There have been rumours for months about the office being closed because, apparently, they aren't busy enough (selling other services) despite the fact the queue is often outside the door. And the main reason for the larger queues is the ridiculous decision to charge more for larger envelopes, or packages, which means every item now has to be weighed and measured.

Perhaps if the government had not taken away all the various services which post offices provided in the past they wouldn't be in the mess they seem to be. Mind you, all the top brass seem to be doing very well from their annual bonuses for reaching their targets!

As an aside from all this, I am a keen stamp collector and for more years than I care to think about have turned up regularly to buy the new issues.

In the days before the refurbishment, when the office was much smaller and you didn't have to queue for service, I always knew which clerk would be more amenable to providing me with the various blocks of stamps I required.

Then, when the 'shop' became the place to get my stamps, I found the staff just as keen to help but in recent times they have not always been able to provide me with my requests and as a result I have stopped buying so many stamps at the post office – much to my wife's pleasure! – and some items I now have to purchase from dealers at an increased cost.

My queries as to why certain products were not available were met with 'diplomatic' replies, but I got the impression that these particular products were unavailable because not enough were sold.

A stamp is, in effect, a receipt for a service, ie the posting, sorting and delivery of a letter. But if the service provided is only that of actually selling the stamp, then the other parts of the full service offered are null and void and the post office is obviously making much more of a profit.

So if more products were available, more would be sold and the post office would make even more profit.
All the staff are courteous and willing to help.
It's just a pity that the plethora of managers and under-managers make their jobs much harder.

COLLECTOR
Name and address supplied