Postal Mania
I am not altogether sure about the status of the US Post Office and US Mail service. What with all the tax forms and uniforms, and the general administrative feel of an actual US post office building it strikes me as being a government thing: even though it seems counter-intuitive that in capitalist free market America it would be.
In the UK, the Post Office is one of the few businesses still technically owned by the government. It's strange to remember that as recently as 1979 the UK government still owned and controlled everything from car and pharmaceutical manufacturers to gas stations, airlines, hotels, travel agencies, railways and shipyards, not to mention having a complete monopoly on gas, water, electricity, and telecoms. All of these have now been sold off to the private sector. Virtually the only businesses that remain in state hands are the poor old Post Office and Royal Mail.
But that is not for want of trying. The government would no doubt love to get rid off it: if only it could. The Post Office loses massive amounts of money every year. But closing all of its uneconomic branches in rural parts of the UK would provoke the most enormous public uprising since it was discovered that Sunny Delight is just sugar flavoured water. The Post Office is an integral part of the community in the UK: in every village there is a joint general store/post office where people can buy their newspaper and a pint of milk and at the same time post a letter, apply for a passport, or make deposits into their Post Office savings account.
City and town Post Offices of course have always been a little different: not dissimilar like a US Post Office, with multiple counters, a business like air, and definitely no milk for sale. (Although most British Post Offices are luxuriously carpeted in a most ungovernmental fashion - why is that?) I have noticed that recent attempts to boost profitability have expanded their product range a bit further than their transatlantic cousins however: UK Post Offices now sell phone cards, foreign currency, life insurance, and travel insurance over the counter: and, no doubt, the Royal Mail Mortgage will be coming to our letter boxes soon.
It seems I had not quite appreciated how far this diversification has gone, however. This week, I went into the Post Office in Hereford (a very small city near the England/Wales border) to post a card to the Darden librarians of Hereford Cathedral's famous Chained Library, which dates from the time of James I. (This was meant to be an extremely subtle hint about the shortage of reserve copies for the second year Reading Seminar electives - which on reflection I think may have been a bit too subtle as it is now over a year since I graduated and I think they probably only remember me as the girl who once asked Frank Wilmot to help her research bra size demographics and got her thumb stuck in the microfiche machine).
Anyway, I went into to Hereford and I was struck all of a heap. If it hadn't been for the red and yellow Post Office sign above the door I would not have known where I was. The place looked like a cross between a Walmart and a dollar store (or at least it would have done except that you can't buy anything in the UK for a dollar, not even a post card stamp) So much for travel insurance and holiday Euros: there were boxes of electric fans piled up, a bargain at only £19.99 - and propped up on each counter were a big stack of - wait for it... disposable mini barbecues (£1.99 a throw).
I just can't believe the Americans haven't already thought of this. It's a brilliant idea.
In the UK, the Post Office is one of the few businesses still technically owned by the government. It's strange to remember that as recently as 1979 the UK government still owned and controlled everything from car and pharmaceutical manufacturers to gas stations, airlines, hotels, travel agencies, railways and shipyards, not to mention having a complete monopoly on gas, water, electricity, and telecoms. All of these have now been sold off to the private sector. Virtually the only businesses that remain in state hands are the poor old Post Office and Royal Mail.
But that is not for want of trying. The government would no doubt love to get rid off it: if only it could. The Post Office loses massive amounts of money every year. But closing all of its uneconomic branches in rural parts of the UK would provoke the most enormous public uprising since it was discovered that Sunny Delight is just sugar flavoured water. The Post Office is an integral part of the community in the UK: in every village there is a joint general store/post office where people can buy their newspaper and a pint of milk and at the same time post a letter, apply for a passport, or make deposits into their Post Office savings account.
City and town Post Offices of course have always been a little different: not dissimilar like a US Post Office, with multiple counters, a business like air, and definitely no milk for sale. (Although most British Post Offices are luxuriously carpeted in a most ungovernmental fashion - why is that?) I have noticed that recent attempts to boost profitability have expanded their product range a bit further than their transatlantic cousins however: UK Post Offices now sell phone cards, foreign currency, life insurance, and travel insurance over the counter: and, no doubt, the Royal Mail Mortgage will be coming to our letter boxes soon.
It seems I had not quite appreciated how far this diversification has gone, however. This week, I went into the Post Office in Hereford (a very small city near the England/Wales border) to post a card to the Darden librarians of Hereford Cathedral's famous Chained Library, which dates from the time of James I. (This was meant to be an extremely subtle hint about the shortage of reserve copies for the second year Reading Seminar electives - which on reflection I think may have been a bit too subtle as it is now over a year since I graduated and I think they probably only remember me as the girl who once asked Frank Wilmot to help her research bra size demographics and got her thumb stuck in the microfiche machine).
Anyway, I went into to Hereford and I was struck all of a heap. If it hadn't been for the red and yellow Post Office sign above the door I would not have known where I was. The place looked like a cross between a Walmart and a dollar store (or at least it would have done except that you can't buy anything in the UK for a dollar, not even a post card stamp) So much for travel insurance and holiday Euros: there were boxes of electric fans piled up, a bargain at only £19.99 - and propped up on each counter were a big stack of - wait for it... disposable mini barbecues (£1.99 a throw).
I just can't believe the Americans haven't already thought of this. It's a brilliant idea.
posted by alranson | 3:46 PM
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