Reply to: Now London postal workers are going on strike

[minestrone]

Postal workers would never go on strike round my way, they would just be depriving themselves of theiving opportunities. Police were called when my neighbours kids birthday mail was found opened in a bin. My 4 tickets to the football went missing in and when I complained the guy said "to be honest mate, someone will have taken them".

[HairyArsedBloke]

Calm down Gonzo, it will be the last one.

Be prepared to go into smug git mode after that; I did.

My last contact with the T-men was back in early 2002 when they wrote to me to say I had nothing to pay dating way back to 1996. Since then: NOTHING

In fact, that thought has brightened my morning, I'll have another banana

[Gonzo]

This week I've had several items in the post that fit both of your requirements.

Replacement credit card.
Signed contracts.
Some enlargements of photos.
Security forms that required signatures on originals.
A DVD with loads of info from a client.

Admittedly I'm a long way from London

I'm about as far away from London as it is possible to get while remaining on the planet, but still the postal service managed to deliver a letter to me from HMRC reminding me that I have to stump up a hefty tax payment on account by the end of July.



Calm down Gonzo, it will be the last one.

[Amiga500]

You don't have to sign off on every post

LOL

Amiga500

[TykeMerc]

Did any of this get delivered by Royal Mail??
I suspect:
Credit card - private courier
signed contracts- could have been sent electronically
photos -pick em up when you are at the shops next
security form - pdf downloaded
DVD - download and burn yourself (more secure!).


The point that Im trying to make - how bad does the postal service need to get before people just don't use it any more??

Everything that is send by Royal Mail can be delivered by another mechanism- what future does the 'service' have??

PZZ

All delivered by Royal Mail.

I wasn't in when the card was delivered in a disguised envelope, I would have had to call the courier and arranged for a redelivery on another day when I would have to be in which isn't often....
Signed contracts to be countersigned and sent back. Wet signatures are far easier to legally enforce than electronic ones.
Photo's weren't taken by me but were sent by a relative 300 miles away taken on a non digital camera, I don't find nipping into a camera shop 300 miles away that handy.
Security form had some info already filled in, info is confidential and had initialled changes.
DVD encrypted and the info resides on servers NOT connected to the internet on another continent. It could have been sent by a courier, but why pay more than the postal services charge? The data is commercially sensitive, but not of value to other people and not time critical.

You might not see a use for the Royal Mail postal service, but I disagree that it's redundant.

[Bagpuss]

You don't have to sign off on every post

[pzz76077]

HMRC?

HMRC want everyone to use their web portal.

PZZ

[Bagpuss]

WHS

One of the easiest models I've ever built was a credit card despatch model. It's telling that the Royal Mail have one person per region whose job it is to liaise with the banks (etc) about mail being stolen.

So the despatch model depends on location? You learn something new every day!

Live in a dodgy post (meaning sorting office) area yout get exrtra securtiy?

[pzz76077]

This week I've had several items in the post that fit both of your requirements.

Replacement credit card.
Signed contracts.
Some enlargements of photos.
Security forms that required signatures on originals.
A DVD with loads of info from a client.

Admittedly I'm a long way from London

Did any of this get delivered by Royal Mail??
I suspect:
Credit card - private courier
signed contracts- could have been sent electronically
photos -pick em up when you are at the shops next
security form - pdf downloaded
DVD - download and burn yourself (more secure!).


The point that Im trying to make - how bad does the postal service need to get before people just don't use it any more??

Everything that is send by Royal Mail can be delivered by another mechanism- what future does the 'service' have??

PZZ

[Le Rosbif]

Not sure we'll notice the difference!

[Amiga500]

Is there any point in a postal service these days, everything useful can be send/processed over the internet.

When was the last time you received a letter in the post that was:-

A. Useful
and
B. Could not have been transmitted electronically??


There are items like ebay purchases etc, but these are generally delivered by couriers who provide a better service at lower cost than the Royal Mail.

I have to agree with the other posts, the mail service is so bad in London going on strike will not degrade the service any further.


PZZ

HMRC?

[Menelaus]

My replacement credit card arrived in a hand written plain A5 envelope containing the real business envelope and a piece of A5 card either side to disguise the contents, they've obviously thought about the problem.

Yep. The model determines the nature of the delivery method (e.g., the method you got yours is "disguised", there are others:

- courier
- to branch
- normal

[TykeMerc]

WHS

One of the easiest models I've ever built was a credit card despatch model. It's telling that the Royal Mail have one person per region whose job it is to liaise with the banks (etc) about mail being stolen.

My replacement credit card arrived in a hand written plain A5 envelope containing the real business envelope and a piece of A5 card either side to disguise the contents, they've obviously thought about the problem.

[Menelaus]

Well, according to panorama a couple of years ago the London postal service is very corrupt. Credit cards stolen from the post, mail dumped and other nefarious activity much higher than national average

WHS

One of the easiest models I've ever built was a credit card despatch model. It's telling that the Royal Mail have one person per region whose job it is to liaise with the banks (etc) about mail being stolen.

[Menelaus]

The only upgrade from Swindon is heaven itself.

Does that account for the suicide rate then?