In news:cttfh0$qs6$ snipped-for-privacy@newsreaderg1.core.theplanet.net, John Turner blithered:
On a point of order John, IHS it should've been a ? since it was a convoluted question in its own right.
"GbH" wrote
I read it as a statement rather than a question, but even so I suppose you're correct. :-)
John.
Royal Mail also discourages punctuation but prefers mixed case addresses. That is a mute point where I live as no one can get near enough to a post office counter to get served!
(kim)
"kim" wrote
It's an hour long (or thereabouts) queue at our local Post Office for any services on a Monday morning. Seems it's benefit day for all the locals (and others) who rely on the taxpayer to keep them in the manner to which they've become accustomed.
God help you if you want to post a parcel or buy a stamp.
John.
Hasn't the UK heard of Direct Deposit?
Yes, it's used for a large percentage of Family Allowance and Retirement Pensions. However, a large number of people (notably many of my parents' generation) either have no bank account or one at the Post Office- hence the queque on pensions days (here Monday and Thursday) as they all try to get their cash out. It's made worse at the moment, as they're going over to a card-based system instead of a Pension Book- the three ladies behind the counter have to keep helping out people who've forgotten their PINs. Brian
"BH Williams" wrote
There are not many of the drug-crazed zombies with bank accounts either.
John.
Who is the idiot who decided that elderly people, some of whom will have memory problems, need to remember a PIN ?!....
Probably someone who isn't an ageist berk.
Pete
":::Jerry::::" wrote
There are ways of doing this, but I agree it can be an issue for both the elderly and others.
Not so long ago and oldish chap, when asked to enter his PIN number in my shop terminal, announced:-
"Ah yes, I think it's 3-7-6-2" and proceeded to enter the number which worked fine. Rather negates the security angle though.
John.
Which is illegal by the way but I understand why they do it.
(kim)
There are no 'local' post offices where I live. The govt closed them all in Nov 2003. Everyone now has to use the main post office in town.
We used to be able to use the sorting office for that purpose but that was stopped in Nov 2004. I had to abandon Sunday listings on eBay because of queues on Mondays. Everyone else had a similar idea and now no one can get served on Tuesday either. A friend tried to pay a household bill last Saturday - the quietest day of the week - and had to queue out the door. I've now stopped using the post office altogether. If there was a viable alternative I would use that instead.
(kim)
Correction, the 'Post Office' closed them, although HMG allowed them to do so (to try and make the PO 'competitive' for eventually privatisation).
":::Jerry::::" wrote
I thought that was the Tories' policy?
John.
"MartinS" <
And we are, I think, the only country that charges sales tax on stamps. Not surprising as we are among the most heavily taxed countries, at least in the so called "Western World".
-- Cheers Roger T.
Home of the Great Eastern Railway
The message from "John Turner" contains these words:
It probably was, but everything they suggest is adopted by nulab as the best thing possible.
'New Labour' is not opposed to privatisation, it's just that they don't call it privatisation...
But there's no GST on out-of-Canada postage over $5!!
What, everyone over 60 regardless of income? So retired millionaires would qualify for free banking whereas someone under 60 with no visible means of support would not?
(kim)
As far as I can tell none of the 'cost savings' have come from the closure of local sub post offices which were all privately owned. To quote:-" This has been attributable to some straightforward cost-saving tactics. Through voluntary redundancies, outsourcing and natural wastage, the workforce has been slashed by 35,000 to 195,000. The scrapping of the second daily postal delivery and a move to a more efficient transport system have, with the staff cuts, produced savings of £1.2bn over three years. "
A Google search for comments by former employees about Royal Mail's Adam Crozier makes worrying reading.
(kim)
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