Postal Strikes

[Tallpaul]

Typical that a postal stike turns up when i'm getting twitchy waiting for half a dozen bits of bike to arrive :roll:

I heard a quote on the radio today from a striking postie saying 'we just want job security, to know that there'll still be a job for us in 2 or 10 years'.

I don't know if i'll have a job in 2 or 10 years, my mate came back from holiday to find the biotech he worked for had closed and he was 6 weeks wages out of pocket!

Maybe i'm sounding a little Thatcherite, is my lack of sympathy unfair? :?

 

[tintin40]

Both sides are in a time warp of 80's management/employee bad relationship. It takes two to have dispute. But going on strike does them no good just plays in to the hands of those private companies waiting to take their business. I'm no lover of the post office and it has a history of bad industrial relations. What's the answer F**K knows the government wont try and solve the issue. Who else can help? :?

 

[retrobikeguy]

Maybe i'm sounding a little Thatcherite, is my lack of sympathy unfair? :?

Nope

 

[jez-4-bikes-max]

OOps pressed the wrong button.

Oh god Im an admin aswell.

-1 from the first option.

I wish there were other options for mail - Im sick of the prices and restrictions going up all the time - for what!

Ive had some interesting dealings with postmen recently that I will indulge you lot in at some other time.

Not all are bad but the last 3 I met hanging outside the collection office made me mad.

Ok - feck it Ill tap this out quick:

1) I get a card through the mail saying I need to collect a parcel as it had a charge (customs)

2) fair enough I thought - Ill pop over on Saturday as it says on the card as it closes at 12.30. If I get all my chores done before 11 I will make it over when I go get groceries. The fact that they charge a 8quid handling charge and the item was only 2 quid customs duty is a separate issue but merely contributes to my hair falling out and blood pressure.

3) Get there at 12.03. Get out of car and spot the hoons fagging it outside the customer door.

4) Walk past hoons and try door. Locked.

5) I turn to them asn say - "Uh - 12.30 close time"

6) They point to door sign which has had "30" scribbled out in black pen and say to me "Sorry mate - we're closed"

7) The fact that their retort was pretty much sneered at me angered me a little - so I turned around walked back to the car and then thought - "feck it".

I turned around went back to them - waved the card at them stating that the office closes 12.30 Saturday. They reply - "er..yeah mate but we havent updated the closing time on the cards we give out yet"

9) The fact that they were outside the office (a metre away from my parcel no doubt) Having a fag. Were pretty rude. The fact that the guy talking to me knows Im a "regular" too - just really really infuriated me.

10) F*ckers

 

[tintin40]

I agree the staff are complete Wankers. Have a mate who was a postman. And the things he saw going on. Made my hair on the back of my stand up. Plus they couldn't find a parcel and the guy just laugh :twisted: :twisted: If i could have reached down the phone :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: So i told him that he was a C**T and put the phone down. I did get my parcel. Customers had it :evil: :evil:

 

[Tallpaul]

I agree the PO is far from perfect, but i actually think their prices are OK :?

Also, their counter service at my local PO is great.

What worries me about the PO going under or significantly reducing service, is that a fragmented postal service could be a nightmare. I least i only have one delivery service to find frustrating, i shudder to think what it would be like trying to retrieve packages from half a dozen differant couriers who don't have a depot down the road.

 

[tintin40]

The post counter service is separate from the delivery people. And the counter service near me is 1st rate. And when i look at the type of people in the post office cue. It scares me. smelly old people. unemployed scum (the type who are not looking for work)
But when i've gone to collect from the private lot. Its a nightmare they seem to be all in out of town trading estates. Not like the local post office/collection centre. But the hours of the collection centres are crap

 

[amt27]

hopefully this will spur the competition into action,

firstly, what we need is more ways of buying postages online and places to take the post to,
i am happy to buy postage using paypal or card, but they only restrict it to 1st class, not 2nd class when using paypal, annoying,
also the post boxes do not allow you to post larger items, slot too small, so you have to take it to the post office, totally wasting the time saving benefit of buying the postage online in the first place,

surely a competitor can stick up a few secure post boxes, with bigger slots to post larger items, around our street corners

secondly, we dont need post every day, bills, statements, junk mail etc are not urgent are they, how about delivery once or twice a week for non-urgent post, if you want it there in 24 hrs, pay for it,
a competitor already delivering parcels in the area can easily arrange a driver to deliver non-urgent post with a different area covered everyday of the week, cutting the work-force needed by the royal mail by 1/7th

don't offer a service as standard (eg 1st class) and then try and sell it with a fancy silver label (eg special delivery) with the sales patter "it will be guaranteed for tomorrow", with the customer thinking "umm well i could pay a 5th or less of that price and have a 50% chance of getting it there tomorrow",

i think the government are fed of the post office, they have seen the banks shrink their ques with the introduction of online banking, and all the government institutions are investing heavily in e-filing for taxes etc, which was all done by post,
im surprised the eco people havent jumped on this and started telling us to ditch letter and paper bills and all transfer to email and ebilling, to save paper,

 

[cchris2lou]

I think post office are very important for older people to get their pensions etc...

my local post office is ok , I d have to a lot further and wont be very practical.

but f***k the strike . :evil:
there are other ways .

 

[JustKev]

I think post office are very important for older people to get their pensions etc... .

thats the sad truth Chris. At some point a new generation (with bank current accounts) will be pensioners and there will be little need for the PO counters. Saying that my nan is 76 and uses telephone banking :shock:

But the PO days are numbered. This week I soild some wheels to Tallpaul. I didn't get around to boxing them until last night. I heard on the radio this morning about the strikes and thought "oh b*ll*x - I'll have to courier Pauls wheels". It cost me £1.49p more for DHL to collect them from my office than me going to the PO and sending them Standard PArcel. And no queueing with the pensioners, shopkeepers cashing up, rude cashier etc.

Parcel2Go now offer a £4.99 service for small parcels - takes 2-4 days. I'll be using it more in future. I value my time far higher!