Thursday, October 24, 2013

Why so sad?

A spokesman for the Postal Workers Union (?) has just been on Breakfast TV talking about how "sad" it is that people aren't using snail mail any more. He used the adjective three times.

Why? Why is it sad that there is so much more convenience available to us through technology? Why is it sad that we don't need to write cheques, buy envelopes, buy stamps and go to the post office or post box to send off bill payments? Why is it sad that we can communicate with our friends and family locally and overseas instantly?

It's a reality that slow post has had its day - like the hand-driven loom and the horse and cart.

But like those devices, postal deliveries aren't going to disappear overnight. They will be reduced to half the number in urban areas.

Still Grey Power are terribly upset:

The reductions would severely disadvantage the elderly, especially those who could not afford computers.
Surely they exaggerate. If the highlight of your day is the postman coming, with our without mail, you need to get an interest.

And as people change their habits, in particular, purchasing increasingly from the net, including everyday items like groceries, more delivery opportunities will arise. Posties need to anticipate the changed opportunities more than anybody else and plan their employment around them.

3 comments:

Mark Hubbard said...

It it wasn't for IRD assessments and council rates, I would get no snail mail.

workingman said...

@mark, for WCC all rates can be done via email now. I get the invoice once a quarter from them.

Even IRD is more and more email. For my business I get my GST returns etc via email and I submit electronically and make the payment electronically.

Anonymous said...

I find Grey Power's attitude to be quite demeaning and patronising to the elderly. They assume that the elderly can't use computers. My mother has just turned 90 and is an avid computer user and she is far from alone.

Instead of wasting their time trying to defend the *inevitable* decline of "snail mail", Grey Power should focus their energy on other things.