Guest wrote:DWPeter wrote:wizzywick wrote:DWPeter wrote:Guest wrote:
What do you think about folk who work behind a Post Office counter, yet look down their noses in judgement at the benefit claimants whom they are serving? What about the folk who do that, then go on one of the UK's largest forums to slag the shite out of these same claimants? Do you think these folk deserve respect? If they do, where do they sit on your league table of respect?
You might want to have a wee think about it before you answer.
Do keep up. More than 99% of claimants' benefits are paid directly into their bank accounts. Giros don't exist any more so your argument is cack.
Indeed, and with the Government now urging all State Pension claimants to have their pensions paid into the bank rather than the Post Office Card Account, you rarely see anyone these days for payouts. Especially as the Post Office Cash Machine accepts the PO Card Account Card so most don't bother queue for their money.
The Post Office is probably on life support. Used primarily by consumers as a means to send back their online shopping returns free of charge. There is no money in that at all. That's why stamps are the price they are. People can't demand free returns and cheap postage stamps. The money to fund these free returns has to come from somewhere. Royal Mail make the bulk of the money on the free returns, not the Post Office.
You are another one talking drivel. The Post Office and the Royal Mail are separate entities. The former sell stamps on behalf of the latter and take a cut of the revenue because that's how capitalism works.
The cost of stamps is relatively high partly due to the Universal Postal Service, sometimes known as the Universal Service Obligation, which means that whether you live in Ipswich, Inverness or Enniskillen the price for sending a letter is the same. Courier companies charge extra if you have the audacity to live in a remote area.
https://www.royalmailgroup.com/about-us ... obligationFree online shopping returns have nothing directly to do with the Post Office or RM and are covered by the Consumer Contract Regulations. Yes RM may benefit financially from them but websites are just as likely to avail themselves of the likes of Hermes or Yodel with local pick-ups from corner shops and the like.
The Post Office provides lots of services other than stamps and parcel returns - foreign currency exchange and utility bill payments are two examples - and most of them won't be shutting down any time soon.
And here's me thinking you might be intelligent
I'd hate to lose our local post office which has now been downgraded to a counter within a shop. You say it is on life support but what kind of time frame do you mean? 5 years? More than ten years? I remember discussing this topic with you on DS and wondering who'd handle my raunchy Jackie Collins novels!
More and more things are being done online, from ebay labelling to foreign currency. You can even arrange for Parcelforce to collect from your home address. Utility bills are being diminished as Paypoint get more contracts. The Post Office will still be there, but it won't be in its current format in a decade that's for sure. Even road tax is done online these days. Yeah, you get the odd one come to you, but compared to five years ago, it is very quiet.
It's all very well folk posting corporate links explaining the set up of things, but internal politics are very very different. Reduced collection times, more restricted items than ever before, things are changing drastically, and quite quickly.
