Post No Post No.

http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/talking-point-posting-a-letter-was-once-a-fun-social-occasion/news-story/
 
Talking Point: Posting a letter was once a fun, social occasion
LINLEY GRANT, Mercury
August 5, 2016 12:01am

WHAT has happened to Australia Post? A third important letter, properly addressed, has not arrived.

When I was four my parents bought a general store and post office. The mail came each day and the timber workers and farmers, or their wives, gathered and chatted excitedly while they collected their mail. It was my delight to pull down enough string from a ball in a wire cage overhead to tie up each brown paper parcel and to very carefully date stamp the letters.

Best of all was to be allowed to press the stamp into hot, red wax to seal the registered mail bag. I loved that post office.

 From 1809 the Postal Service was a government department, offering a utility which most people could afford. It provided the only source of communication from the time of European settlement – especially the link between Australians and their overseas relatives – until the advent of the telegraph and telephone. In many cases, neighbours went out of their way to deliver precious mail to each other. The mail arrived.

However, some time ago this longstanding government service was sold to private enterprise. What a disaster this has been. Not only has the cost of postage risen so that it is no longer sensible to send even a birthday card, mail is no longer delivered regularly unless the sender pays a premium price or allows at least a week for arrival. Why, when charges are so high, has Australia Post been running at a loss? Are its executives paid too much?

Email just isn’t the same.

I can understand computers have taken over the daily communication of most Australians. However, when there was far less mail than there is now, it went through safely, delivered expeditiously and at reasonable cost.

What has happened to courtesy and the wonderful friendships that were a part of collecting mail? Nowadays, post offices are cluttered with goods that are not part of the postal service.

Customers have to stand in queues in narrow aisles and there are no chairs. There is no room or time for friendship.

On the spur of the moment, I decided in November to shop for Christmas cards at a post office where I spied a cheerful selection. I quickly gathered up 10 packets and after waiting in the queue, reached my limit of standing time, urgently paid for them and gladly went home.

Imagine my disgust when I found they contained only eight, not 10 cards per packet and that the envelopes were red. I had to add white stickers so the addresses could be read. When I took them back to post, the envelopes were too large to go through the measuring slot so I had to pay double for each letter. An expensive and salutary lesson.

Once upon a time post office staff would have pointed out the hidden cost of such cards if they had sold them.

If I had bought them elsewhere, I probably would have checked, but because they were post office stock, I assumed they were standard size. Australia Post has lost future business.

Although I have received courteous help over other matters at post offices, there have been three recent occasions where important, correctly addressed letters were posted and have not arrived, and earlier, a registered parcel.

The parcel for Geneva reached Zurich and although correctly addressed was returned to Australia without explanation.

My special affection for Australia Post has been blunted. If letters are not delivered, what do Australians do? We depend on postal reliability. Should we ask the Government to buy back Australia Post? No, it cannot successfully manage the budget. What do we do?

Pigeons?

Linley Grant is state president of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. She has received many awards, including an Order of Australia Medal for community service.