Manual Mail Sorter
Royal Mail
Rita S
00:00:05 My name is Rita S. I work for Royal Mail. I do sorting together with a machine. It’s all about putting it into the direct holes. It goes into the direct… as far as you can read the postcode, you put it straight into the hole and that’s it. At the end of it, you despatch it out. My job is… its not, it’s not hard work. It’s very relaxing. It’s not the work that stresses someone out. It doesn’t stress me out. You meet people; you work with people, different people, so I enjoy working at Royal Mail, yes.
00:00:42 I joined Royal Mail in nineteen ninety-nine, December period, as a casual. So I started working with them for three months contract. They renewed the contract and then I became full-time staff as a post woman. I was going out for delivery and then come in to sort letter. I’ve worked there for almost eight years.
00:01:15 I went to Lagos Polytechnic in Nigeria before coming down here. I wanted to become a secretary because that is my field. My parents were not here. I came with my uncle and from then I decided to stay. Coming down to England is one of my… one of the things I can say changed my life, yes, because I see myself that if I am still back home maybe I wouldn’t have been up to what I am now.
00:01:48 I did some little courses. Like, I want to become a nurse, but I don’t suit it because I don’t like seeing blood and things like that, so then I moved from that field. Because of my secretarial course, it’s something to do with papers, mails, and the Royal Mail is something like that, so I then decided to join into Royal Mail.
00:02:15 Now, because I’ve worked so far with Royal Mail for ten years now, I’m planning if I can go and all these skills that I’ve learned from Royal Mail to implement it down in Nigeria, to go and create something like Royal Mail. By god’s grace, if I have, I want to, because in Nigeria where I come from we don’t have something like this.
00:02:44 I’ve got four children. I’ve got four boys. Because I didn’t reach to the level I want to, so I want my children to become good person in life. I spoke to my big boy that I will like him to become an engineer. My son told me that it’s not what I want that matters, it’s what he wants. So he’s interested in football, which I’m trying to… I’m backing him up because of that. I know if I’m still in Nigeria then my dad will have encouraged me more to go to uni from there. But because I travelled down here… because of that, I’m trying to let my boys go higher than me.
00:03:28 End
Rita S is a Manual Mail Sorter for Royal Mail. She went to college in Nigeria and then came to the UK to work. She would love to use the skills she’s learned during her ten years at Royal Mail to help set up an equivalent service in Nigeria.
More information about Postal workers, mail sorters, messengers and couriers
The UK average salary is £29,813
There are 37.5 hours in the average working week
The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male
Future employment
- Collects mail from post boxes, receives parcels, and collects correspondence, documents and other material from individuals, offices or other establishments;
- Sorts mail, parcels and other incoming and outgoing material for delivery, and maintains records of material received and despatched;
- Delivers mail, parcels, correspondence and other materials to specified or agreed routes and schedules;
- Completes delivery forms, collects charges, and issues receipts for the collection and delivery of registered or recorded mail and other items.
