My post office has got it going on

My local post office recently remodeled and changed it's whole set-up. I don't know if all UK post offices follow this new model, but it's such a great idea that I hope U.S. post offices follow suit.

There are counters with staff along two walls, and fairly hip red, sectioned oval couches with seating all the way around in the center of the room. And here's the best bit: You can take a number from a little ACM-looking machine and SIT DOWN TO WAIT. Woo hoo, what a fabulous idea! What's more, there is always a Royal Mail employee standing near the ticket machine offering assistance and directing customers to where they need to go for various transactions/needs. It's so simple, yet so helpful.

I think the whole "take a number and sit down" idea is particularly great. It's especially helpful to anyone with mobility issues, the elderly, a parent trying to comfort or wrangle little ones, women in ill-advised heels that are killing them, someone fighting an illness and just trying to get through the day, someone carrying heavy packages, or any number of other scenarios where it would be a godsend to sit down as you wait your turn.

This is truly an example of where a business in England is providing a wonderful example of showing that it cares about good customer service. And believe me, you don't find that often enough.

Strikes suck

The postal service here is on strike. According to the Times, the strike ends Wednesday and then starts again next Monday. Are you freakin' kidding me?! They have been on strike since last Thursday as it is. I imagine postal workers going to unload mailboxes overflowing with mail, and by the time it gets all sorted they might deliver one or two pieces of it before they strike again!

This is a major problem. It's the mail. Many of us rely on e-mail and cell phones for most of our communication needs, but the mail is still invaluable when it comes to getting items ordered online (I've got a couple of things I'm waiting for now), when you subscribe to an online movie rental service (thanks to the strike, I won't be able to get my money's worth this month at all), and when you're waiting for important items being mailed from the States. I was awaiting some items that I was going to need to be very concerned about and report them missing if they didn't arrive in a reasonable amount of time. Then the strike came, and I no longer know what to consider a reasonable amount of time. And some people, like my mother, don't do e-mail. They like to send and receive letters; it means a lot to them to receive their mail. I'm sure lots of older people are the same way.

I don't remember a strike of the postal service, ever, in the U.S. Perhaps it's illegal. Good. If the postal service can't solve its issues, get its act together and actually deliver the mail here, I sure hope other mail services rev up their competitive natures and step in to fill the gap. Amazon UK had already stopped using the Royal Mail for its first class packages before this strike even started. I can see why.

I understand the postal workers may have genuine grievances (though the Times story said one of the complaints was the workers didn't want to work the full hours they were being paid for). But work it out without tampering with something as potentially vital as mail service, or get a job somewhere else. We've all had jobs we didn't like, due to low pay or crap hours. And I know I lived with it and kept looking until I found another job.

Its good to try to stand up and change a bad situation, but an action that causes so many problems to the general public in a variety of ways is not the way to do it. In short, strikes suck.