Today I had a three hour Flex shift, entirely within Peterborough City. The first third thereof was in the snazzy modern blocks of flats, near HM Passport Office.
I’m in the lift in one of these, having unloaded my handy little collapsible trolley, in the top pic’. Foxy-eyed observers might note one final remaining package?
Initially I hated delivering to blocks of flats. Now that I have this trolley it’s a lot less onerous. But the Flex app’s routing leaves a lot to be desired! More often than not, one needs to re-order the drops into a more geographically rational sequence.
The latter part of the shift – mostly around Priestgate and Cowgate – was even more arduous, including several drops where I simply couldn’t access properties, with customers who didn’t reply to texts or calls. All leading to a record no. (for me) of returns – five packages – to the depot.
For some reason I find these urban delivery routes not just the least enjoyable, but downright unpleasant. They’re very stressful. And unlike country routes, I’m confronted with urban ugliness, and ‘human pollution’, in stark contrast with the abundance of stuff, on countryside routes, that lifts my spirits, and tempts me to take the occasional snap.
The trolley is so helpful. Partic’ on multiple deliveries. And even more so in ‘flocks of bats’, as I call ‘em. But I might benefit even more from one with some form of (detachable?) storage bag? If the boxes are big ‘n’ rectangular, all is well. But little and irregular packages tend to fall orff!