Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: DickyD on February 25, 2009, 01:58:13 pm
-
Does anyone have an early morning post anymore,?
I am sitting here at nearly 2.00PM waiting for boat bits and the b***er still hasn't turned up. >:-o
Yesterday it was 2.30PM.
Does the PO really think we want our post in the afternoon.
I see they want to sell part of the Post Office off to a private concern.
It can only be an improvement.
I wont even get started on the amount of post that goes missing. >>:-(
Rant over, back to twiddling thumbs. >:-o
-
Never mind, the waiting will be worth it when the stuff arrives and you could always shoot the b****r when he goes and leaves the gate open again, or you could zap him with one of those elastic bands that they always drop on the street.
Our post used to arrive between 9 / 10 am but now its anywhere between 11 and 2.
-
At one time when the Post here was still called "the Royal Mail" we had morning and afternoon deliveries six days a week, (never on a Sunday) and that was for residential all for a 2 cent stamp. You could drop a letter in the corner box in the afternoon and it would be delivered in the city the next morning. Now we have "Postes Canada" ( which sounds like it should be something you have for breakfast) and for 54 cents you can have delivery in 3 or 4 days in the same City, but you can send to the UK and it only takes a week.
Regards,
Gerald
-
Our postman is very good, comes at about 11am which is very conveniant, he also brings biscuits for the pooch O0
-
3.00PM and he just turned up. >>:-(
-
Oh dear :o
I think a scotch and a lie down is in order ;)
-
Was going to let the dog have him as he hates postmen, but I resisted the temptation.
As for the whisky I never have one before 5.00PM.
-
Roll on 5pm then DickyD, what say you.
I have had no end of problems with the post. Recently I sent a package out to a friend containing passes, tickets and literature for the charity show I organise, all my friend received was the remains of an envelope with a stamp on it. I told the Post Office I was raising money for charity, and I did not class PO as a charity making me pay twice for the postage on the package.
Alan
-
Was going to let the dog have him as he hates postmen, but I resisted the temptation.
As for the whisky I never have one before 5.00PM.
Richard remember the song, ( it might not have gotten much of a play over yonder ) "It's Five o'clock some where" O0
Andre
over yonder in Portland Oregon
-
I see they want to sell part of the Post Office off to a private concern.
It can only be an improvement.
I wouldn't bet on it
Our post arrives anywhere between 9am - 2pm, a pain in the backside when I'm on nights. Nothing has ever gone missing though, not even bills <:(
-
Not so much a problem with timing, but does the Royal Mail have a positive discrimination policy wherby they only employ people with dyslexia? Or is it just because the school didn't teach kids how to read. Somebody who I don't know and myself must have worn grooves in the pavement re-delivering each others mail (2 streets apart). Doesn't help that "he" always opens mine whereas I tend to read the address first. Major embuggeration. BY.
-
Oh no here we go again same old same old, just goes to show what a thick nation we British are we just can't see the woods for the trees can we. I mean its oh so simple to blame the poor postie is'nt it, why is it we can't put two and two together, I would'nt want to do his job and I don't think you's would either.
Moral in the post office is at an all time low, no investment in equipment or training, and the pay is so poor because they have to hire anybody including unregistered foreigners and criminals WHILE those in charge of it are sitting in their golden domes pulling down exorbitant salaries whilst telling us the systems doing fine and in great shape, we heard the same thing about the banking system and looked whats happened there.
Now they wan to sell it off at a rock bottom price to private industry, where I'll guarantee you profit will be put before service like everything else in this country. If these CEO's are not prepared to run the PO, on behalf of the State with the nations best interests first and formost, then the same ones should'nt be allowed to do so as a private company.
-
Somebody who I don't know and myself must have worn grooves in the pavement re-delivering each others mail
I have a similar problem except I have the post belonging to the fella round the corner AND mine delivered to me at the same time, by the same postman >:-o
just goes to show what a thick nation we British are
Hmm, see above
-
Last Thursday I sent a very small packet (bubble envelope) down to BECC for guaranteed next day delivery. It cost me £4.60 and was delivered on Tuesday!
Roll on privatisation!
Malc
-
Not nice to work for a place where you get the sack every day is it lol! But i suppose it's better than walking the streets. :}
-
If any one thinks that private ownership will improve matters then you are proof that we learn little from History:
Rail ,gas water need I say more?
-
I despair, I really do. Privatising the Post Office really is "selling the family silver".
The Royal Mail used to be a proud, prestigious organisation. Ships, trains and aircraft that carried the mail flew a flag or had a badge proclaiming the service. My mail was protected by special laws.
Soon any Tom, Dick or Harry will be handling the mail and the service will not get better.
In France "La Poste" hangs on by the skin of its teeth but it is still a proud, friendly service. Knowing the rural, sparse population of parts of France I assume the delivery cost per item is very high but going to my local post office and greeting the delivery woman (it usually is a lady on a bike) is still a pleasure and time exists for pleasantries,
Roger in France
-
In some bits of France & Germany mail only gets delivered 2 or 3 days a week. Once it is privatised in the UK we can only hope to get a service as good as that instead of 6 days !
Also if you live outside of a major city then postage to you will be higher because the private firms won't want to do this - business post is where the profits are.
Still, as someone said, alll those other privatisations such as electricty and gas (sold to our enemies) and rail (every document now has to be writen by a lawyer) have been a rip-roaring success so this one will be as well.
-
6 days?
We don't have ANY collections or deliveries over weekends any more!
Also, if anything is delivered when we're out (deliveries are usually mid afternoon) we then have to wait until the following morning to collect - the sorting office counter in town closes at 2PM.
The Royal Mail has been in decline for years - the workers are rude, couldn't care less individuals who no longer have any respect for 'The Queen's Mail'. I've had empty envelopes delivered, the contents pilfered, others ripped in half or covered in muddy footprints.
The sooner they all get the boot the better as far as I'm concerned.
Malc
-
Think we must share the same postman Malc. ok2
-
Yeah and I am sick of upset cistomers ringing me up asking where their bits are when they have been posted, one took three months once and soem have gone missing completely, this has happened quite alot.
They say they want to help small businesses, they don't help me when this happens. One parcel sent to Canada, Royal mail had it down as having been sent, Canadian post had no record of receiving it as it was signed for, 3 months later it turns up after another order had been sent to replace it, the replacement got there in less than a week?
I send parcels out all the time and the other thing is, why one day does it cost say 2 quid then the next day 5 quid? Same size and same weight?????
The mind boggles.
Paul... >>:-( <*< ;D
-
Last Thursday I sent a very small packet (bubble envelope) down to BECC for guaranteed next day delivery. It cost me £4.60 and was delivered on Tuesday!
Roll on privatisation!
Malc
Very odd! I sent 3 CDs and a sheaf of papers to Australia and it was less than £2. Somebody doing the "rip-off" Britain I think. BY.
-
I will stand up for our postie out here in the sticks. Come hell or high water, that guy turns up and delivers our post around 9:00am every day without fail. If something needs signing for and he doesn't get an answer, he comes looking for me in the workshop rather than take it away again. He is very rushed as he has a fair amount of post to get through and he can't walk from door to door as he would in a town. The houses are fairly scattered, so he is in and out of his van continuously.
These guys round here are great but i know people in the towns suffer, a lot of the posties barely have a command of the English language it appears. This is not necessarily their fault, they just want a job but, the people in charge who put them there obviously don't give a hoot whether your mail drops through your door or someone elses... or doesn't get delivered at all! They are ok, they are salaried and probably get bonuses for lying about the annual delivery figures whilst the postie gets blamed for the lousy service.
Sack the captains, put the crew in charge, most of them know what the job entails!!
-
That is a very good point Sheerline.
We had two regular ones here White British type chaps, who knew what they were doing and also the differing numbers on the houses IE, 1, 2, 3, 4 ETC
Now we have a guy who is shall we say, as not to appear a racist which In by no means I am who is not entirely English language compatible delivering our household mail, more or less every night, it gives the neighbours a chance to talk to each other at least as we all end up with everybody elses mail.
I think they just do it as fast as they can and "sod who gets it in that street, they will sort it out themselves" kind of thing??
THIS HAS GOT TO BE WRONG!
Paul... >>:-(
-
Any body who thinks privatisation is going to solve the the Royal mails problems are living on a different planet. This country is now facing the ludicrous situation of our utilities are now owned by non UK companies, electrical suppliers to give on example, are going to our government for consessions to build new nuclear power plants a twenty year programme of construction. However they have stated they will NOT employ British workers despite there being unemployed local skilled labour available, these worker are facing life claiming benefits which we the British tax payer will have to foot the bill. Peter Mandelson has stated that under EU law companies have to be allowed to take this decision if they so wish and we must have flexible working conditions to remain attractive to corporations, despite the fact the government has opted out of the European working time directive and other legislation to protect workers rights for the last 16 years or so, stinks of hypocrisy here.
-
Now we have a guy who is shall we say, as not to appear a racist which In by no means I am who is not entirely English language compatible...
Come on Paul, don't be afraid to call a spade a spade in fear of the 'R' word.
Only today my brother was telling me about him having to call tome insurance place and he just couldn't understand the guy he was speaking too! I've had it myself... phoned some Health & safety type body and the first 2 times, I came off the phone thinking I'd ordered '2 weeks in Disney World, Paris' when I only wanted to book a test and a learning aide (book) The 3rd go, I got someone english and it was just SOO easy with no communication issues, she understood me, I her, I asked for what I needed, clarified details from the earlier calls that the book covered my course, and it was the right version, and I came off the pone knowing exactly where I was at.
It's the same with Orange (mobile phone provider) their staff swear it's not in India but everytime we ring, it's always an Asian and you run the gamut from someone who you can hardly understand to someone acceptable.
This isn't a colour issue, it's a communication issue, as you're on the phone, sometimes on a premium no, and you''re tryng to communicate with someone not from your culture and it's just damn well difficyult to make yourself undertsood and to understand them... and non face-to-face communication is fraught as it is.
But Royal Mail? I remeber when we used to have 2 posts a day!
-
we like our postman :-) , right thats the praises done .
When we get the man in the red van calling with a parcel or whatever wont fit the letterbox , (and i have watched him) he pulls up outside fills out one of those slips walks up the path and posts it through the door and then goes >:-o .
I once collered him at the door whilst waiting for a package , and asked for my item "oh sorry i dont have it with me ,but if you call after 2pm you can collect it at the sorting office" he said . the sorting office closes at 2pm so it would have to be the next day >>:-( .
Also the recorded and registered is a waist of time , i have sent cash in the post and the reciever found the letter thrown on his front dorstep (his door is right on the pavement front) , i complained and was told the regular postie was off and the sub did not know what to do >>:-( >>:-( >>:-( .
Ok rant over with :}
daz
TCC , if i get a none english speaking person on the other end of the phone i ask for some one else , try a south african they speak realy clearlyand the females are realy sexy :kiss: {-) .
-
OH Dear! Dicky, look what you have started all over again! A good old moan, but, that's what us British do, or should do isn't it? So I have been told anyway!
Paul... :-) ;D :o
-
...Privatising the Post Office really is "selling the family silver"...
That is how I used to think.
But the family silver is now very tarnished. The silver plate may have even worn off now and we are only left with the nickel and brass.
I think one of the reasons they are so sloppy is that they are dealing with the public mostly and not businesses.
We seem to remember 'good old Royal Mail', but those days are gone.
Twice last year I sent parcels using DHL home 48hour service. Much cheaper (15kg box for 6.90 shipped within UK) than parcel post and also much more secure. A van came to my house and collected the parcel. So I did not need to struggle, with a big box, down to the P.O. And as I say, it was still cheaper.
If the parcel experience is anything to go buy, then the letter service will also improve.
The post office mail service has been protected for too long from any competition and so it has not invested, improved, or innovated. Unlike the courier companies. I am not saying the courier companies are all perfect, but they are cheaper and more efficient that posty.
I don't think the experience with the gas, water, and electric are necessarily relevant here. These utility companies can be run by service companies because the focus is on billing. That is why Centrica (an expert in running call centres) is running the gas. They also bought the AA btw and the cuts in back room operational staff and other non-roadside staff was big. Companies like this now make more money from selling motor insurance. But that is what happens when your business becomes a call centre and not a service centre.
Logistics companies cannot be run like call centres. And the logistics industry has developed over many years, innovated and competed for business customers who can just use somebody else. The competition is fierce, there is no de facto monopoly (unlike letters and utilities). They cannot afford to entrust your parcel to Muppet's.
IMHO if P.O. was forced to compete openly there would be fewer lost credit cards, fewer lost Giros, and an improvement in service. But I think privatisation is an inescapable first step.
my 2 cents
-
Yup, thats what we do now, moan a lot! Most of us are old enough to remember when things ran much more smoothly and appeared to be a lot less complicated. For a great number of reasons, the people at the top end of our society deemed fit to start tinkering with everything in an effort to make more profit and cut costs whilst at the same time the Government dumbed the nation down slowly but steadily and coupled with an ever increasing population, the whole lot seems to have gone completely t-ts up!
I think the word greed has a lot to do with why we are where we are today and the greed is perpetrated by the few rather than the many. We are bombarded by the most ludicrous statements and rules on a daily basis now, they come thick and fast so the thing which wound you up yesterday is already forgotten today. By this continuous process, the moaners barely get a chance to absorb todays lunacy before they are hit by the next round and are left numbed dumbfounded and feel helpless to do much about it.
But remember, whilst there are enough of us left, there is always the ballot box.... they haven't managed to deprive us of that little 'avenue of pleasure' yet........and vote you must! You will only get one chance every five years so make it count!
Lets hope that these lunatics don't completely scupper our ship before we can get it underway again, I don't think there is a lifeboat option!!
-
Sad thing about voting in a new government.
Only the colour of the badge changes. The song remains the same, on most issues.
-
Sad but true Tiger, but short of a public uprising, there appears little else one can do. There are alternatives but some are a bit too radical.
I am sure, given the low state things seem to be in, hopefully there may be a few more alternatives offered when the time comes.
-
The trouble is,when we do have a public outcry (fuel crisis years ago) the goverment dont back down,make excuses,
and the people protesting dont get paid,so have no alternative but have to go back to work.
Unfortunately in this country not enough people are committed to fight the problem or worried they might get prosecuted
for standing up for themselves.
Yet if your an immigrant how many houses do you want,no ,you cant live on £1000 a week you need £2000,and bring rest of family over,we have job
shortage,even though there is nearly 2 million unemployed
-
BNP FORUM?
-
Talking of uprisings, I hear Police intelligence is forecasting major riots etc in the summer months to come, it seems they think, tensions will explode and anyone and his dog who do not normally join protests will do this time as they think the people have had enough of all the rubbish that is going on!
Lets see what happens eh, but, it really can't go on for much longer can it?
Paul... :o
-
Talking of uprisings, I hear Police intelligence is forecasting major riots etc in the summer months to come, it seems they think, tensions will explode and anyone and his dog who do not normally join protests will do this time as they think the people have had enough of all the rubbish that is going on!
Lets see what happens eh, but, it really can't go on for much longer can it?
That's just Police scare mongering. They are preparing for a pay claim.
Anyway - assuming the population (who won't get off the sofa and miss Eastenders to go and vote) DO rise up. What do you propose to replace democracy with ? We haven't elected a competent or honest MP in this country for at last 60 years. Who is going to run the place ?
I suspect the best answer based on their current track record would be the Germans but we wouldn't like that. The Scandanavians are good, but as they say, you can have everything just like Finland as long as you are happy with 50% tax and 25% VAT...
Truth is that a lot of the stories you read in the press are wildly exaggerated or completely made up. Yes governments do screw up. Sometime people act with the best intentions and there are unexpected consequences (e.g. Osama's "right hand man" getting compensation for being imprisoned without charge. Would you want to allow the police to lock anyone away without charge ?) which cause a fuss. The newspapers & telly have no interest in reporting accurately. It costs too much, means lazy journalists have to get of their overpaid a**es and do some work but most importantly doesn't sell enough paper/advertising. If you need an example I refer you to the appalling MMR story - you are paying to sort this mess, not the media who made it all up.
Lets face it - none of us have to walk 5 miles to get water on a regular basis (unlike much of Africa). We don't live in fear of our lives because the authorities don't like our opinions(Unlike Zimbabwe, Russia, China). We have food(Africa again). If we get ill we go to hospital without thinking about the cost (unlike the USA). We can have an uprising but we have to give up all of this.
/rant
Phil
-
Hey, don't shoot the messenger, it is only something that has been reported.
Paul... :o
-
Just realized why my post is always late. O0
All my postmen, and I get a different one every day, are all Chinese.
Reckon the Post Office has out sourced the mail to China.
No wonder it takes so long to get here every day. >>:-(
-
We haven't elected a competent or honest MP in this country for at last 60 years. Who is going to run the place ?
I Believe Sir Fred is available, to top up his small pension.
-
Postal deliveries have been getting later and less frequent basically because THEY dont want to pay for sorting to start early. My local sorting office used to be a hive of activity from about 4:30AM, nowadays they dont get in the building before 7:00AM, and there are much much fewer of them. Much sorting is done in remote centralised sorting offices by people who don't know the area.
It is vastly annoying when a letter or parcel gets mis delivered, it happened way back then, and probably moreso now, but semi-literate posties are not the only cause. Look out for postcodes with letters and numerals transposed, look for semi legible addresses. Look for town planners who planned estates with interleaving streets all with similar names. Look for houses that cannot be identified because the number is the same colour as the door.
Knowing something of the scale of the operation and its history, the investment in the last 50 years would have bought Andorra and a large part of some of the smaller states. The technical changes in that time have been enormous, the phrase "postal mechanisation" covers a mountain of effort and money, but mechanisation can never really replace doing it by hand when much of the stuff is hand generated in the first place.
For those who say that it needs privatising - go to, say, DHL, and ask them to take over. If they had to create their own infrastructure, you wouldn't see their heels for dust. If they took over the existing infrastructure, they would demand a subsidy that would make anybody's eyes water. At the moment, in some circumstances, the private mail delivery companies, those who handle bulk mail, use the postal service to actually deliver the stuff to individual destinations. Gradually building up a parcel handling service, starting as and where it is convenient and expanding as when it is convenient is one thing, providing a universal service, even one as patchy as the postal service has become, is a different ball game altogether, and just isn't going to happen.
The big difference between the previously privatised services and the postal service is that the previous ones have all been some form of pipeline that involved some physical input and a lot of accountancy. Basically you are just picking whose accounts department gives the best deal. Delivering mail, however, involves actually having people going out and delivering.
And it doesn't matter who you vote for. The government still gets in, and things still go downhill.
-
With the inevitable sell off of the post office and the resulting redundancy thousands of personnel increasing the ranks of unemployed still further which will in turn only fuel the fears of the middle/upper classes of the further increase in crime, (cos that what ya’s do when ya unemployed, go out on the rob) a mean look at all the merchant bankers and retired CEO’s
Could this mean that the government will propose the compulsory wearing of some sort of badge by the now surplus to requirement under class section of the population, would be easy to spot on CCTV and make identification much easier during the high periods of civil unrest, surely.
I thought I’d get in first with some designs (and may make a few quid off the royalty). Anyways back to the design work, yellow star of David, already done, so that a non starter, then I thought about a black smiley face with white eyes and mouth, but could be construed as racist and no very pc. What about a grey cloud with a sad face!!, does’nt really promote the situational awareness does it.
What about something motorway sign style, say a guy in bed with 1.30pm above him or a guy slumped in front of day time tv, (cos that all ya’s unemployed do all day is’nt it).
Any ideas welcome, please send then in, (Small Print: I assume all rights to ideas received).
Hey, how's about we return Blackpool into some sort of unemployed internment camp, like back in the war ( I mean if it was good enough for Adolf), before shipping out to some “final solution” somewhere.
-
Hey, how's about we return Blackpool into some sort of unemployed internment camp, like back in the war ( I mean if it was good enough for Adolf), before shipping out to some “final solution” somewhere.
That was the Isle of Man. We got the civil service in Blackpool. Come to think of it, you were near enough right in the first place.
-
"What about something motorway sign style, say a guy in bed with 1.30pm above him or a guy slumped in front of day time tv, (cos that all ya’s unemployed do all day is’nt it)."
Do they? Blimey, you'd better not tell that to an unemployed pal of mine, then. She was a journalist for one of the local rags for years and years before they they gave her the elbow, replacing her with some younger floozy. I should imagine that being slumped in the sofa watching daytime TV is not her style. She would more probably get her kicks from correcting the awful grammar of some folk who sit at home all day whinging about the unemployed.
I guess it's fortunate that you are not a postman. In other words, re-read what you have just written (specifically, your punctuation), then let the connection what Malcolm had stated about semi-literacy sink into your bonce, then sit back and join the rest of us in a good giggle. ;)
-
Just realized why my post is always late. O0
All my postmen, and I get a different one every day, are all Chinese.
Reckon the Post Office has out sourced the mail to China.
I think I've got one of your letters DD.
-
PMK you obviously don't do satire ;D
-
Hey, how's about we return Blackpool into some sort of unemployed internment camp, like back in the war ( I mean if it was good enough for Adolf), before shipping out to some “final solution” somewhere.
That was the Isle of Man. We got the civil service in Blackpool. Come to think of it, you were near enough right in the first place.
If you get a free holiday on the Isle of Man I'm up for it. Can I go during the Model Boat Festival and Transport Weeks please ?
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45131642@N00/sets/72157605810662262/
Phil
-
The postal service in Denmark is not much better either.
Normal domestic post normally turns up ar around 14:00hrs. Parcel post? sometimes in the day some times at six in the evening. "Parcel delivery slips" in the letterbox, are a common thing to.
I have taken the matter up on three occasions with the post master.
Once while waiting for a package, I watched the post man go from the van put a slip in the box and go back to the van. His face was a picture when he found me waiting at the van asking why he had not tried to deliver the parcel.
On a good note I have now opened a 24hr drop box, så I can pick up parcels when I want to and not when the PO is open!!
Canadian mail!!! Sent an e-mail to a guy in Canada 23:00 (european time) with my postal addy. monday night! Wednesday the letter was in my post box when I came home from work! Beat that!!!!
-
"PMK you obviously don't do satire"
I do, I do... but only the clever sort of satire -- not the sort designed to spin a cheap laugh at the expense of lesser fortunates.
For some reason you really are down on unemployed folk, aren't you? You made mention of them no less than three times in your previous post. Why, wassup? Do you really believe that our postie boys and gals are heading for a life of crime if they should find themselves out of a job?
Why not put the same question to your postman/postlady the next time you see him/her.
By the by, you forgot to include a comma between 'PMK' and 'you'... and also a full-stop at the end of your sentence.
Good luck with your M'way signs. :kiss:
-
Nothing much surprises me these days, and it wouldn't surprise me if some faceless “pampered all their lives silver spoon up the a55, no concept of unemployment” Whitehall bureaucrats haven't thought of the idea of state sponsored euthanasia. I mean forget it if you’re already dying of some painful mind numbing wasting disease, you could end up in prison!!
Despite we British inventing the concentration camp in the first place, they’d still probably go and do some data gathering exercise/field trip to the Auschwitz and Belsen (and had a bl**dy good time to boot) at the taxpayer’s expense.
They'd probably work out it would so much cheaper to send them to existing facilities than building similar camps back here in Blighty along with the added bonus of utilising any remaining local expertise. Anyway only foreign companies would be allowed to run them in the first place, but they would still get concessions from the British government.
Then there's the added benefit of voluntary work and the worth of mental well being of active participation of doing a job well done, as everyone would get a chance of loading the crematoria. Just a few more watch towers and machine gun nests (probably manned by Al-Qaeda as way of an apology for the way we've f***d up the Middle East) is all that would be needed to keep “em at it”, the occasional shouts of “Speedo Speedo” may need to be barked out in order that Government targets are met.
I mean we've now got the Channel Tunnel, right, you'd be there in a few hours, just picture the scene, a sad cold & wet family look on as their repossessed home is boarded over by "The Nationalised Bank" special operatives squad, to join the rest of semi derelict unoccupied properties, and before they've had a chance for it all to sink in, they're whisked off then stripped of any further valuables they may have left before being ushered into a nice warm shower "what's that funny smell?? daddy". :-))
-
In view of the obscene bestiality which Hitler's concentration camps represent and the extermination and degradation which countless innocent victims expereinced I take strong exception to that subject being used as satire, irony, humour or to illustrate dubious points of argument.
Roger in France
-
I'm with Roger on this.
A step to far Bartapuss.
That is some mighty chip you have on your shoulder, pity you haven't got another one on the other side you could then give a balanced point of view.
-
Seeing as I started this topic as a bit of light hearted humour, which now appears to have been hijacked by the extreme right wing, could a moderator please lock it now ?
-
Topic locked.
Roger in France
Moderator