Dedicated to delivery
In 2022, we introduced Dedicated Parcel Routes (DPRs) to our operation.
Based out of around 340 delivery units across the UK, as part of the ‘Delivering for the Future’ project, DPRs are designed to strengthen the PM parcel structure.
And wth the introduction of DPRs came a new role – the Parcel Customer Operations Managers (PCOM).
Responsible for DPRs, PCOMs work with COMs to ensure speedy and accurate deliveries for our customers, and while COMs concentrate on core AM deliveries, PCOMs look after the PM traffic.
So what does being a PCOM involve?
‘Our job as PCOMs is to deliver anything that does not go onto the core routes and bigger parcels’ says Birmingham-based PCOM Wasim Ali.
‘We deliver Later Acceptance Times items (LATs). Customer habits are changing and people are ordering things online towards midnight nowadays.’
Wasim became a PCOM around two years ago. ‘I was a postie originally,’ he says. ‘When Covid came along we got the contract from the government for deliveries and collections of test kits, and I got a temporary promotion delivering and collecting those products. Then I became a COM under the Delivering for the Future changes.
‘When DPRs went live, no-one knew much about the PCOM role. My job was to bring in a PCOM service. I used my experience from Covid performance – and an excellent Tracked performance on Sundays – to build DPR routes for Birmingham.
‘On a normal day, I come in and I will assess if we have adequate resource for the work each day. Then, if I need to, I will call in resource from other offices, or people on a day off. I will allocate routes, assess the situation with vehicles, and use any vehicles when they come back from the core delivery around 2pm.
‘I think to be a PCOM or a DPR driver you need to be flexible. We don’t have much of a forecast, but we know that the end of the month and start of the month are busy with deliveries – just after people have got paid.
‘I think customers are pleased to now see Royal Mail on their doorsteps later in the day. They were surprised at first, but they do appreciate the reliability of the red uniform.’
