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My own personal little RANT!!! I went 'Postal' today!
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 353214" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Mutt, our town sounds a bit like yours. No traffic lights. No police either - it's a real sore point because we get holiday traffic as well as teens who come over on weekends to sleep under the stars and then spend the nights roaming the streets and getting up to mischief. If we need to call the cops and the cops get moving as soon as we call, it still takes them half an hour to get to us. Thankfully, the ambulance officers who live in the village also bring the ambulances home, and we've learned to call them first rather than 000 (our 911 number). We do have a petrol station (and they do have gas as well - LPG). One general store, several cafes (we're a tourist town) and recently, a hairdresser. A post office agency (not the real deal) but our mail has to come over on the boat. Local mail - I'm fairly sure it all gets sent over to the mainland on the boat, sorted over there by machine, then it comes back.</p><p></p><p>The Aussie postal service is fairly fast, considering. We use machine sorting a lot and there are fairly strict rules on how to NOT address an envelope, if you want it to get there fast. Postal workers who shove bags into the back room for a few days can lose their jobs - the rules are really strict here. I know it does happen, but it's fairly rare. Our postal workers, though, are really pushed hard. I was talking to an old friend whose husband has just been forced to retire - he took time off work to have his knee operated on, but when he went to get back to his job, he was told that his route had been increased, he was not allowed to use a bike and he had to cover a larger area in the same time. With a knee still recovering, he couldn't do all that and was forced to retire. Also at busy times, occasionally a mailman goes bonkers and does something crazy like dumping mail bags in the bush.</p><p></p><p>Our post offices are open Weekdays 9 to 5, and Saturday mornings until 12 pm. We also have red post boxes on the street. We have two of these in the village although from the cobwebs, you'd wonder if they ever get emptied. But by law, they have to be emptied when the label says they are. They also have a notice on them telling you how long it will take for your mail to get there.</p><p></p><p>Certified mail - it's been years since they brought that around on the bike to give it to you IF you're home, and get you to sign for it - it just takes too long, plus puts the certified mail at risk of loss or damage. Instead, they keep it locked away at the post office and we have to go there to sign for it. A nuisance, because often I can't get down there during school hours because I'm busy with difficult child 3 and his schoolwork. But now I've been told of the way their workload has been increased and all the efficiency crud they've had to take on board, I can understand why they have long stopped delivering the certified mail.</p><p></p><p>We have another postal serviced here that DOES get delivered - it's "Priority Paid". They guarantee next day delivery, with none of the time-wasting of having to go sign for it. But if it gets lost, you're sunk. And there's no record of receipt. However, for a lot of things, it's worth it.</p><p></p><p>I wouldn't want to be a postal worker, even with all the machines that help these days.</p><p></p><p>Mind you, my friend I was talking to, with the (now-retired) postal worker husband - when we were kids, her boyfriend at the time sent her a letter with just her first name and the name of the (very long) street, and the town name. Nothing else. And the letter got to her! I remember when she showed me the letter, complete with postmark.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 353214, member: 1991"] Mutt, our town sounds a bit like yours. No traffic lights. No police either - it's a real sore point because we get holiday traffic as well as teens who come over on weekends to sleep under the stars and then spend the nights roaming the streets and getting up to mischief. If we need to call the cops and the cops get moving as soon as we call, it still takes them half an hour to get to us. Thankfully, the ambulance officers who live in the village also bring the ambulances home, and we've learned to call them first rather than 000 (our 911 number). We do have a petrol station (and they do have gas as well - LPG). One general store, several cafes (we're a tourist town) and recently, a hairdresser. A post office agency (not the real deal) but our mail has to come over on the boat. Local mail - I'm fairly sure it all gets sent over to the mainland on the boat, sorted over there by machine, then it comes back. The Aussie postal service is fairly fast, considering. We use machine sorting a lot and there are fairly strict rules on how to NOT address an envelope, if you want it to get there fast. Postal workers who shove bags into the back room for a few days can lose their jobs - the rules are really strict here. I know it does happen, but it's fairly rare. Our postal workers, though, are really pushed hard. I was talking to an old friend whose husband has just been forced to retire - he took time off work to have his knee operated on, but when he went to get back to his job, he was told that his route had been increased, he was not allowed to use a bike and he had to cover a larger area in the same time. With a knee still recovering, he couldn't do all that and was forced to retire. Also at busy times, occasionally a mailman goes bonkers and does something crazy like dumping mail bags in the bush. Our post offices are open Weekdays 9 to 5, and Saturday mornings until 12 pm. We also have red post boxes on the street. We have two of these in the village although from the cobwebs, you'd wonder if they ever get emptied. But by law, they have to be emptied when the label says they are. They also have a notice on them telling you how long it will take for your mail to get there. Certified mail - it's been years since they brought that around on the bike to give it to you IF you're home, and get you to sign for it - it just takes too long, plus puts the certified mail at risk of loss or damage. Instead, they keep it locked away at the post office and we have to go there to sign for it. A nuisance, because often I can't get down there during school hours because I'm busy with difficult child 3 and his schoolwork. But now I've been told of the way their workload has been increased and all the efficiency crud they've had to take on board, I can understand why they have long stopped delivering the certified mail. We have another postal serviced here that DOES get delivered - it's "Priority Paid". They guarantee next day delivery, with none of the time-wasting of having to go sign for it. But if it gets lost, you're sunk. And there's no record of receipt. However, for a lot of things, it's worth it. I wouldn't want to be a postal worker, even with all the machines that help these days. Mind you, my friend I was talking to, with the (now-retired) postal worker husband - when we were kids, her boyfriend at the time sent her a letter with just her first name and the name of the (very long) street, and the town name. Nothing else. And the letter got to her! I remember when she showed me the letter, complete with postmark. Marg [/QUOTE]
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My own personal little RANT!!! I went 'Postal' today!
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