Postal Strike

[smurfchops]

Is it over??

[bobbinwales]

Wait a minute, wait a minute, gulliver, you got them lines the wrong way round, but for once you made me smile not grimace in despair

[gulliver1]

22,06............... "Grimace in despair" ....eh!

[bobbinwales]

Yes, 'cause I worry people might think all those what wanted to Remain and all true labour supporters might share your views

[New Judge]

//I want to send a birthday card from Land's End to John o' Groats. Royal Mail will charge me 68p. Please tell me which carriers can compete with that, and how much they charge.//

You can send one over the internet for nothing. You can send it when you like, you don’t have to go out in the rain to post it, you are sure it will get there in time, the recipient can acknowledge it and thank you by return – also for nothing.

//Appointments,hospital letters, traffic fines etc. are another kettle of fish. These depend on a reliable service.//

There Is no way the NHS should be using snail mail to notify patients of appointments and results. They have a phone number for almost all their patients and e-mail addresses for many of them. Apart from its unreliability it is too expensive to send letters and the NHS (we are told) is skint.

The Interpretation Act provides a “presumption of service” for legal documents in criminal and some civil proceedings. The sender merely has to prove posting and the recipient has to rebut the presumption of delivery if he wants to claim he did not receive it. Some procedures involving Road Traffic Offences have already been adapted to accommodate electronic communication. It would not be beyond the wit of man to modify many of the procedures so that entire processes can be carried out electronically.

The CWU is living in the seventies when people had no choice but to use the mail service. Now they do and many of them already have or will alter their arrangements. Times they are a-changing and if the CWU does not realise this their members soon will.

//My postlady says she's exhausted from having to deliver the backlog.//

Did you perchance mention to her, tilly, that had she and her colleagues not gone on strike, there would not be a backlog.

[Khandro]

jourdain2
//The family have already started discussing how to manage without Royal Mail. So far we have come up with meeting twice a year (probably in York, which is about midway), having a meal and a day out and swapping gifts and cards for the next 6 months/year.//

I admire your 'wartime spirit' but isn't that a bit over the top?

Have things really come to such a pass? and is that why I haven't received a single hard-copy of my Spectator since mid - November?

[Gromit]

// You can send one over the internet for nothing. //

Only if the recipient is on the internet.
Judging by the number of Christmas cards I received through the post, people still prefer a physical item than a pixel one.

[bobbinwales]

We'll see next year but I know several families whose decided to break the habit of posting cards that may take 2 weeks to arrive or may never turn up at all... nice WhatsApp messages and pics are fine for us.

[Gromit]

bobbinwales
Only works if your friends are on WhatsApp.
I have boycotted FaceBook, Twitter and Google products for years.
My sealed envelope with a stamp means I am less likely to be scraped, scammed, spammed or tracked by bigTech.

[bobbinwales]

//only works if your friends are on whatsapp//
Of course but they all are...
Your in a minority in boycotting all Google, twitter Facebook, WhatsApp etc.... but yes I agree there are some others who may have done the same so royalmail will still keep some customers like you.

[10ClarionSt]

The difference between car manufacturers, other companies and The Royal Mail is that theoretically, RM is part of The Crown. It's a Royal Service. That's why RM vans can park where they like and not get a ticket. However, I don't know how much attention is being given to the "Royal" aspect of it. It's a very competitive market and people in RM don't seem to realise that, as much they have my full support.