Royal Mail have managed to excel themselves this year.
Normally, we're sent the posters and leaflets for the last posting dates for Christmas at some point during September. Given that the dates for surface mail for some countries are the beginning of October, this is about right timing-wise. In fact, we pretty much rely on getting these leaflets as a good indication that it's the right time to start putting a few items of Christmas stuff out for sale. It's true to say that I've been taking it for granted that these leaflets will be here at the right time every year and therefore don't really bother to think about putting my Christmas stuff out until I get them.
D'oh!!!
I've started to notice (on the few occasions that I'm let out of here) that some places are starting to get the Christmas tat out already. I hate utterly shops that ram Christmas down your throat from September onwards so I've been delaying putting our stock out. One of my antipodean friends go me thinking though. She mentioned that even though the last date for down under is about three months prior, she always misses it.
"Hmm?" Thinks I, "It's less than three months until Christmas and I've seen hide nor hair of these posting dates. I'll have a look online."
One quick bit of web surfing later and I've found out that the last posting date for Australia was the first of October. Sadly, that was the date for 2008 and that was the most up to date information I could find from the Royal Mail website.
So, first things first, I got Christmas tat corner ready and out on display in the shop.
The next thing to do was try to find the dates. Fortunately, Royal Mail actually beat me to it and sent a memo round to us. However, this memo didn't bother to tell us the dates. It just told us that the leaflets would be delayed until the end of October and could we all stop phoning the helpline to ask about them. It did tell us where we could find the dates so I looked 'em up and here they are for your entertainment and information:
Everywhere in the world not otherwise mentioned:
1st October
Far East and Middle East
6th October
South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, USA, Canada
20th October
Eastern Europe, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Iceland
10th November
The rest of Europe
24th November
So, to sum up, we won't be telling our customers when the last surface mail posting dates are until nearly all of them have passed. When you consider that no-one ever sends stuff to anywhere in Europe surface mail as it's rarely cheaper and sometimes more expensive than airmail, that's a bit fucking useless really.
Much like Royal Mail really.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Oh For Fucks sake
I'm currently listening to some old bastard wittering on about the history of his typewriter and how long it's lasted and how much better and quicker than computers it is and blah blah blah blah blah. All because he's after some tipp-ex thinners cos the last lot he bought has run out and his tipp-ex has gunked up and he normally buys thinners and tipp-ex together and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Sorry, nodded off there he was so dull.
Fortunately, it was a colleague dealing with him but it was dull enough from here.
He should have just taken the response that the thinners are banned now and fucked off. We didn't need his life story and how it pertains to typewriters.
Sorry, nodded off there he was so dull.
Fortunately, it was a colleague dealing with him but it was dull enough from here.
He should have just taken the response that the thinners are banned now and fucked off. We didn't need his life story and how it pertains to typewriters.
I Wish The Government Would Grow Some Balls
Without an intervention from the government, the Post Office is ultimately destined to die a slow and expensive death.
Granted, we get a subsidy from them to keep open non-profitable branches in rural and deprived areas but this subsidy won't last forever and is kind of missing the point.
It would take a bit of political balls to implement as they would be a cost involved and no immediate and tangible pay off but the way forward is a Postbank.
There are a good few reasons why this would be a winner.
Firstly, it would help combat financial exclusion. A lot of the proles out there can't get bank accounts from the major high street banks. One of the main reason is that the banks don't like to publicise the basic accounts they do (ie. the accounts which only allow withdrawals if you're in credit, don't allow cheques, standing orders etc) as they're a loss maker. Granted Post Office Ltd would need to subsidise these accounts but it would help some of the poorest people actually get a foot on the financial rung. It would help save them money as they'd be able to get money out from the post office without being charged per withdrawal (the most deprived areas of Britain have the largest amount of fee-incurring cash machines) and it would help them get a credit rating and allow wages and benefits to be paid in directly. Granted very few of these shit-munchers would actually have jobs so it would be mostly benefits being paid in but, heh, you never know, one or two of them might get jobs.
Secondly, it would help restore confidence in the banking sector again. Currently, people don't trust the major banks as they've all been shown to be greedy, risk-taking, lying, money grabbing bastards. They've been bailed out with billions of tax payer money that we're all going to have to pay back some way or another. Thanks to them, we're going to have reduced public services and higher taxes for years to come. Despite this, the banks are rapidly returning to their high risk, huge bonus and non-lending culture. Given that we own a lot of the banks, you'd have thought that someone in power would have had a quiet word with them and told the bastards to sort it out. Fat fucking chance. I'm not saying that a Postbank would be a hell of a lot better but it's worth a stab.
Thirdly, it would help secure the Post Office network. If we had a bit more business then there'd be fewer non-profitable branches and we'd need less of a subsidy and everything would be hunky-dory. As it is, they'll be a gradual decline in the size of the network and by the time someone thinks to do something about it, it'll be too late to reverse the trend. Sadly, government and Post Office management seem to be happy managing a slow decline rather than giving the business a kick up the arse and getting it going again. Some of the things that management are doing are a step in the right direction but it's all a bit too half-arsed to turn things round properly.
Finally, (and this is the most important reason) it would make me more money.
So if you want to help make me richer, go to the number 10 petition site and sign up.
Granted, we get a subsidy from them to keep open non-profitable branches in rural and deprived areas but this subsidy won't last forever and is kind of missing the point.
It would take a bit of political balls to implement as they would be a cost involved and no immediate and tangible pay off but the way forward is a Postbank.
There are a good few reasons why this would be a winner.
Firstly, it would help combat financial exclusion. A lot of the proles out there can't get bank accounts from the major high street banks. One of the main reason is that the banks don't like to publicise the basic accounts they do (ie. the accounts which only allow withdrawals if you're in credit, don't allow cheques, standing orders etc) as they're a loss maker. Granted Post Office Ltd would need to subsidise these accounts but it would help some of the poorest people actually get a foot on the financial rung. It would help save them money as they'd be able to get money out from the post office without being charged per withdrawal (the most deprived areas of Britain have the largest amount of fee-incurring cash machines) and it would help them get a credit rating and allow wages and benefits to be paid in directly. Granted very few of these shit-munchers would actually have jobs so it would be mostly benefits being paid in but, heh, you never know, one or two of them might get jobs.
Secondly, it would help restore confidence in the banking sector again. Currently, people don't trust the major banks as they've all been shown to be greedy, risk-taking, lying, money grabbing bastards. They've been bailed out with billions of tax payer money that we're all going to have to pay back some way or another. Thanks to them, we're going to have reduced public services and higher taxes for years to come. Despite this, the banks are rapidly returning to their high risk, huge bonus and non-lending culture. Given that we own a lot of the banks, you'd have thought that someone in power would have had a quiet word with them and told the bastards to sort it out. Fat fucking chance. I'm not saying that a Postbank would be a hell of a lot better but it's worth a stab.
Thirdly, it would help secure the Post Office network. If we had a bit more business then there'd be fewer non-profitable branches and we'd need less of a subsidy and everything would be hunky-dory. As it is, they'll be a gradual decline in the size of the network and by the time someone thinks to do something about it, it'll be too late to reverse the trend. Sadly, government and Post Office management seem to be happy managing a slow decline rather than giving the business a kick up the arse and getting it going again. Some of the things that management are doing are a step in the right direction but it's all a bit too half-arsed to turn things round properly.
Finally, (and this is the most important reason) it would make me more money.
So if you want to help make me richer, go to the number 10 petition site and sign up.
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