For postal and courier staff

Early starts, a walk that decides your finish, and December

Postal work starts before most people are awake and finishes when the round is done. The start is fixed and knowable; the finish is decided by volume, which is why the same job takes six hours in July and ten in December.

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The schedules this actually has to cope with

Freeish is built around these, not around a nine-to-five with the occasional exception.

Early sorting starts

In before dawn to sort, which sets the whole shape of the day and the night before.

A round that decides the finish

Out until the walk is done. Volume, weather and a covered round all change it.

Peak season

From late November, longer days and additional ones, for weeks.

Covering another round

An unfamiliar walk takes longer, and it is usually assigned on the day.

What it sounds like at home

“A four o’clock start means my evening is over by eight.”
“I say I will be home by two and in December it is six.”
“Covering an unfamiliar round adds hours nobody accounted for.”
“Peak season changes everything and my family plan as though it has not.”
“Nobody can tell whether today is a short round or a long one.”

Where Freeish fits

Put in a realistic finish rather than the nominal one, so nobody plans around a time that was never going to happen.

Peak-season weeks go in as a block instead of being explained one at a time.

Early nights before an early start can be visible.

A covered round that will run long is one edit everyone sees.

One week, start to finish

Aled, delivery office

Aled puts the week in with realistic finishes rather than the rostered ones.
His partner stops holding lunch until two.
Peak season goes in as a block in November.
A covered round on Tuesday gets extended by an hour from the van.
The family plan Christmas around the days he is genuinely off.

Questions postal and courier staff ask

Should I put the scheduled finish or the real one?

The real one. The point is that the people at home can plan, and a finish time nobody believes defeats it.

How do I handle peak?

Import the extended weeks in one go rather than explaining them one at a time.

Does my employer see this?

No. There is no connection to any employer system.

Stop being the schedule. Start sharing it.

Now on iPhone — Android coming soon. Free to start. Import a photo of your next schedule and see who stops asking.