Top of our game
With our busiest period of the year underway, we need to be at the top of our game. This means ensuring all equipment is used for its intended purpose – especially our yorks.
We rely on yorks to help transport mail and parcels. If they’re misused or under-utilised, it hampers our ability to get the job done.
One centre that is focused on keeping yorks moving through the system is Preston Central delivery office. In a recent effort to reduce the misuse of yorks, several hours were spent collecting abandoned ones from the office’s yard.
Postman, Mebs Dhiraj, said: ‘It was very messy and cluttered before. There were yorks and boxes everywhere.’
About 300 yorks were stacked and collected and are now back in use in the system.
‘It's much better now,’ added Mebs. ‘Colleagues see things are nice and tidy and don't want to mess it up. People know to stack the yorks properly, it has become a habit.’
Delivery office manager, Jim Blackburn, said: ‘We had a real issue. People were taking yorks out into the yard and not returning them to the loading bay and stacking them properly.
'They were left lying around, creating a cluttered mess. Now the yorks are in the network rather than gathering rust in the yard, and our work area is a much nicer place to work in.
'The mail centre has also been coming down regularly to collect the empty yorks. It has been a team effort. The key is to be consistent. If you keep doing it, everyone else keeps doing it. If a few people stop following the rules, people start to think "why bother?"'
Remember, it’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure yorks are used correctly:
- Never store broken or surplus equipment or rubbish in yorks
- All offices and centres must ensure empty yorks are ready to be moved
- If your delivery office repatriation service doesn’t arrive to collect empty yorks, or you have surplus trolleys on site, arrange collection with your local distribution site.
