Postmen.

[BradNaylor]

So the postmen have voted for a strike.

Does anyone really care? I can't remember the last letter I received that wasn't a bill, from my bank, or junk mail. I could quite happily live without another postal delivery - ever!

Once upon a time lots of people made a living sewing nosebags for horses. Then they didn't. I suspect postmen are headed the same way.

One of their number was on the wireless this morning saying that walking with a bag for 3 and a half hours a day was unacceptable and that working conditions had to improve.

Excuse me?

You're bloody obsolete!

 

[wizer]

Pat's not going on strike so my Daughter's happy

I do buy and sell over the internet quite often, so strikes are an inconvenience. I've not really paid attention to the details of their quarrel. If they've voted, then they've voted. Unions are a good thing for workers.

 

[Ironballs]

If our postie ever jacks it in then she could have a second career as Tommi Makinen. You would not want her van at an ex fleet auction

Head on over to Leeds if you want to see a strike in action, the binmen there have been out for over a month. An explosion in the rat population is being predicted. Nice work - especially when they have blocked residents from taking their own domestic waste to the tip

 

[woodbloke]

Pat's not going on strike so my Daughter's happy

Tom, I hope she's got you tidying the tins and dusting the shelves :lol: - Rob

 

[Ironballs]

Rob - what is that tree in your avatar?

 

[Harbo]

Ironballs looks like an ancient Olive Tree to me?

My Mum lives near Leeds and the strike there is getting nowhere it seems?

I have had parcels delivered by the PO just about everyday this week and apart from letters some mags as well, so a strike will have an affect on me and to suppliers too.

I have never agreed with Strike action, nobody really wins and it's generally the public that suffer. I remember the all the strikes in the 70's and the 3 day week and the suffering that caused. It did not stop the closure of the mines and the car factories?
I am not a great fan of Margaret Thatcher, but one thing she did do was weaken the strength of the unions which were getting far too big for their boots!
We do not want to get back to those days again?

Rod

 

[Ironballs]

I work in Leeds and have friends and family there, in some places it's pretty grim and the waste is piling up. In this particular case if the binmen looked to the private sector they would see that they're in a very privileged position and that what the council are proposing is normal and acceptable

 

[Mattty]

I took a van load of mine and the neighbours waste to the local tip a couple of weeks ago. I was told at the gate- no vans-Domestic waste only.
Yeah right, thats going to stop me

 

[Russell]

A Post strike is a big problem for business because the alternative postal services use Royal mail for the end bit of the delivery stupid really. Most of my mail order will now go by fedex and I will have to pass the cost on. The Royal mail has been loosing money for ages its now a business in the eyes of those that run it so loosing money is no good. It used to be a service and probably the best postal service in the world. We had 2 deliveries a day in todays world that is unsustainable. Any organisation that does not modernize will fail. Unfortunately that will cost jobs or mean changes in work practice. That can be hard on some people and effect peoples lively hoods. However business has to modernize to compete and be profitable. Its now time in my opinion to renationalise the Royal mail completely and give it some of the money we gave the banks and make it a service that works and not an organisation the allows competition with companies that then give the royalmail the post to deliver anyway but at a lower charge rate than the Royal mail would have got. Mad IMO

 

[StevieB]

Cannot really see the point - strikes never work. All they do is cost the strikers wages, inconvenience the public and give air time to eejits such a Bob Crowe et al. Can anyone actually remember the last time a strike was effective - never achieves anything on London Underground, postal workers in London have been striking almost every Friday for the last 3 months and nothing has changed except our post is delayed at work :roll: If the unions didnt strike for petty grievences at the drop of a hat (London Underground in particular) then the public might be more supportive. Appearing to use it as a first resort rather than a last resort has lost any support they might have achieved for a genuine grievance. Tis the shape of things to come I fear, with strikes already being threatened if the Tories win the next election and stick to a public sector pay freeze. Happy happy joy joy!

Steve

 

[woodbloke]

Rob - what is that tree in your avatar?

Damain - it's an ancient olive tree that I saw in Polis (Cyprus) that's reputed to be 700 years old...I took a couple of pics on the last day of our holiday. The centre of the tree is completely hollow - Rob

 

[ste_5150]

Pat's not going on strike so my Daughter's happy

Maybe so, but even he is feeling the effects of the disagreements..... Pat's + Jess.... :wink:

 

[matt]

Pat's not going on strike so my Daughter's happy

I do buy and sell over the internet quite often, so strikes are an inconvenience. I've not really paid attention to the details of their quarrel. If they've voted, then they've voted. Unions are a good thing for workers.

I guess in your case you could cut out the middleman and simply get the goods you're buying delivered to the person you've sold them to?

 

[BradNaylor]

Its now time in my opinion to renationalise the Royal mail completely and give it some of the money we gave the banks and make it a service that works and not an organisation the allows competition with companies that then give the royalmail the post to deliver anyway but at a lower charge rate than the Royal mail would have got. Mad IMO

But surely the whole point is that we don't need a letter delivery service any more.

Who sends letters? Nobody!!!!!


Parcels however, are a different story.

The very same internet that has rendered letters completely obsolete has brought into existance a whole new business in delivering parcels. So far this week I have received two router cutters fom Wealden and a ChargePAK thingy for my Pure radio in the post - and no letters!


The Post Office needs to convert itself into a parcel delivery service and forget completely the whole notion that people may want to correspond via written missives.

This means an end to 'postmen' as we know them. Instead, they will need to be parcel van drivers.

They all know this. Why haven't they got the balls to say it?

 

[Paul Chapman]

Who sends letters? Nobody!!!!!

Well, you might not write letters but I do, as do plenty of other people.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[BradNaylor]

Who sends letters? Nobody!!!!!

Well, you might not write letters but I do, as do plenty of other people.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

Maybe you do, but what possible justification is there in preserving a massive and costly physical infrastucture simply to deliver an ever decreasing number of letters sent by elderly people who can't be bothered to learn how to email?

 

[Paul Chapman]

Who sends letters? Nobody!!!!!

Well, you might not write letters but I do, as do plenty of other people.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

Maybe you do, but what possible justification is there in preserving a massive and costly physical infrastucture simply to deliver an ever decreasing number of letters sent by elderly people who can't be bothered to learn how to email?

That's a rather unfair comment, Brad, and somewhat insulting to old people. It's not a case of old people not bothering to learn to email. Some people (and not just the old) cannot use computers for various reasons and others can't afford a computer.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[BradNaylor]

Even so, it still doesn't justify keeping the entire infrastructure of the Royal Mail in place.

It is a relic of a bygone age.

 

[DeanN]

Nicely timed (the strike) to coincide with the lead-up to christmas. Let the letters and parcels mount up whilst on strike, then rake in the overtime whilst clearing the backlog. Not daft eh!!

 

[Digit]

It is a relic of a bygone age.

And much used by courts, local authorities, legal depts, tax offices, for anniversaries etc etc.

Roy.