The Night Shift at Royal Mail
29 December 2007
Barry Wadsworth-Smith experiences life as a casual worker with Royal Mail . Many Dovorians do the same in an effort to boost the coffers for Christmas...but, times are changing.
Christmas Casual workers seem to have been largely ignored or even taken for granted by the general public, so I thought I'd better check it out first hand so to speak to see what its all about, as this would be the last time for the community in Dover. As you may know, the Royal Mail is closing down the sorting office in Charlton Green, as the lease has run out, and the premises has to be vacated by March 2008. Already the majority of mail sorting personnel have taken redundancy or transferred to other sorting areas. How the new sorting office in Slough will be able to cope with the extra work now that Dover is closing down, only time will tell. Wouldn't it have been easier to build a new sorting office in Whitfield, perfectly positioned with the Motorway and Port of Dover (like a Roll-on Roll-off), as Dover has the manpower who are willing to put in the hours. It is a terrible shame to see another major employer go west, when the people of Dover and beyond, are more than ready and willing to do the work.
Diary of Events.
Week One
We started the week with a 12 hour night shift on Saturday (6.00pm - 6.00am) to help us get to know the routine and systems with Sortcodes, Roads etc (Roads being National sorting offices), eventually changing to the normal 9.30pm - 5.30am nightshift on Monday. On the long nights there were many times when our spirits were lifted by the letters to Santa ie Father Christmas, North Pole. Or indeed Santa from Susan or John, or the more technical Santa Claus, Santa's Grotto, Lapland, Postcode Ho Ho Ho, and all this with Christmas Carols playing in the background.
The fields of employment where us little Elves come from is varied, a Lecturer, Plasterer, Student Teacher, Journalist, Security Guards, Stocktaker, Students, Bingo Caller and even an Ex-DCAL Miss Dover and many more, the list covers many areas and in quite a few cases this is a second job. So what do we do for sleep? Well during the day it is managed by rest during breaks ie 40 winks here and 20 there, but not while working for the Royal Mail of course. The friendships that have been made in such a short period of time will in some cases last a lot longer, and all this to the lingering strains of Bing Crosby's 'I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas' (after 3 weeks I think I will be able to record my own Christmas Album as I know the lyrics to at least 50 Christmas Songs and that's not including the latest versions). Merry Christmas to one and all.
Week 2
It's as though the nation as a whole have just realised that Christmas is only 12 days away, the increase in Xmas post is very apparent, at one time I was sorting mail from the Channel Island of Guernsey for this region and I didn't realise how many Christmas Cards could come from one place (nice stamps, though). Everyone seems to have found that little bit extra to handle the increased influx of Christmas post, it must be the Mince Pies and Mulled Wine that we are being fed intravenously lol!
The continuous Christmas Carols piped through to our ears grate on the nerves of some of the younger elves, but one of them who shall remain nameless, does a great impression of Miss Piggy in the Muppet version of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. Me, well I just join in as it breaks the monotony and eases the numbing pain lol!
I cannot help thinking that I must have been a Pirate in an earlier life, as I keep dropping into a Robert Newton version of 'Long John Silver' from Treasure Island everytime 'Hawkinge' or 'Seasalter' appears. As Blind Pugh once famously said, 'Merry Christmas Me Hearties' !!!!!!
Week 3
Phew! This week has seen the busiest of times for this band of Santa's Elves working themselves at a great pace to get the Christmas post to you on time, it is quite an eye-opener to learn that the casuals travel from far afield to work in Dover, with people coming from Canterbury, Folkestone, Deal, Manston and Broadstairs and beyond. As I said before they come from a variety of fields of work, both blue and white collar, there is no distinction, we wear our Elves badge with pride.
The Christmas surge of post eventually just wound down to a 'normal' trickle and it was all over. The two extra 'mothballed' GPO buildings, which are used for Christmas Casuals and 'overspill', will probably be bought by developers in the near future, with I guess the inevitable new appartments built on the site. So there you have it, an interesting three weeks to say the least, in the immortal words of 'Del Boy' the Christmas Post is 'Well Sorted'.
That's the end for Christmas Casual employment in Dover.
Barry Wadsworth-Smith experiences life as a casual worker with Royal Mail . Many Dovorians do the same in an effort to boost the coffers for Christmas...but, times are changing.Christmas Casuals by Barry W-S
Christmas Casual workers seem to have been largely ignored or even taken for granted by the general public, so I thought I'd better check it out first hand so to speak to see what its all about, as this would be the last time for the community in Dover. As you may know, the Royal Mail is closing down the sorting office in Charlton Green, as the lease has run out, and the premises has to be vacated by March 2008. Already the majority of mail sorting personnel have taken redundancy or transferred to other sorting areas. How the new sorting office in Slough will be able to cope with the extra work now that Dover is closing down, only time will tell. Wouldn't it have been easier to build a new sorting office in Whitfield, perfectly positioned with the Motorway and Port of Dover (like a Roll-on Roll-off), as Dover has the manpower who are willing to put in the hours. It is a terrible shame to see another major employer go west, when the people of Dover and beyond, are more than ready and willing to do the work.
Diary of Events.
Week One
We started the week with a 12 hour night shift on Saturday (6.00pm - 6.00am) to help us get to know the routine and systems with Sortcodes, Roads etc (Roads being National sorting offices), eventually changing to the normal 9.30pm - 5.30am nightshift on Monday. On the long nights there were many times when our spirits were lifted by the letters to Santa ie Father Christmas, North Pole. Or indeed Santa from Susan or John, or the more technical Santa Claus, Santa's Grotto, Lapland, Postcode Ho Ho Ho, and all this with Christmas Carols playing in the background.
The fields of employment where us little Elves come from is varied, a Lecturer, Plasterer, Student Teacher, Journalist, Security Guards, Stocktaker, Students, Bingo Caller and even an Ex-DCAL Miss Dover and many more, the list covers many areas and in quite a few cases this is a second job. So what do we do for sleep? Well during the day it is managed by rest during breaks ie 40 winks here and 20 there, but not while working for the Royal Mail of course. The friendships that have been made in such a short period of time will in some cases last a lot longer, and all this to the lingering strains of Bing Crosby's 'I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas' (after 3 weeks I think I will be able to record my own Christmas Album as I know the lyrics to at least 50 Christmas Songs and that's not including the latest versions). Merry Christmas to one and all.
Week 2
It's as though the nation as a whole have just realised that Christmas is only 12 days away, the increase in Xmas post is very apparent, at one time I was sorting mail from the Channel Island of Guernsey for this region and I didn't realise how many Christmas Cards could come from one place (nice stamps, though). Everyone seems to have found that little bit extra to handle the increased influx of Christmas post, it must be the Mince Pies and Mulled Wine that we are being fed intravenously lol!
The continuous Christmas Carols piped through to our ears grate on the nerves of some of the younger elves, but one of them who shall remain nameless, does a great impression of Miss Piggy in the Muppet version of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. Me, well I just join in as it breaks the monotony and eases the numbing pain lol!
I cannot help thinking that I must have been a Pirate in an earlier life, as I keep dropping into a Robert Newton version of 'Long John Silver' from Treasure Island everytime 'Hawkinge' or 'Seasalter' appears. As Blind Pugh once famously said, 'Merry Christmas Me Hearties' !!!!!!
Week 3
Phew! This week has seen the busiest of times for this band of Santa's Elves working themselves at a great pace to get the Christmas post to you on time, it is quite an eye-opener to learn that the casuals travel from far afield to work in Dover, with people coming from Canterbury, Folkestone, Deal, Manston and Broadstairs and beyond. As I said before they come from a variety of fields of work, both blue and white collar, there is no distinction, we wear our Elves badge with pride.
The Christmas surge of post eventually just wound down to a 'normal' trickle and it was all over. The two extra 'mothballed' GPO buildings, which are used for Christmas Casuals and 'overspill', will probably be bought by developers in the near future, with I guess the inevitable new appartments built on the site. So there you have it, an interesting three weeks to say the least, in the immortal words of 'Del Boy' the Christmas Post is 'Well Sorted'.
That's the end for Christmas Casual employment in Dover.
- Roger, they all were sent on to Santa of course, all in good time for him to check his list once or twice.
- That is a very informative piece of information on the Royal Mail that I didn't know about and funny too, Well Done!
- never knew you did that baz, a mate of mine was doing the same thing.
you must have come across him, david emms, always has a lot to say for himself, he was a steward on p & o before retiring. - I know this is a fairly light page in light vein so I dont want to darken it too much...but isnt it a shame that so many of our jobs are going without much of a fuss anywhere. Very sad. Loads of these part time jobs make up essential income for many families, so I wonder if Barry W-S knows where all these 'casual' people (elves included) are planning to find new jobs for next year to replace the ones just lost. Did any of your fellow cohorts have a plan of action?
We keep hearing from the politicos about Dover's upturn but where will these people find jobs. - paul
my understanding is that an agency(manpower) arranged the casual staff.
they have nationwide branches.
- In fact if the letters to Santa have an address inside Santa sends them a reply.
- Just to answer your question Paul, from the conversations I had with the 'cohorts' in question, the student teacher was looking forward to taking up a full-time position in 2008, others security jobs in the Midlands, many with fingers crossed for work on the cruise ships as baggage handlers (that won't be until April!), one finished early to take up shift-work 'up north', some students were talking about studying for more 'degrees', the majority will slip back into the 'system' of signing on for benefits, they would rather work for a living, but the options are limited.
Howard - I don't think I met your friend, when you take into account there are 3 shifts & 3 sorting offices (two already closed & Charlton Green in March) that's alot of 'elves'.
I won't be able to talk to you now without thinking of you as one of Postie's (not Santa's) little elves.
What did you do with all the envelopes addressed to Santa ??
Happy New Year
Roger