Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Is Harringay's New Post Office Working?
I'm not the first to post on HoL about Harringay's new Post Office. But is it working?
Once the die was cast for the change of set-up in our post office, I was pretty phlegmatic about it. But I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't have been a a bit worked up from the get-go.
My experiences of the new pst office haven't been good. My main gripe is the wait time.
I know they have the pandemic to deal with. But so does every other retail outlet.
Last week, I went to drop off a pre-paid parcel. Since I wanted a proof of posting, that meant waiting. Arriving at Harringay Post Office, I saw a raher long queue. So I asked a couple of people towards the front how long they'd been waiting. The concensus was about 40 minutes.
I walked up the road to the Turnpike Lane post office (staffed by one person at the time) and waited 5 minutes. I've had simillar good experiences at Hornsey. I hear that Crouch End Post Office works quite well too.
What is wrong with Harringay Post Office? Why do the queues take so long to move?
Thank goodness I don't need to use it very often. My condolences to those who do.
Tags for Forum Posts: post office
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Geraldine on
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In Yorkshire, I buy books of stamps from my local petrol station convenience store, weigh letter or small parcel on kitchen scale. I check online the value of 1st or 2nd class stamps and calculate how many are needed, so I do need a computer but don't need a printer, then post in village letter-box.
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Permalink Reply by kotkas on
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I’m not suggesting that Amazon’s tax arrangements and warehouse/delivery worker pay is fair.
What is evident is that one can build fully integrated digital infrastructure to deliver 80% of what the Post Office does and meet the needs of 95% of the UK population who use the internet.
I am also not sure what particular social or community needs it needs to satisfy exactly - it’s an utility, not a public service.
Having worked on one of the biggest retail banking branch rationalisations in the UK I’ll tell you that outside some very remote/rural areas there’s very little consumer appetite for branch based banking when compared to doing things online, and that the level of efficiency/competency of in branch personnel is absolutely shocking, which renders any form of advice (regulated or otherwise) absolutely pointless.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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If you’ve been up to Wood Green High Road anytime in the last 4 months you’ll have seen the queues at each and every bank and building society so there is something that is not being met by their digital offer. I have a friend who lives around the corner from Santander and he’s seen people starting to queue at 8:30 in the morning.
I have to say that one of the things that irks me is that shifting banking online is painted as being purely for the benefit of the customer. What it is really about is shifting the cost of that service onto the customer and away from the banks - I’m now doing what staff in banks did a decade ago and banks are pocketing the savings, not passing them on to me.
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Permalink Reply by Ruth on
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Maggie is right. I could never see how a proper PO with several counters, including a dedicated Turkish speaker, a foreign currency counter etc., could be replaced by what is offered in that shop. This was predicted and protests were ignored as she writes. And nowadays with so many people doing online selling and shopping and returns, it's a long long wait. Take your flask and a packed lunch...
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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Unfortunately, honest discussions of this kind by Hol folk who know what they are talking about, and who predicted the vacant Paul Simon "post office" chaos at least two years ago, always end up telling me more about kotkas than I ever wanted to know.
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