Jack on the Moan
P is for Post Offices The thing I find most infuriating about the post office is that it closes for lunch — when you’re most likely to think to go to the post office. The local bank stays open during lunchtime so why doesn’t the post office?! I don’t know what adults working nine-to-five do when they need to go to the post office. Maybe they get the new guy in the office to go for them? You know, the guy who’s reason for existing is to make his colleagues tea and generally get kicked around like the office hacky sack. You won’t have me hurrying to the post office for other people. The post office used to be the local meeting place back in ye olden time, and possibly still is to this day in more rural parts of the country. In Dublin, however, the post office is only a meeting place for the decrepit, the lonely, and the downright smelly (honestly, one time I was standing behind a man who reeked so bad I didn’t feel safe to breath. I stepped out of the queue, went to the shop and came back when I thought it was safe he’d gone). With letters and postcards becoming more and more a thing of the past, the humble post box is looking almost as endangered as the telephone box. On the other hand, the local post office isn’t likely to become redundant any time soon. E-retailing has made huge inroads to the point where more and more people are buying their DVDs, books etc. on the internet. However, e-retailers can’t always be relied on to send the correct product, and in some cases the item may even get damaged in transit. As long as there are still accidents, and the sky is still blue, an increase in online transactions will lead to an increase in returned items. In turn, more incorrect/damaged items means more trips to the local post office for angry consumers. Then there are always going to be the people who are there to send a package to a family or friend — or as is more and more likely the case, a successful bidder on eBay. If nothing changes the stubborn old post office looks unlikely to lie down and die. My solution? Easy: replace every post box around the country with a new post box that weighs your item (if necessary), prints the required stamp(s) and, most importantly of all, has a bigger slot or even a chute, to cater to all sizes of post. That way you can get rid of the post office altogether and I never have to queue behind a smelly old man ever again.

P is for Post Offices

The thing I find most infuriating about the post office is that it closes for lunch — when you’re most likely to think to go to the post office. The local bank stays open during lunchtime so why doesn’t the post office?! I don’t know what adults working nine-to-five do when they need to go to the post office. Maybe they get the new guy in the office to go for them? You know, the guy who’s reason for existing is to make his colleagues tea and generally get kicked around like the office hacky sack.

You won’t have me hurrying to the post office for other people. The post office used to be the local meeting place back in ye olden time, and possibly still is to this day in more rural parts of the country. In Dublin, however, the post office is only a meeting place for the decrepit, the lonely, and the downright smelly (honestly, one time I was standing behind a man who reeked so bad I didn’t feel safe to breath. I stepped out of the queue, went to the shop and came back when I thought it was safe he’d gone).

With letters and postcards becoming more and more a thing of the past, the humble post box is looking almost as endangered as the telephone box. On the other hand, the local post office isn’t likely to become redundant any time soon.

E-retailing has made huge inroads to the point where more and more people are buying their DVDs, books etc. on the internet. However, e-retailers can’t always be relied on to send the correct product, and in some cases the item may even get damaged in transit. As long as there are still accidents, and the sky is still blue, an increase in online transactions will lead to an increase in returned items. In turn, more incorrect/damaged items means more trips to the local post office for angry consumers. Then there are always going to be the people who are there to send a package to a family or friend — or as is more and more likely the case, a successful bidder on eBay. If nothing changes the stubborn old post office looks unlikely to lie down and die.

My solution? Easy: replace every post box around the country with a new post box that weighs your item (if necessary), prints the required stamp(s) and, most importantly of all, has a bigger slot or even a chute, to cater to all sizes of post. That way you can get rid of the post office altogether and I never have to queue behind a smelly old man ever again.

Posted 3 years ago