Postal blues

I have suffered the misfortune of late of having to transact two different bits of business in a Post Office.

I feel as if I have stumbled into one of Britain’s most closely guarded secrets.

Last week I headed in mid-afternoon to the Mount Pleasant branch of the Post Office in Central London.

This is the outward and visible sign of what once was one of London’s most important sorting offices. I was greeted by a queue of seventeen people.

Behind the glass screens at more than a dozen ‘sales positions’ three Post Office employees struggled to service the ‘customers’. Occasionally one would peel off for relief, leaving two. Then another would appear.

I had a small parcel I needed to weigh, stamp and post.

There was no provision for a ‘do-it-yourself’ service and you had to wait in line with those with more complex transactions.

I wondered for a moment about what would have happened if I banked with the Post Office – felt sure I would have used my credit card to self harm, this was as I passed the 23 minute moment with six people still ahead.

A fourth server came to the counter and within another 12 minutes I was done: 32 minutes to post a parcel.

As I left I noted the queue was now 23 people long. I noted too in this mid-afternoon hour that they were ostensibly not well off.

Once bitten, twice shy. This week on another postal errand I eschewed my neighbouring Mount Pleasant in favour of the state-of-the-art Trafalgar Square branch.

There has been a dramatic reduction in post office outlets all over Britain and that applies to London too. Once I could not use my local, I now had to cycle 10 minutes to this my next one.

Logic would suggest that if you reduce branches, you increase the scale of service at those services that are left. Not so with the Post Office.

Here they had more than 20 ‘positions’ and half them appeared to be staffed. My spirits rose. They rose further with the entry ticketing process which indicated order.

There were 35 numbers ahead of me. I thought about abandoning. But I needed to complete my business and had already lost time cycling here (and back).

Well, I beat Mount Pleasant – 27 minutes it took me at Trafalgar Square. Add the 20 cycle ride and Mount Pleasant won.

But I and the general public lost.

This is a publicly owned outfit. I saw no evidence of supervision or management in either establishment. There was a real feeling of victimhood, resignation and exploitation – both of those behind the counter and those in front of it.

The public have no choice. Some of the ethos that has driven the Post Office business is soon to move to the running of a television company. People who watch television have the opportunity to switch channels, or not to watch at all.

My Post Office experiences chime with the findings of yesterday’s report on credit card rates at the bottom end of the banking market.

The report reveals shocking levels of interest charged to those who live outside the banking system – almost invariably the poor.

The Post Office should be providing a banking and service refuge. Is it failing in this service?