Bougie will gets things sorted – new machine named in honour of retiree
‘Honoured’ was how retired Guernsey Post employee John Bougourd felt when he learned that its new £1.8m. parcel sorting machine was to be named after him.
A couple of days before he retired on 26 September he was called into Guernsey Post CEO Boley Smillie’s office after the company had run a competition among the staff to find a name for the machine.
‘He said: “I’ve got some good news for you, we’re going to call the machine Bougie” – my nickname,’ he said.
‘That was an honour, to be honest.’
He said that automation has led to the biggest changes in his time at the company.
‘When I joined in 1976, at the age of 15, everything was manual, nothing was mechanised or automated or anything like that.’
When he started, operations were based in the Truchot, later moving to Guelles Road. ‘We used to have nearly 100 postal workers just sorting letters to get all that mail out.’
Over the years letters have declined in number while packets and parcels have increased which led to Guernsey Post deciding to invest in its new machine.
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Mr Bougourd’s first job was as a telegram boy, picking up the short messages from the telephone operators in Smith Street and delivering them.
A couple of years later he became a postman and his first job was one of the team delivering mail in Town – on foot.
After working as a postie for some 20 years he was promoted to an office-based role and gradually progressed until his last appointment of senior operations manager at Guernsey Post’s Le Vrangue headquarters.
Despite the ups and downs that go with any job, Mr Bougourd said he never once considered leaving the company.
‘The bosses and the people I work with have always been very, very good to me. I’ve progressed in different parts of the company over the years so it’s been like having different jobs.’
During his retirement he said he hoped to continue being active, walking his dogs, going to the gym, swimming and working in his garden.
But first he and his wife have a three-week holiday in South Africa to enjoy, getting back just before Christmas.
And then he is bracing himself for an unusual experience this year – not having to work over the festive period.
‘In 47 years, I have never had Christmas week off,’ he said.
