[lit-ideas] Re: [lit-ideas] Re: [lit-ideas] Re: [lit-ideas] Re: [lit-ideas] Let's talk about beauty â
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2006 06:07:06 +0900
Judy wrote,
typical; I wonder whether that will happen in the postal service
here; people are fighting to keep post offices open
What do we know about the history of privatization in the UK and
Germany? I ask because, on one hypothesis, what you are encountering
is the muddle that naturally follows when a former monopoly suddenly
faces competition. Over time things may straighten out.
The hypothesis seems plausible to me because, during recent trips to
the U.S. I have noticed that the U.S. Postal service has improved
dramatically from this customer's perspective.
The most recent examples are from Corpus Christi, Texas, where Ruth
and I just spent seven weeks getting to know our new grandson.
1. Our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson live in a suburban housing
development where the boxes to which their neighborhood's mail is
delivered are concentrated at the end of a long street. The distance
is far enough that walking back and forth to pick up the mail takes
about 10 minutes. No joke, however, for a young mother with a newborn
delivered by Caesarean section.
When, however, the Postman who delivers the mail noticed the lawn sign
proudly announcing "It's a Boy!" he took it on himself to hand deliver
the mail to my daughter's door until it was plain that she was up and
about again.
2. While we were there, Ruth had fallen a bit behind on knitting a
christening gown for the grandson. It wasn't finished by the time the
kids took off for New York for the christening, leaving us house and
dog sitting. Ruth finished the gown on a Wednesday and called to
confirm that it could be delivered by Express Mail on Friday. We ran
it down to the Post Office. It arrived ahead of schedule on Thursday.
3. We had some important documents relating to my father's estate to
mail. Arriving at the Post Office, we found a long line of people
waiting for counter service, so, being computer-literate, we tried the
new fully automated kiosk. The documents were inserted in a
standard-sized pouch and placed on the scale. The touch screen allowed
us to select Certified Mail with return notification. In went the
credit card, out came the postage. All that was left to do was to fill
out the standard label and pop the pouch into the special handling
postal box that was sitting beside the postage dispenser. But that
isn't the story.
We had, in filling out the label, neglected to remove the customer
copy from the label pack. We were presently surprised when it was
delivered to us in the next day's mail.
These are, of course, only anecdotes concerning the service provided
by one post office in a smallish city in South Texas. I note, too,
that to get to that post office we had to drive about four miles, so
the question of how people who have no cars or are unable to drive get
to that post office is a real one.
Still, based on previous experience, it does seem that the U.S. Post
Office, facing increasing competition from the likes of FedEx and UPS,
has, in fact, dramatically improved its service. What we are seeing,
however, is the outcome of a process that has been underway for, what,
impressionistically, seems a couple of decades now.
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
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