On 2008-06-20 03:19:32 +0100, Jules
said:

Seriously though, Andy seemed to be implying that going to the post office
was a waste of time (when compared to doing "post officey things" online)
- I only see it that way if I'm going to the post office to do a single
chore.

There are only four things that I have done at the post office in the
last year:

- Send a package of information by Special Delivery to my accountant.
This happens every couple of months. Considering the time taken
waiting to be served, it would be cheaper to send it with a courier who
will collect.

- Renewed vehicle excise duty for the car. That took 45 minutes of
waiting in line while people who didn't have the right or complete set
of information argued with the counter staff or chatted about the
weather. Last time, it was renewed on line - a time saving of an hour
overall. I won't be using the Post Office for that again

- Collection of an imported parcel and payment of VAT. That involved
a wait in the rain of 30 mins and surly service. Royal Mail is still
out of touch with customer service. I now mandate that professional
private courier services are used and don't place business with anybody
using Royal Mail

- Return of goods purchased on line. I now favour suppliers who a
have a return arrangement where the goods are collected.



If I combine it with several jobs, and get to catch up with a few
people that I know in the process, then it's not a waste of time at all,
and much more rewarding than sitting in front of a screen to do things.


Post Offices suffer from the same disease as building society branches
- behaving and being seen as some kind of social service.
Attempting to make business transactions in these places is appallingly
slow because people don't come with the right information, waste time
nattering with counter staff and so on.

If post offices want to offer a social service and meeting place, then
fine, let them lay on coffee and biscuits at a table in the corner so
that people can discuss their operations and knitting patterns there
and not at the counter.

In an urban setting it is relatively unlikely that people going into a
post office will meet someone that they know unless it's at a
pre-arranged time. In a rural setting that's less true, but in either
case there are plenty of places to meet socially for a chat with
willing participants rather than getting in the way of people who
simply want to make what should be quick and efficient simple business
transactions.

Clearly the Post Office has lost all touch with reality since it
launched its "People's Post Office" marketing. What kind of sh*t is
that? It demonstrates that they have lost the plot completely.