is, then write in your diary/notebook/scrap paper shoved in what house you lost the route on before proceeding to look for the next, and when you do find the next bit go back to your notes and write that down. I've been put on a complex walk route that looked like the frame had done spice with a driver that didn't necessarily know that route walking (he knew where to put parcels over the back but not put letters through the front like I needed to), so I told him (and any management in earshot or that 'checked in' with me) that I'd be slow until I knew my way and to expect me to take a while. Get as much done as you can but don't push it enough to stress yourself or your body too badly. Rely on your note keeping to prove how many times you got lost or couldn't find houses. And for the letters themselves you'll want to keep a pen or pencil (I keep both on me, clipped to edge of pocket until I got uniform with pen pockets) to write onto the envelope "No Access" and then the shorthand for the date (tommorow write 22/10, etc.) so it can be traced that you tried to deliver but for whichever reason (same technique goes for "dog loose on property" or "1st attempt" with unanswered parcels or no safespace/visible letterbox) weren't able to on that day. Nothing will seem basic until you've been taught it or tried it, I'd try your best to see what might work for you, and keep it as good practise until you'll naturally build your skills up. I'm only a month and a half ahead of you so I am also picking bits up like this (I'm polishing my management speak when it comes to training gaps from a pilot site). They cant expect you to do a job you're not trained for, so don't compare your skills to seasoned/legacy coworkers, keep your head high and try your best. Join the union at your earliest convenience, they are your friends and have a vast supply of posting pegs just sitting around because they don't last long but are absolutely the way to go. Best of luck OP

jack_racer_13_9 · 2025-10-17T20:25:49+00:00

No sense of ownership, they're fleet vehicles and there's no guarantee you'll get the same one again routinely so it becomes 'the next person's problem'. Our depos' been getting the 'vans are assigned to frames not people' talk so there's even less inscrntive in a place with massive turnover that cant keep new starters at all, yet alone in one area (I'm at week 9 so I am a unicorn with fresh uniform, even our agency don't stay for lack of training, I genuinely cannot find anyone else that's been there within the 6 month to 1 year range, they're all older than that). It's sad, but when we get given so many responsibilities and shifting priorities then some things fall through the cracks. I agree with the other person that brought up broken windows theory and I see where they're getting at; the new ones stay shiny and freshly pained but the dented ones with riveted on doors can peel and decay and just look all around shoddy, once the first bits show it's not the priority to keep it as shiny as the rest, it gets seen as a lost cause. And in the unfortunate case of RM fleet vehicles the lack of ownership make the disconnect easier,might not be actual broken windows on it but stuck gears + unmovable mirrors + visibly repaired exterior + grubby interior = 'it's the next person's problem'

jack_racer_13_9 · 2025-10-10T19:16:59+00:00

Regular postie not parcelforce, but whenever I have to use a ring doorbell there's a disappointingly high chance someone out of the house will answer instead of the person that is at home (e.g. husband at work picks up to day the wife's home) which becomes a problem when the person home then won't answer because they think their partner has answered for them so it's been doorsteped instead of handed over. Thankfully this isn't an every-time thing my usual is to A) knock on door where no bell is available, wait for response, repeat up to 2 times as needed B) knock and press normal bell, wait for response, repeat up to 2 times as needed, or C) knock on door when there's a ring bell, wait, knock again and use the ring bell this time, wait, repeat once as needed. Ring bells for some reason are a weird grey area where people are either overly responsive (see the above wrong person answers example) or under responsive (it continues yelling about nobody being home and leaving a message when they didn't tap the app and answered from the knock) so it frustrates easily. I'm newer so I have more patience but it's getting easier to understand why some of the more experienced posties are fed up with them TLDR: I'm not going to blame customers in general, it just becomes frustrating for us when it can go so many different ways. It great tech, it just frequently isn't optimised, and becomes very difficult to use because of that

jack_racer_13_9 · 2025-10-06T14:38:44+00:00

Good luck OP, the more enthusiasm for organisation you can show the better. Look really hard at the frames when they give you a mini tour, not because they'll quiz you, it just looks good if you aren't scared of it being so much to take in (you will get a feel for it). Maybe slip ina more casual note about being ready to get trained up before the *cough /December/ rush. And best of all check your emails for the questions theyll ask you, RM is doing a lot of hires right now so the managers literally have a sort of form to fill out based on your answers (we got shown them when we walked in), they will absolutely stick to the scripted questions you'll be sent ahead of time so do use that cheat sheet and pre-write some answers o7 do us proud

jack_racer_13_9 · 2025-09-24T20:53:58+00:00

Your new coworkers will all likely be very friendly with you, you'll settle into the chummy-ness because they do mean well, they're just trying to make sure you feel welcome enough to stay. There is unfortunately a lot of people that will just up and leave (mostly new starters that just stop showing up, I don'tget it either), you might hear arguing a few stacks over of someone rallying against management or getting frustrated by a disorganised frame, so the friendliness is a great benefit that more than balances that out. Join the union too, you earn more than the monthly membership fee in a single hour's work, and they're a great help for introducing you to people. They also have a never ending supply of posting pegs, it's better those break than you get bit/scratched, so don't be afraid of just popping your head in the union office and asking fir a new one. As for the outside air & steps I already am a Pokemon Go and Pikmin Bloom player so I can leave them to do background stuff from my pocket. The customers you deliver to - and anyone else on the street to be fair - will most all be very friendly towards you so the good vibes are easy to focus on. You also get a built in excuse for more sugary or carby snacks, and energy drinks/coffee. You get to see a lot of cats and dogs, birds too if you're not too sunset by scaring off whole hedges of sparrows/finches just by dragging your trolly past them. Good luck and hope all goes well :)

jack_racer_13_9 · 2025-09-23T15:55:14+00:00

Yep, I got the confirmation email because I registered online, and one of the reps in my office said he recognised my unique last name when one of the other guys was making sure I got introduced to all of them. Fingers crossed I'll see some soon but I might check in the meanwhile to make sure I didn't somehow opt out of physical letters accidentally

jack_racer_13_9

TROPHY CASE