The Post Office isn't working". Waiting in a long, snaking, everlasting queue that stretched from the three manned counters (out of 10 in total) inside a post office in London's Kings Road last week all I could think of was that famous Saatchi & Saatchi poster of a long line of the unemployed.
Being unemployed is generally accepted to be bad. But a long line of ignored Post Office customers? That appears to be no bad thing at all, with the 4000 post offices closed since 1999 shortly about to be topped up by another 2500 earmarked for closure.
The staff in the Kings Road last week, with their purple uniform shirts and their small name badges, seemed to find the unending proles in front of them a faintly amusing sight.
"N Allen" at counter number three had a stand-up routine for his down-trodden audience. "I would advise you bring a book any time you come here, madam," said N Allen. "And things are only going to get worse, I can assure you." The assurance seemed misplaced for a queue that was moving as slow as geological eras.
I could've taken N Allen's advice and picked up a book on offer inside the post office "shop" while I waited. People were waiting hours to buy a stamp, send a parcel, pick up their pension, renew a car licence. By walking two minutes down the Kings Road I could have bought a book in Waterstones immediately. For an hour's wait, the Post Office was offering classics such as Everything Is Not Enough by Bernardine Kennedy, Walking Back To Happiness by Anne Bennett and Heritage Of Shame by Meg Hutchinson. Titles chosen to annoy, I thought.
There were also colouring pencils, a set of Paddington Bear books, an activity fun book (for the next post office visit) all on sale. More staff? Get real.
"Yes sir, you'd think it was dreamed up to help the pension fund," joked N Allen to one unhappy queuer. As the two other staff talked about last night's television, the weather, the James Bond stamps, the queue grew and grew.
The DTI last year said the current size of Britain's post office network was "unsustainable", but last week a group of MPs said they were worried that the 2500 figure for closures seemed too near a Treasury ideal than anything that had been properly worked out. Why? Because it hasn't been worked out.
The government estimates that there are now four million fewer customers visiting post offices each week compared with two years ago. I wonder why?
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article