LTB 393/20 – Royal Mail and CWU National Joint Statement – Consumer Collections Pilot and National Deployment

No. 393/20

24th July 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Royal Mail and CWU National Joint Statement – Consumer Collections Pilot and National Deployment

Further to LTB 331/20 which was focused on introducing the training plan for the introduction of Consumer Collections, the Department have now concluded a National Joint Statement for the initial pilot and rollout of the service and product.

As Branches will no doubt be aware there is undoubtedly a demand from online retailers and marketplace sellers to have a doorstep collection service for returns and outbound parcels. This growth in the market is being targeted by Royal Mails competitors, and therefore in order that Royal Mail can compete in the parcels market there is a need to provide a doorstep collection service for customers.

Customers will be able to book a collection on the Tracked Returns Portal; via retailer’s websites; on the Click & Drop shipping system; or on Royal Mail’s app. These items will be collected by the delivery staff who are in the vicinity or attending sites for deliveries.

The Joint Statement issued in June 2020 – LTB 331/20 set out the training plan, as below:

• Work Place Coach (WPC) training sessions to commence on 6th July and finish by the 7th August 2020.

• WPCs to cascade training to frontline OPG’s from 13th July and conclude by 9th October 2020.

Part of the agreed training plan was on the basis that Customers will be able to book a collection on the Tracked Returns Portal; via retailer’s websites; on the Click & Drop shipping system; or on Royal Mail’s app. These items will be collected by OPG’s who are in the vicinity or attending sites for deliveries. The service will be limited to no more than 5 addresses per day/delivery route Monday – Saturday, and items restricted to a maximum of 20kg and size.

Pilot and National Deployment Plan

We have now Jointly agreed with Royal Mail the deployment approach and timescales which are outlined below: –

CWU and Royal Mail via the Local Joint Working Group jointly conduct a pilot in West of England Area over a 4-week period;

• Pilot in the Bristol Operations Manager area – 21st September to 2nd October;

• Expand pilot to the remaining units in the West of England Service Delivery Leader area – 5th October to 16th October.

• Targeted National Launch – 19th October

The Joint Statement reaffirms that Health & Safety is of paramount importance and that the necessary SSOW will be put in place and that all issues arising in this respect will be proper to the relevant RM safety experts and the CWU National Health & Safety Department.

In addition, Branches will note that the Joint Statement also confirms that Royal Mail and the CWU will jointly review progress against the set criteria during the pilot phase including a study involving Industrial Engineers in order to determine and establish the correct time identified for the tasks involved. All data/information generated from the deployment will be shared with the CWU at a National level to assist with further discussions regarding future revision activity and Resourcing to Workload, along with the accuracy of traffic forecasting.

We will also Jointly review the pilot in order to resolve any issues highlighted arising from it and in order to jointly confirm the roll out timescales for National deployment which is targeted to commence on the 19th October.

Any queries to the content of the above please contact the Outdoor Department reference 532, email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch

CWU Assistant Secretary

LTB 393-20 RM and CWU JS – Consumer Collections Pilot and National Deployment 24.07.20

JS – Consumer Collections – Pilot and National Deployment 24.07.20