The post office and its story : $b an interesting account of the activities of a great government departmentBennett, Edward
History
The post office and its story : $b an interesting account of the activities of a great government department
Bennett, Edward
Postal service -- Great Britain -- History
Have I not made out my case, that the Post Office Guide is almost as
interesting as Bradshaw? At any rate there is no doubt that, from the
point of view of the long-suffering official, the British public are in
need of a Postal Guide. I am quite sure that in the eyes of the average
counter clerk the British public is the most over-rated institution in
the country. There seems at times no limit to its wrongheadedness and
obtuseness on postal matters.
There is, I am afraid, very often a great deal of truth in the charges
that are often brought against postal counter clerks, especially female
clerks, for incivility. I am not defending them—I have suffered myself;
but a great deal too much is made of single instances, and I am
convinced that in the vast majority of cases the charge does not apply.
There are four classes of public servants who have my special sympathy:
policemen, railway officials at big passenger stations, omnibus
conductors, and Post Office counter clerks. They are all answering
foolish questions the whole day long.
The editor of _Truth_ once asked his readers, before desiring to air
their grievances against the Post Office in his pages, to consider
seriously whether the rule, regulation, or treatment of which they were
complaining might not be justifiable. Regulations must exist in every
business, and having made rules the Department must enforce them without
discrimination. “It would be out of the question to give sorters or Post
Office clerks a discretion to wink at some kinds of additions to
postcards and surcharge others. Whenever you make rules you create
absurdities and hardships. It is absurd that if a letter weighs one
ounce to the closest nicety you can send it for one penny, and that if
you enclosed the hind leg of a flea in that same letter, the Post Office
should insist on your paying an extra halfpenny—50 per cent. more—just
for the hind leg of a flea. Granted that this is absurd, it would be
still more absurd if there were no line drawn between the penny and the
three-halfpenny rate. The Post Office stands badly in need of criticism,
but let the criticism be reasonable.” I think this is common sense, and
people should not abuse the Post Office servants merely because they are
obviously doing their duty. A lady wrote to the Postmaster-General in
the following strain, and it is the type of hundreds of letters received
by him: “I should like some other reply than the usual stereatippied
reply which I undurstand is usual and I may say that I am writing under
legal advice I shall probly put the matter wholly into Solicitorrs
hands.” Her intentions might have the desirable effect of improving her
orthography, but the law is usually on the side of the Post Office, and
the stereotyped reply is in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the only
one possible in the circumstances. You can frighten your greengrocer
probably by the threat of a solicitor's letter; it does not disturb the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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