Trouble among longtime postal workers: New logistics app is driving package deliverers crazy

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Markus Z.* has been working at the post office for 35 years and has been a parcel deliveryman for more than ten years. “I love my job. But I can’t stand what we’ve been through in the last few weeks and months.”

The reason for his anger is the “dynamic running route planning” called Dyla. After a pilot phase in 2022, the new system was introduced throughout Switzerland this year. Dyla’s goal is to optimize package delivery. However, many long-term employees perceive the change as a significant disruption to their day-to-day working lives, especially during the stressful period leading up to Christmas.

Unpredictable and dangerous

“With the new application, packages are no longer sorted and delivered according to the streets, but instead are made according to the so-called ‘stock’ system,” says Z. This is unpredictable, unecological and even potentially dangerous.

It’s unpredictable because the delivery order is no longer clear to drivers, there’s more sorting involved in the van, and the app doesn’t always work.

It is not ecological because the system sometimes does not require all packages to be unloaded at each street or village, but instead sends drivers back to the same street or village several times.

Potentially dangerous because the system does not take the street side into account: “After Schulstrasse 2 and 4 comes 5 – and we have to run across the street to deliver a package.”

The app’s maps also cause red heads: “One-way streets are often unrecognizable, and packages often need to be delivered somewhere where the mailbox is on the other side of the building,” says package courier Z.

endless stress

Additionally, the fight against time has become even more intense since the launch of Dyla: “With the new system, we need to be able to tell customers exactly when their package will arrive within 15 minutes. But because the app’s predictions were always too optimistic, we’re now looking at an ever-growing ‘delay’ throughout the day.” A stressor.

Those in charge at the post office are aware of staff dissatisfaction: “We recognize that traveling ‘on schedule’ is a big change, particularly for long-term postal workers,” says a spokesman. It requires a lot of adaptation, and everyone involved is grateful for it.

The company also emphasizes that route planning has now become so complex that technological support is needed to sort packages. “Thanks to dynamic planning, Swiss Post can react much more quickly and flexibly to fluctuations in volume or special delivery requirements.”

Overall, the group sees Dyla’s promotion as “on the right track”: “We are receiving predominantly positive feedback from reporters today,” the spokesperson said.
Things feel different when it comes to employee representatives. “We have repeatedly expressed our concerns about the new system,” says a spokesman for the Syndicom union. The postal service promised to fix the problems. However, the desired result has not been achieved so far.

Source :Blick