Wednesday, April 06, 2016

Staggering to...

...the Post Office with parcels of books, prizes gained by children who have entered the 2016 Children's Handwriting and Artwork Project, which involves them writing out the Lord's Prayer. Hot work going back and forth, but there's something very satisfying about posting books to children....

Over the past couple of years we've all become used to the new machines at Post Offices. These are steadily replacing the humans who used to do things: and how horrid it is.  Today the one young man who was around to assist was hard-working, enthusiastic and extremely helpful: he obviously enjoyed knowing what to do and how to do it, and was quietly efficient and authoritative - and  very kind to this irritating muddled lady who put the wrong stamps on her parcels and needed to be calmed down and helped. WE ALL APPRECIATE SUCH ASSISTANCE: it's what we humans are all about. And the Post office is a great British institution: it was a British invention, with the Penny Post and the glories of an efficient postal communication system which spread across the British Empire.

Post Offices can make money by selling items that we need,..the service they provide is central to people's lives and is going to stay that way.  Trying to save money by using robots instead of humans isn't a real saving,and lacks a sense of enterprise and forward thinking.

1 comment:

Tony Flavin said...

I genuinely miss the Post Office. I used to collect my mum's pension and pay the rent on Tuesdays. You'd meet and chat to the same people. And the staff knew you.