Help Wanted

[LadyArowana]

I think the post office could benefit from some of the wise and sturdy people that post here. I have just returned from the High Street and found that the letterboxes on our main post office have been secured shut. There was a large notice taped up saying they had been closed for "Health and Safety" reasons, something to do with the ergonomics of collection. Sounds like some feeble bodied jobsworth to me, I had the heretical thought that maybe people that didn't like picking up sacks of mail might be better off working elsewhere, surely just a co-incindence that the world cup is on.

Sorry for poor picture quality, only had my phone with me.

 

[Moo]

That just cries out to be shared with Private Eye!

 

[LadyArowana]

I sent a note to a journalist already :lol:

 

[Moo]

Excellent - especially in view of the current government review of Elf'nSafety.

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

That's hilarious! What next? Taxi drivers who say the road's too dangerous? Nurses who won't go near blood?

 

[Flyfisher]

I wonder how many decades that collection box has been there?

No wonder Royal Mail is in decline. Its business model is threatened enough without this sort of nonsense pushing up its costs. Such things play right into the hands of those wishing for the privatisation of Royal Mail.

 

[Moo]

Any chance of a picture of the whole box?

 

[Wren]

Oops sorry, I thought this was the Daily Mail forum.

At the risk of being unpopular I will say that our postmen do an absolutely marvellous job and they get far too much flack. All through the winter they made it through the snow and the ice to deliver our mail while a good proportion of the rest of the working population were "working from home". When I dropped my mobile phone out of my bag one morning our postman posted it back though the letter box with note. If someone wants to re-design a mail collection point so that they don't put their back out then that is absolutely fine by me.

 

[LadyArowana]

I wonder how many decades that collection box has been there?

No wonder Royal Mail is in decline. Its business model is threatened enough without this sort of nonsense pushing up its costs. Such things play right into the hands of those wishing for the privatisation of Royal Mail.

Contrary to what you might think it isn't the lovely old pillar box, it's the ones on the front of the building opposite! Not sure when this was taken, the boxes were in use then obviously, and it's probably been there at least 20 years. I just found it odd that it was suddenly so much of a problem that it had to be nailed up, it isn't even Christmas.

 

[Flyfisher]

At the risk of being unpopular I will say that our postmen do an absolutely marvellous job and they get far too much flack. All through the winter they made it through the snow and the ice to deliver our mail while a good proportion of the rest of the working population were "working from home".

No risk of being unpopular with me; I entirely agree that postmen do a good job. Ours is particularly helpful in ways that would probably result in a reprimand so I won't go into details, but we know him very well and he's a great ambassador for the service.

Don't mention the snow and ice though, else they'll be banned from delivering in such conditions because of the risk involved. As for many people "working from home" in bad weather conditions, that just illustrates the problem with the RM business model. I used to work from home quite regularly (regardless of the weather), and from stations, or on the train, and in airport lounges, and while abroad. I also had employees based at home, which saved a fair bit on office space. Modern communications has rendered telegrams, faxes and most letter mail rather unnecessary. In fact, based on our postal deliveries, I reckon it's the junk-mail industry that must be the biggest customer of Royal Mail these days.

I doubt it was a postman that sealed up those boxes after deciding they were suddenly unsafe after decades of use, but "Royal Mail" is different to the postmen themselves and it's not their fault the business model is in decline. I'm sorry to say that the union seems to be clinging to old practices that were fine, or at least affordable, in times gone by, but times change and businesses must adapt or die. Lions led by donkeys, perhaps?

Sad to say, there's trouble ahead for Royal Mail, one way or the other.

 

[Penners]

At the risk of being unpopular I will say that our postmen do an absolutely marvellous job and they get far too much flack. All through the winter they made it through the snow and the ice to deliver our mail

The US mail service creed:

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night will keep me from my appointed rounds.

Ignoring the unfortunate grammar, I agree that a fair proportion of our postmen seem to adopt a similar devotion to duty.

But I've also experienced a notable minority who are industrial relations dinosaurs, striking at the slightest perceived provocation and resisting all attempts to instil some kind of concept of business efficiency into their service.