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 Matt on
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I'd be curious as to whether they were given a mandate regarding the number of counters they are supposed to keep open. There's often two, but if you want to do anything beyond drop off a parcel or buy some of the shop items, i.e. anything that requires a post office rather than a shop counter, say complete a mail redirect form, you have to use the counters at the rear of the store. One of those has something (photo booth? Memory fails me) stuck in front of it, meaning in reality there is only one counter available.
Even allowing for there only being one, or two counters depending on need, the service is very slow. None of the staff I've been served by there seemed particularly driven by the size of the queue.
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Permalink Reply by vaneska on
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In Crouch End I see long queues and I hear of long waits although I hear the service is efficient once you get to the end of the long waits.
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I passed the post office at Woodberry down Last Monday afternoon, it had 6 people waiting outside, 10 minutes later I counted 18 outside the one on green lanes. It does make you wonder.
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I've used this post office three times pre covid and it has always been slow. There are sometimes three people present but only one or two counters open. Dreadful.
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Permalink Reply by kotkas on
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I think it's highly dependent on the time of day. Every time I have had to use them during the C-19 situation I haven't had to wait for more than 15 minutes.
But that may just be the illusion of time flying by while I am outdoors...
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How the amount of custom and various services from the old Post Office was ever meant to be distilled into this tiny shop was beyond me.
It has been hopeless, even before Covid there were long waits and usually only one counter open. If someone has a complex request which entails detailed form filling or a list of complicated questions you can wait forever, at least with Covid you get to wait outside rather than inside listening to every personal detail needed for the form filling.
There are queues at all the shops acting as Post Offices- Crouch End, Hornsey, Archway, Highgate... I know because I have trailed round them all in an attempt to find one that works efficiently, they all involve long waits and as far as I am concerned none of them are able to deliver the range and depth of service that the original Post offices did, however the Green Lanes shop is the worst.
This was entirely predictable and indeed was predicted by many whose protests were ignored.
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Im not a fan of the new Post Office franchise but have zero sentimental attachment to the old entity (and for that matter any other branch.) Nobody should have to hang around in a tired old retail establishment to buy some bloody stamps from a cashier with a DB pension pot that’s probably bigger than that of the average person. This is why the old entity is gone. In any case 80%+ of what happens at a typical Post Office can (and should) be automated. It should really be a drop off destination for post and not much else.
Anything else - foreign exchange, form filling, ID services are all relics of the past and only a matter of time that these things moved online and became as cheap, convenient and frictionless as they deserve to be. Thats one thing Big Tech gets tight - look at Amazon for example.
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Come off it. That 'cheap, convenient and frictionless' comes at an unbelievable human cost. It is the modern form of slavery.
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How exactly is filling out a DVLA form online, or getting FX via a digital service a form of slavery?
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Yes look at Amazon, they are able to function well and make vast profits by refusing to pay their fair share of taxes, by ignoring their environmental impact and on the backs of the people who work for them. They have a terrible worker pay and rights history wether its China, the US, the UK, paying below average for the area to the extent that workers cannot pay their rent or afford to live, working conditions that have labelled them one of the most dangerous places for injuries at work (US, 2018), with high incidents of accidents and work related illness and injuries (UK, 2018). Post Office workers fought for their pension rights, we should not be aiming to downgrade or abolish these rights for other workers.
It was obvious then as now that the real Post Offices were not just a place to "buy bloody stamps". Stamps were and are available from local newsagents so if all you needed to do was to buy "bloody stamps" there was no need to go to the Post Office at all.
The full range of services offered by the shop Post office is still needed as evidenced by the queues at all shop Post Offices, its just now thanks to Covid we can actually see this need by the queues outside.
Many services can and have been moved on-line however not everyone has access to adequate technology or has sufficient skills. The Post office offered a service and access to necessary information and as Osbawn has said 'some social/community needs just can't be met by the market'.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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I think the need for face to face, knowledgeable services has also been evidenced by the queues at every bank and building society you pass. While much can be done online, there is obviously still a huge need for walk in services and advice from places like banks and post offices
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