It took them less than 4 days to get my Common Rotation Live at The Bitter End-CD to me. Reminds me of the service our postal system used to provide before it got taken over by the French. Nowadays, it costs a fortune to send anything anywhere, and even if you have it marked 'Priority', it'll still take anything between 5-10 days for your packages to make the short hop across from The Netherlands to the UK. And now there's talk of abolishing the Monday delivery run with the justification that in these days of texting and e-mailing, a daily delivery service is no longer necessary or required. Pish! They just want to cut expenses, is all.
The same with the railways. As of the beginning of this month, it costs extra to buy a ticket at the service counter. And soon, it will no longer be possible to buy international train tickets at the counter, either. Instead, people are expected to buy their train tickets from machines that more often than not, don't work...and when they do, have an enormous problem with bank and credit card fraud.
Banks are letting a lot of their staff go, too. It's no longer possible to get cash out of one's account by filling out an order and having the clerk hand the money over. Instead, we are forced to use the cashpoints, which doesn't inconvenience me personally, but which is an insurmountable obstacle for old people and handicapped. Take my father, e.g.: after two strokes, he's no longer able to make the best use of his hands, added to which, the machines just confuse him.
But the US Mail apparently still adheres to the old-fashioned ideal of good, reliable service, so I say: well done, US Mail!
The same with the railways. As of the beginning of this month, it costs extra to buy a ticket at the service counter. And soon, it will no longer be possible to buy international train tickets at the counter, either. Instead, people are expected to buy their train tickets from machines that more often than not, don't work...and when they do, have an enormous problem with bank and credit card fraud.
Banks are letting a lot of their staff go, too. It's no longer possible to get cash out of one's account by filling out an order and having the clerk hand the money over. Instead, we are forced to use the cashpoints, which doesn't inconvenience me personally, but which is an insurmountable obstacle for old people and handicapped. Take my father, e.g.: after two strokes, he's no longer able to make the best use of his hands, added to which, the machines just confuse him.
But the US Mail apparently still adheres to the old-fashioned ideal of good, reliable service, so I say: well done, US Mail!
- Current Mood:
impressed - Current Music:'Dog Eat Dog' - Adam & The Ants
Comments
And vice versa. What is it about Europe? Why is it when I send you and J something on the same day, she has it in her hot little hands long after the European postal system finally kicks the donkey into action to get it to you?
As to banks and machines - we are being reduced to nothing more than PIN numbers so they can do away with nasty, difficult awkward things called "employees", in favour of machines who won't answer back or need to go to the loo.
Cue "I AM NOT A NUMBER!!!"
Where's my beer....?
Cue "I AM NOT A NUMBER!!!"
Sort of related: how long do you think it'll be before someone tries to register their child's birth and giving a barcode for a name? Or am I so far behind the times that this has already occurred?
Mmm, machines and the Internet is supposed to take over everywhere here as well.
Ooh now, that is a definite plus! Thank God for the mailroom at work I say; otherwise I'd never get anything sent!
Sometimes, I feel hopelessly out of date, you know...