First-Class Humbug

 

John Carter, in a letter to The Times, makes an eminently sensible point, but one that is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

I post quite an assortment of books, parcels and letters both in connection with business and with selling things on eBay over the Internet. For the last few months, I have been printing electronic postage from the Royal Mail, either directly onto the envelope or a label. The system works well and so far in the couple of hundred items that I have posted this way, there has not been any problem. I suspect though that as they are in effect fully coded and tracked, that if an item did go astray then it could be located much quicker than with normal postage.

Living in the country, I also find this system a great advantage, as I no longer have to drive three kilometres or so each way to the Post Office. I just make sure it’s all ready by mid-morning and hand it to the post-man.

Developments like this, do set a problem for the Post Office. As more and more services are available over the Internet, such as Vehicle Excise Duty, Television Licences and now high-value postage, the small rural offices are becoming less and less viable.