Andy Hall wrote:
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.


So you need MORE post offices, not less, to shorten the queues.

I probably post a package or parcel every week or so.


- 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


Online.

- 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

Never done that.

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


OK, but most of those come by courier and go back the same way.


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.


That's big post offices. Our little village one is great. It acts as a
bank to withdraw cash, a place to post stuff and to buy stamps.

Its a sideline on a village store and petrol station, not hugely
profitable, but worth its weight in gold, since the nearest alternatives
are about 5 miles further away.

The odd thing is, I use the post office far more than you do, but for
far less things.

It's where I go to post things that don't fit through letter boxes, and
its where I get cash from.