Peak period

‘Tis the season to be jolly. But for colleagues across the UK, ‘tis also the season also to be busy…really busy.

Many non-operational managers look forward to the chance to pitch in over the festive season by working in the operation.

Most non-ops volunteers help out in a customer service point or on delivery and collections.

Adam Wheeler, delivery office manager at Ramsgate in Thanet, welcomed Zoe Walker, a communications editor based at Victoria Embankment, onto his customer service point for a few days this Christmas.

Working alongside colleagues Kate Newcombe, Maggie Wheeler, Emily Drury, Cheryl Stace and Liam Ward, it was as busy as Zoe had imagined.

‘From the outset, the phone didn’t stop ringing,’ said Zoe. ‘As soon as one batch of parcels is scanned and put away, another comes in. And another.

‘“Is it always this busy?” I ask customer service point colleague, Kate, around midday. Rookie error. “Busy?” she laughed. “This is nothing. You wait until later this afternoon. That’s when it really starts to get busy. We should have a cup of tea now while we can. We’ve earned it.”’

Many of our delivery offices and customer service points were built while Royal Mail was primarily a letters business and space is at a premium 

As our parcels business has grown, colleagues have become more and more creative about how and where to catalogue and store the large numbers of packages we now handle.

Kate runs her system in Ramsgate like a small-scale military operation. And at Christmas time, the whole team’s efforts double.

This year, there are labels to go and later acceptance times. Over Christmas, the customer service point in Ramsgate is open until 8pm on Wednesdays.

A good system keeps everything running smoothly. But to work in a Royal Mail customer service point, you really need to be part postie, part detective, say the Ramsgate team.

Scanning compliance is at the forefront of everything they do. If there’s a query on the whereabouts of a parcel, Maggie Wheeler is on the case, using the tracking number to hunt it down.

But sometimes old school methods are the speediest, and before the computer has even powered up, Kate can track a parcel’s likely whereabouts by her knowledge of a postie’s handwriting on a P739 card alone.

‘It’s like watching Sherlock Holmes at work,’ said Zoe. ‘She certainly gives the PDAs a run for their money.

‘PDAs are a great at what they do – but can they see when a collecting customer has a child with them? And tip them the nod if the parcel they have come to pick up is a kids’ Christmas present that hasn’t been packaged discreetly? No.

‘Overall a great experience with a fantastic team – and I’m proud to say I’ve now sorted parcels with professional boxer, Paul Brown, who works at Ramsgate (watch out for a story about Paul in January’s Courier), and know more about door to door than I did this time last month. A success all round.’

Ramsgate delivery office manager, Adam Wheeler, said: ‘Christmas is our busiest period and it’s where we need to provide excellent customer service.’