Alexander Britton: We're boxed into a corner

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://news360.com/article/261119306/#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail is looking at collecting mail at some postboxes earlier, but is traditional post dying due to emails? Political Correspondent Alexander Britton puts pen to paper.

IT'S not quite the Last Post.

But by the time you read this, it might not be far off.

Around 50,000 postboxes across the country have brought back collection times to as early as 9am in a bid to save Royal Mail cash. Hundreds of them are in Nottinghamshire.

The facts seem fairly stark: postbox usage has fallen by a third since 2005.

Clearly, there are fewer of us hastily penning thank-you letters to distant relatives after Christmas and birthdays, hours spent labouring over fan mail have been replaced by seconds spent composing 140-character tweets.

I moved house this week and while packing away my belongings, I came across an open packet of 100 envelopes that I remember picking up during my first shop when I started university back in 2006.

It was one of those runs where you pick up "life essentials" – oven gloves, tea towels, 100 envelopes.

The oven gloves are scorched, tea towels well past their prime, but I still have 95 crisp white envelopes unused.

At this rate, it'll be 2070 before supplies before the stock runs dry. The decline of postboxes, much like that of phone boxes, has been quicker than many expected.

Ask someone where their nearest functioning phone box is and their face may well go blank like a TV when the plug is suddenly pulled. But whereas innovative things are being done with the shells of phone boxes – small libraries, defibrillators, even charging points for mobile phones – some are just being left to ruin.

Or judging by previous experiences, impromptu facilities for people who have been caught short. And not of phone battery. It seems Royal Mail isn't happy with the same fate for their postboxes – it's harder for pillar boxes to turn into libraries in any case...

But the decision has been made that in order to preserve the boxes, changes have to be made.

Royal Mail aren't alone. As mentioned, phone boxes are disappearing and there's pressure on other services that are nice to have but have declining use in recent times, such as libraries for example.

We may well end up with a situation where IMBYism is king.

People accept that some phone boxes have to go, some libraries should shut, some GP surgeries need to be merged, just as long as its not the one near them.

Still, it's funny how things change. Ten years ago, people would get narked as post piled through the letterbox but the ding of a new email would be exciting.

Now, the reverse seems to be true and something tangible through the letterbox is a novelty.

There is nothing nicer than receiving a letter, but it seems to many that there's nothing more tiresome than writing one. More's the shame.

[wabbithunta]

There is nothing nicer than receiving a letter, but it seems to many that there's nothing more tiresome than writing one. More's the shame.

So instead of bleating on about it then, he should put pen to paper and write one. After all he's written a a report for an online newspaper, so what's the difference?
Answer? They're paid to write a report!
Maybe they should practice what they preach!?

[Shaman Mao]

The whole thing is a farce. The stickers went on our boxes in September but now we find out that we're not due to start collecting on delivery until two weeks before a collections revision. This revision is due to take place in MARCH 2016! Talk about false advertising.