Wow! What a thread! (Excuse the pun)
Armani, the main reason we have not moved forward in the last 3-4 years is simply because a majority of people who work behind the counter are frightened of change, and even when some people in their offices begin to do the job they are paid to do they deride and ridicule them. I think it was Axeman who referred to people doing the job they are paid to do. How many long serving Po's can hand on heart say they are doing the job that they are paid to do? I would suggest that the answer is not many. The truth is that anyone with more than a couple of years experience thinks they know better than the people who run the company, and that is backed up by some of the replies on here. There is no doubting that people at the counter work hard, but do they do the job they are being paid to do? Again I say no. Who decides what the PO's job is? Is it the PO's themselves? Is it the CWU? No - the bottom line is that Post Office Limited pay the wages, so they decide. Can you imagine working for a company in the High Street and saying to your boss, I'm awfully sorry I won't be doing the job you have asked me to today because I feel that you have made a mess of running this business over the last few years, and even though I haven't actually asked any of them yet I don't think that any of our customers want what you want me to sell anyway, so if it is all the same to you I want to just do what we did 20 years ago, despite the fact that the whole world has moved on in that time. You can imagine what the reply would be - about as unprintable as some of the replies I expect I will provoke with this screed!
This company is not perfect, but effective change will not be made by insulting managers and refusing to do the job that you are paid to do. I can't believe some of the vitriol displayed on this forum towards people who actually seem to want to work for the business. If people hate their jobs so much perhaps it is time to find a new one. But that will never happen will it? Because no long serving member of staff will leave without a pay-off. No-one ever says 'Look this isn't for me I'm off' everyone sits on their hands waiting for their bag of money, because they know that they won't get the same wages anywhere else for the amount of work they do. That is evidenced by the number of people who take redundancy from the counter and then try to come back a few years later because the money has run out and the job they took didn't pay what we do.
In answer to your questions Armani, virtually everyone in my office has the capability to do the job I ask them to do, but how many are actually willing to do it? The answer to that is a much smaller number. With regard to managers who dictate rather than support, to be honest if you get to the stage that you are dictating then you have lost it, and it will take a big effort to regain the trust and support of your team. The question about confidence would bring different answers depending on who you talk to, but in general to have confidence in what you are doing you have to believe in it. I believe in what I am trying to do, and I believe in my team, they don't all believe there is any point in what the business is doing so whatever they do is doomed to fail because without belief you will not get the confidence to succeed. Ultimately if you have the belief in what you do, the confidence will come with practice, and practice is one of the things that most counter clerks will shy away from.
Other than that I take my hat off to you Armani for standing up and saying what you believe.
. it's not the postmans job to create more revenue we i think do have people in place to do just that as to wether they just sit at a desk and do nothing is your guess (i know of managers who do absolutely nothing and i kid you not they do '0' hardest thing they do is turn up for work) now it seems to me you need some answers your best bid is when 'hellmail' goes live again just add your bits on there as it's run by royal mail and will doubtless answer yours as they are of management concerns not ours 
if someone could get their ideal job do you really think they would work for RM. Most of us only do it for the money. 
