The Post Office Is Dying. Long Live The PO. - Page 2

katex · 23-07-2006, 18:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambutty

[SIZE=3. One day, with a bit of luck you might become a pensioner yourself and I suppose you will then whinge at the younger people as they push past you on the street or in a supermarket aisle.[/SIZE]

Is this what I served in the Navy for and worked damned hard all my life at the expense of my health, to be treated like some pariah?

Well, if you care to take a look at my age, you will notice that I am already a pensioner Jambutty, but, unfortunately, not in a postion yet to retire.

I don't think I am particularly a selfish person, just trying to say that 'new' pensioners (like myself) and for the past twenty years are used to paying through direct debits, etc. Yes, I know, they do go wrong sometimes and you have to keep a watchful eye on your statements, never had any trouble myself though. Sorry made the remark about waiting .. can't go after work anyway, shuts before I finish, but not really safe is it ?

I don't think it would be very difficult, for the people say over 80 to pay in this type of safer way, Margaret helps her mum to get to the Post Office, sure she can help set up different modes of payment or depositing.

As to budgeting, well, I am not a financial wizard by any means, but I now know how much is going in and total payments per month going out on certain dates and how much each week will be left over for food, and saving for maintenance, etc... and all written down for me in a twice monthly statement, or weekly if you require it.

I don't think you are a Pariah Jambutty, but you certainly have sharp teeth

katex · 23-07-2006, 18:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by g jones

. Some services at the top end will be lost but the biggest risk is lack of quality, less staff, longer queues, impatient children demanding uneccessary eye level products or having to push pass rows of books, biscuits or tins to get to the two counters that remain in the far corner.

Its all part of the race to the bottom that we are told is inevitable and to accept.

Again no need to pay this way is there ? .. Never know, next step might be that when Tesco delivers your 'You shop, we Drop' shopping, they might come along with their Pay Pal details too.. Ok, need the Internet for that one, but lots of pensioners do have it .. take Jambutty for instance.

I think going to the Post Office for your pension will eventually die out naturally anyway as we lose our older citizens.

Would be curious to know the statistics of how many pensioners go the Post Office still for their cash against those who get it forwarded to their bank account. Bet the percentage is dropping.

talentedbutslow · 23-07-2006, 18:56

Here in Australia........all pensions are paid into peoples bank accounts...but the post office is thriving on gas and electric payments,motor registration renewals,finance co payments,rates,land rates,council bills,insurance payments..anything with a barcode on really.....

lindsay ormerod · 23-07-2006, 19:14

A bit of a thread wander here but a plea too ;JAMBUTTY! ! please stop writing your posts in miniature fonts! I am not blind but it's too small for even my contact lenses to cope with and as a result the post never gets read to the conclusion.Do yourself a favour mate and go large!

jambutty · 23-07-2006, 19:27

Race to the bottom! Now that’s an interesting concept g_jones. I know that you salt-of-the-earth working classes and we useless pensioners were being marginalized but I didn’t realise it was a race to see who would sink first. Race you to the bottom!

I wasn’t aware that you were a pensioner katex. You know the one thing that I never do is look at the member’s personal profiles. I take members at face value and learn about them as I go along. Maybe I should start to dig deeper?

However to get back to the point. The older you get the more difficult it is to go with the flow and we pensioners don’t like changes too much. I’m one of the lucky ones in that I still have both my brains cells in working order (the memory is a bit iffy at times though) and I can fight my corner but I am the exception rather than the rule although that will change as the years go by. I’m also a financial wizard in that I manage my finances to my requirements. Nah! That’s not being a wizard more like doing something that I have done successfully all my life – living within my means.

Sharp teeth eh! You should have seen my left hook before I decided that boxing wasn’t my scene. Seriously though I will fight my corner, against the odds if necessary.

I know loads of middle aged people to whom a computer and the Internet is a complete mystery and I also know of many pensioners with a similar disposition.

Collecting your pension at the Post Office has another asset. For many pensioners, particularly those who have lost their spouse, going to the Post Office is just one of two occasions when they leave their home and see other people. The other being when they go for the weekly shopping. To some it is a welcome change where for just a few minutes they don’t feel quite so isolated. The same could be said for young mums whose feller is at work or they haven’t got a live in feller.

I’m not saying that having a pension paid into a bank is wrong or bad – you still have to attend some place or other to get hold of real spendable cash. What I am saying is that to many, many people it is convenient in so many ways.

You will recall the brouhaha when wages were paid in a wage packet full of real cash and everyone opted for bank payments instead. Change always brings a dissenting outcry.

lindsay ormerod my posts are in Times New Roman 12 point and that translates to size 3 on the forum. On my computer they are the same size as other posts so either you have a problem with your machine or you are winding me up. I have seen my own posts on someone else’s computer and they have never been so small that they couldn’t be read.

However I do know that most times when I paste my post into the reply field the last paragraph comes out in size 2 and I have to change it to size 3.

katex · 23-07-2006, 19:32

Can compromise, by getting pension paid into bank account and bills can be paid by POST .. tee hee. This way don't always have to pay at once (Margaret's point) and get a trip to the Post Office at the same time.

Phew .. feel like Solomon.

g jones · 23-07-2006, 19:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambutty

Race to the bottom! Now that’s an interesting concept g_jones. I know that you salt-of-the-earth working classes and we useless pensioners were being marginalized.

With jobs under pressure from overseas, aggresive consumerism at home (what happenned to Buy British?) more and more people are getting despondent about decent jobs, decent pay. Everything is not about what is best but what is cheapest. What corners can be cut. Its no surprise that the the gap between rich and poor is widening at an alarming rate. It feels sometimes like it's not Great Britain, but just Britain.

I am told Post Office counter staff do 128 transactions compared to 67 by bank staff per day. However some company says it can do the GPO cheaper so thats it, franchised.

Margaret Pilkington · 23-07-2006, 19:52

This is a good thread.........but allow me to ask, why do good threads sometimes appear to get a bit 'bad tempered'.
There are many hues of opinion....and none of them are exactly right....they are just opinions.......and we are all entitled to one....and to express it on Accyweb. Let's be good natured about it.

jambutty · 23-07-2006, 19:54

You’ve hit a raw nerve with me there g_jones about the widening gap between the rich and the poor. But this is not the place to continue on that theme.

The counter staff at the Daren Post Office are all Asian except for one. But they are courteous and friendly and most of them know their stuff about all the post offices services that are available. Not that I have tried them all.

Yep! It’s all about money these days and profit for shareholders and not forgetting the huge salaries of the top dogs.

Madhatter · 23-07-2006, 19:58

I thought the post office is a pay point so you can still pay your tv licence there, Is that not true?

I don't agree with being forced to take business to a bank. The post office should become a bank or building society in a permanent sense, getting rid of accounts, not being able to pay this or that, it's getting ridiculas.
This is why we all as members on nationwide voted against us being turned in to a bank, even though I'd have gotten two thousand plus from it. In order to manage your finances you need a reliable free way to do it.
I want the post office kept open for all business for all ages.

I also see that they plan to charge you on SIZE of your letters and parcels now as well as weight.

I do a lot of mail order buying, especially doing the streets christmas lights display, but I've never recieved a parcel from tnt yet, nearly always the post office.

jambutty · 23-07-2006, 20:04

A facetious response to a post breeds a similar response back as does a nasty one. Likewise a pleasant reply breeds a nice answer.

Sadly some people set out to wind others up or present their opinion as a hard fact and cannot stand an opposing view. It’s called being human I guess.

Some people do not know how to discus an issue and resort to personal remarks when they cannot put forward a coherent point.

Then you have the know-it-all Johnny with an answer for everything whom has to labour their point come what may.

I’m a responder and come back in kind.

Madhatter · 23-07-2006, 20:18

Good for you jambutty but what has that got to do with the post office or this thread or is it a response to me?

Madhatter · 23-07-2006, 20:21

The reason I say about the pay point is that whenever I've payed my gas bill there over the last few years they have used a paypoint machine to do it.

harwood red · 24-07-2006, 11:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by katex

Find it a pain in the ass when I have to tax my car and no getting out of going to the Post Office then.

You can order your tax disc on line now at the DVLA Katex, just need debit or credit card and the details on your reminder. The only thing that will stop you able to do it online is if your insurance is due for renewal soon after the tax disc is due. I did my last one on line and it came through pretty quickly. And if for any reason it gets lost in the post you won't be prosecuted due to the DVLA having proof that you have purchased it

Sorry that was off thread

jambutty · 24-07-2006, 12:12

Not quite off topic harwood red. Well sort of but I don’t mind because your information could be useful. I seem to vaguely remember that the tax disc buying facility at a post office is also under threat.

Today is pension day for me and I got to the Darwen Post Office at around 11:30am. I joined a queue some 25 people strong and only two other people were obvious pensioners. So 3 out of 25 isn’t exactly what some people have intimated. In any case I think that people will find that most pensioners like to get to the Post Office early. They have spent a lifetime getting up early for work and after 50 years or so it is a difficult to break such a long established habit.

I don’t have that problem. I get up when my body has had enough sleep and that could be at any time between 6:00am and noon. It all depends on the previous day’s exertion and what time I fell into bed. However if I happen to get up early (a rare occurrence) I still delay my Post Office visit until late morning because I can pick up a Telegraph at the same time.