The PDO does not take all the mail on the bike. It will not fit on the bike. To avoid the dead time riding back to the depot, the mail is delivered by van to several "depot bins" on the round. The PDO will refill his bags at the depot bins along is round.

There are more than 7,500 rounds across Australia. Only "machine sequenced rounds" are used for SBD. It is estimated that up to one third of rounds fit this category and may be used for SBD.

COMPARISON OF SBD WITH TRADITIONAL DELIVERY METHODS

CURRENT METHOD IN SEQUENCED SITES In a typical day, the PDO would arrive at work at say 6am. The PDO would collect all the mail for his round - about 2000 letters per average day. There will be up to four categories. The first is trays of mail that has been sequenced by a machine The second is trays of mail that for various reasons cannot be machine sorted - large letters and small letters that the machine cannot read. It is often called "residue" mail. (maybe 20% of the mail) The third is unaddressed mail (junk mail) The fourth is small parcels (not sequenced) SEQUENCING The PDO will first need to sequence the second (residue) bundle. The PDO will use a Vsort Frame containing some 600 slots. Each slot will hold two of the delivery points (allowing 1200 delivery points or more if necessary) Sequencing is done by looking at the address and placing in the appropriate slot in the Frame. This might take 30 minutes to complete (say 400 residue letters). Post expects this to be done at a rate of: 18 letters per minute for small letters 13 letters per minute for large letters The PDO will then check this mail for redirections The PDO will now have two sequenced groups of mail. MERGING The first and second bundles are now combined. There are two ways of doing this: by using a merge table or by using the VSort frame (as above) Using the Merge table To produce a single sequenced bundle, the PDO will now merge the first and second bundles. This is done on a special table called a merge table. The mail is interleaved on the table. The PDO will now have one sequenced bundle. This might take another hour to complete. Using Vsort Frame The PDO adds the machine sequenced mail to the VSort frame (already holding the hand sequenced (residue) mail. The PDO will now have one sequenced bundle. Post is trialing this at 29 - 30 letters a minute, so this may take another 50 - 60 minutes. Common Tasks when merging During this process any "signature item mail" (eg certified mail) will be identified. It is recorded in a book, and may be scanned for security purposes. And "special mail" can be identified and cards placed in sequence with the mail to remind the PDO of small parcels to be delivered. (Small Parcels are placed in the Pannier Bags. DELIVERY The mail is now ready for delivery. The Pannier Bags on the cycle are packed with the sequenced mail and the UMS or junk mail. Often the UMS Is also sequenced. These are replenished from Depot Bins along the round. The bundle of merged sequenced mail is placed in the Front Letter Carrier (a bag on the handle bar). The PDO rides to the commencement of the round. The PDO will look at the address of the top letter. If there is mail for that address at the first letter box, the PDO will place any sequenced mail in the letter box. The PDO will add UMS or junk mail (if any). The PDO then moves to the next mail box for which he has letters and repeats the operation The mail is in strict order and a glance at the top letter will inform the PDO if there is a need to stop at the next letter box. This is termed "reading and riding". It is not safe to do this, but human nature kicks in and the mail is delivered more quickly. This is a bonus for Australia Post at the cost of safety. Only administrative procedures are adopted by Post and as expected, the direction not to read and ride is mostly ignored. OHS experts are adamant that administrative procedures should not be used if they can be avoided.

SBD METHOD IN SEQUENCED SITES In a typical day, the PDO would arrive at work at say 6am. The PDO would collect all the mail for his round - about 2000 letters per average day. There will be up to four categories. The first is trays of mail that has been sequenced by a machine The second is trays of mail that for various reasons cannot be machine sorted - large letters and small letters that the machine cannot read. It is often called "residue" mail. (maybe 20% of the mail) The third is unaddressed mail (junk mail) The fourth is small parcels (not sequenced) SEQUENCING The PDO will first need to sequence the second (residue) bundle. The PDO will use a Vsort Frame containing some 600 slots. Each slot will hold two of the delivery points (allowing 1200 delivery points or more if necessary) Sequencing is done by looking at the address and placing it in the appropriate slot in the Frame. This might take 30 minutes to complete (say 400 residue letters). Post expects this to be done at a rate of: 18 letters per minute for small letters 13 letters per minute for large letters The PDO will then check this mail for redirections The PDO will now have two sequenced groups of mail. MERGING No merging is done inside. The merging is done at each letterbox. The indoor merging time of about one hour is now transferred to outdoor time. The PDO is expected to band the sequenced mail into 70 mm bundles. Post allow 84 seconds to band a tray of mail or 7 bundles. They expect this to only take a few minutes to band the whole sequenced mail. The PDO needs to estimate when to break this sequenced mail so as to get the bundles in the right depots bins. DELIVERY The mail is now ready for delivery but it is not merged. The Pannier Bags on the cycle are packed with the two different sequenced mail bundles and the junk mail. These are replenished from Depot Bins along the round. A small bundle of sequenced mail (machine sequenced) is placed in the Front Letter Carrier (a bag on the handle bar) A second bundle of hand sequenced mail which includes the large letters is also placed in the Front Letter Carrier (a bag on the handle bar) in the bottom part of the bag. To achieve this, a special bag has been concocted so that the PDO can read both bundles. The arrangement only works if the second bundle has the large letter addresses upside down. The PDO rides to the commencement of the round. The PDO will look at the address of the top letter. If there is mail for that address at the first letter box, the PDO will place any sequenced mail in the letter box. The PDO will then read the address of the up-side-down mail to determine if there is any mail from that bundle for the address. This mail is more difficult to access. It will also be placed in the letter box. The PDO will add UMS or junk mail (if any). The PDO then moves to the next mail box for which he has letters and repeats the operation. The mail is supposed to be in order but the machine-sorted mail contains about 10% mis-sorts which causes confusion. A glance at the top letter will inform the PDO if there is a need to stop at the next letter box. But with two bundles, the PDO must also read the up-side-down mail in the second bundle as well. This is termed "reading and riding". It is not safe to do this, but human nature kicks in and the mail is delivered more quickly. This is a bonus for Australia Post at the cost of safety. Only administrative procedures are adopted by Post and as expected, the direction not to read and ride is mostly ignored. OHS experts are adamant that administrative procedures should not be used if they can be avoided. Australia Post claim that SBD will prevent reading & riding but many people have already been found to be delivering and Reading & Riding. The safety problem is exacerbated because the distraction is much greater: There are two bundles One bundle is upside down And new safety issues arise.