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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2013 9:37:11 GMT -5
In France it is the practice to deliver every letter. Wherever the man may live to whom a letter is addressed, it is the duty of some letter-carrier to take that letter to his house, sooner or later. But this of course must be done slowly. With us in Britain a delivery much delayed is thought to be worse than none at all. But we are bound down by a salutary law as to expense, which comes from our masters at the Treasury. We are not allowed to establish any postman's walk on which a sufficient number of letters will not be delivered to pay the man's wages. It is amusing to watch how a passion will grow upon a man. In the rôle of inspector I would turn up at lone residences and ask the people whether they got their letters delivered free or at a certain charge. For a damnable habit had crept into use, which came to be, in my eyes, at that time, the one sin for which there was no pardon, in accordance with which the rural postmen used to charge so much extra for each letter, alleging that the house was out of their beat, and that they must be paid for their extra work.
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Post by ahinton on Dec 14, 2013 10:12:59 GMT -5
In France it is the practice to deliver every letter. Wherever the man may live to whom a letter is addressed, it is the duty of some letter-carrier to take that letter to his house, sooner or later. But this of course must be done slowly. With us in Britain a delivery much delayed is thought to be worse than none at all. But we are bound down by a salutary law as to expense, which comes from our masters at the Treasury. We are not allowed to establish any postman's walk on which a sufficient number of letters will not be delivered to pay the man's wages. It is amusing to watch how a passion will grow upon a man. In the rôle of inspector I would turn up at lone residences and ask the people whether they got their letters delivered free or at a certain charge. For a damnable habit had crept into use, which came to be, in my eyes, at that time, the one sin for which there was no pardon, in accordance with which the rural postmen used to charge so much extra for each letter, alleging that the house was out of their beat, and that they must be paid for their extra work. I haven't encountered Royal Mail delivery staff expecting, let alone demanding, payment from mail recipients who are far off the beaten track and I'm pretty certain that any such demands would constitute a breach of contract on the part of any employee who made them. In any case, in Britain, Royal Mail delivery staff are not paid "by results" in terms of the number of items that they deliver successfully and correctly per hour of their working shifts; I'm also certain that the trade union that representgs such staff would frown upon such illegal activity. That said, where I now live is "out in the sticks" and the standard of mail delivery is especially appalling given that I am nevertheless only 7 miles from a small city of 60,000+ population; even Special Delivery items are occasionally misdelivered or even go astray altogether and deliveries rarely arrive before 15.00, the latter of which prompts me to wonder what other work is being done on Royal Mail time by those doing the delivering. All that said, I imagine there to be very few if any postmen today called Percy and even fewer postwomen with such a name... |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2013 2:01:27 GMT -5
. . . where I now live is "out in the sticks" and the standard of mail delivery is especially appalling given that I am nevertheless only 7 miles from a small city of 60,000+ population; even Special Delivery items are occasionally misdelivered or even go astray altogether and deliveries rarely arrive before 15.00, the latter of which prompts me to wonder what other work is being done on Royal Mail time by those doing the delivering. . . . Despite the postal problems - why not take a box at the main Post Office of the small city? - it sounds an enviable situation. Only four months to go and it will be Spring-time in England! A kind of Paradise on Earth as so many have said. Perhaps this year will be the one in which the member will write his Spring Symphony. Think of Bax! Think of Foulds! He can certainly do better than they. (Please don't think of Britten or Barrett though.) |
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