14 Years 'on The Post'

A Memory of Great Malvern.

On the right hand side of this photo is the Post Office, & on the extreme right is the Delivery Office ‘deck’. This is where the lorries of mail were unloaded. These would arrive through the night, & the mail unloaded & sorted by the night shift.
I worked in the DO for 14 years, seeing many changes - not for the better - during my time. When I started, you would go in at 5am, & on a light day you could be out at 6.45, after general sorting & prepping your individual ‘walk’.
When I finished, there was no night shift, & you would be lucky to get out at 10am.
I worked the same round for 12 of those years. It took in everything from Social Housing flats to an area nicknamed ‘Millionaires Row’. Initially, I would be dropped off at the start by a van driver with a bag of mail, who would then leave the other 5 or so bags at ‘safe drops’, where I’d pick them up as I went. After a while, I suggested it be turned into a cycling round, & this was far more efficient. This lasted till RM, in their wisdom, decided bikes were unsafe, & removed them at one days notice. Ironically, I never had a cycle accident - but broke ribs & had my head cut to the skull when walking.
The next great step was E-HCT’s. These were Electric High Capacity Trolleys. Unfortunately, the design chosen was one used by baggage handlers at airports in hangers. In flat, dry conditions they were fine. In hilly areas - like Malvern - the battery would go flat before the end of the round. They would also short circuit in the rain, either stopping dead, or even worse, start driving themselves. After a few months these were quietly dropped. At close on £8,000 each, an expensive mistake - we had 6 of them! After that, they went to manual trolleys.