Postboxes

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Wuppertal
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Postboxes

Post by Wuppertal »

I remember how wonderfully convenient it was having all those postboxes dotted along the avenue; I was quite impressed with the freedom of being able to send mail that easily (and buy stamps in the tuck shop) considering other simple freedoms that were not always there (such as being able to wear our own clothes, or go out of the ring fence into the world). It was nice too that the postman would always stop for you if he had just done a collection and could see you were just about to miss the collection; he'd always go out of his way to make sure you got your letter in the mailbag. A comforting thing for a homesick 2nd former.
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Re: Postboxes

Post by michael scuffil »

Those were the days. I once posted a letter at CH in morning break and my mother in London got it the same afternoon.

There was a limit to the postmen's tolerance though. I remember someone writing a spoof loveletter to a (real) girl, which his "friends" posted for him. Despite his waiting by the postbox for the postman to empty it, the latter resolutely refused to hand it back to him: "against the law" he said (rightly).
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Re: Postboxes

Post by midget »

What luxury-posting letters. It would have been a hanging offence at Hertford.
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Re: Postboxes

Post by Katharine »

midget wrote:What luxury-posting letters. It would have been a hanging offence at Hertford.
In my time almost all the BAs lost them as we 'were rotten to the core', someone had been seen to post a letter but nobody owned up. There was confusion in the effort to find enough large pinnies. I think the punishment lasted about three weeks.
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Re: Postboxes

Post by Vonny »

I think we put any letters we had written on the shelf by the front door - I assume it was the VI form or house mistress who posted them - I can't remember. I do remember the post boxes at Horsham though, in particular posting a handful of valentines cards one year - not all from me of course!
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J.R.
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Re: Postboxes

Post by J.R. »

michael scuffil wrote:Those were the days. I once posted a letter at CH in morning break and my mother in London got it the same afternoon.

There was a limit to the postmen's tolerance though. I remember someone writing a spoof loveletter to a (real) girl, which his "friends" posted for him. Despite his waiting by the postbox for the postman to empty it, the latter resolutely refused to hand it back to him: "against the law" he said (rightly).
A couple of my drinking 'buddies' have worked for the postal service for years.

Once a letter is in the box, it remains the property of the Monarch until it is delivered.

Failure to carry this out always results in dismissal and prosecution in the Magistrates Court.
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Re: Postboxes

Post by Ajarn Philip »

J.R. wrote: Once a letter is in the box, it remains the property of the Monarch until it is delivered.

Failure to carry this out always results in dismissal and prosecution in the Magistrates Court.
Errrm, let me just clarify this, JR, are you saying that for every letter posted but not delivered there has been a dismissal and prosecution...?
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J.R.
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Re: Postboxes

Post by J.R. »

Ajarn Philip wrote:
J.R. wrote: Once a letter is in the box, it remains the property of the Monarch until it is delivered.

Failure to carry this out always results in dismissal and prosecution in the Magistrates Court.
Errrm, let me just clarify this, JR, are you saying that for every letter posted but not delivered there has been a dismissal and prosecution...?
Subject to a crime being commited. i.e. "Interferring with Her Majestys Mail. (No - Not Prince Phillip !), detection and prosecution.

Slight difference between deliberate tampering and accidental loss, which I'm lead to believe the Postal Service excel at, allegedly !
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Wuppertal
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Re: Postboxes

Post by Wuppertal »

I find Her Majesty's Mail is regularly deliberately tampered with, especially parcels. My mum sent me chocolate at Easter and the wrappers has been torn open and no effort had been made to hide this or to put it back to how it was. That's just one example of numerous ones that I've found upon opening parcels.
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Re: Postboxes

Post by sejintenej »

Wuppertal wrote:I find Her Majesty's Mail is regularly deliberately tampered with, especially parcels. My mum sent me chocolate at Easter and the wrappers has been torn open and no effort had been made to hide this or to put it back to how it was. That's just one example of numerous ones that I've found upon opening parcels.
I've had an ongoing session with Post Office for anput 3 years. Far too much lost (and, of the stuff that I know of financial value) and also letters returned to sender who say they were marked "gone away".

A few weeks ago I sent a Recorded Letter which you are supposed to be able to track online. Ot turns out that the only thing you can find is when it has already been delivered so it was never trackable. Turned out eventually that although it was delivered the barstewards there have a practice not to read the barcode onto their web page. Let us just say that they were somewhat put out that someone should query why the item had nnot been delivered - eventualy I got a nice snotty letter saying it had been delivered with a bit of paper with scrawls on it which could have been the dog's dinner wrapper. No apology and no refund of the extortionate price

A couple of weeks ago, having paid the full price for mail forwarding they demanded a further £23 odd with the threat that if I didn't pay up then the existing contract ........ Indeed, the envelope was marked to ensure that it absolutely must not be forwarded to me in France.
Of course I've complained and of course they haven't bothered to get a reply to me.
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Re: Postboxes

Post by AndrewH »

Wuppertal wrote:I find Her Majesty's Mail is regularly deliberately tampered with, especially parcels. My mum sent me chocolate at Easter and the wrappers has been torn open and no effort had been made to hide this or to put it back to how it was. That's just one example of numerous ones that I've found upon opening parcels.
Was this in parcels to Italy?
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Wuppertal
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Re: Postboxes

Post by Wuppertal »

AndrewH wrote:
Wuppertal wrote:I find Her Majesty's Mail is regularly deliberately tampered with, especially parcels. My mum sent me chocolate at Easter and the wrappers has been torn open and no effort had been made to hide this or to put it back to how it was. That's just one example of numerous ones that I've found upon opening parcels.
Was this in parcels to Italy?
No it was to Switzerland but there was extra Royal Mail security tape all over it which was not there when it was sent. But it's happened to me in the UK several times too. Not that I have a grudge, they do it to check for drugs and things and I understand their reasons, it would just be more polite if they could put the things back to how they were before they opened them.
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Re: Postboxes

Post by jhopgood »

I can't remember ever having used the post boxes at CH as the only letters I sent were those we had to write on a Sunday afternoon.
I've never been a great letter writer but my wife tends to send parcels to my sons and grandchildren in Sweden and the UK.
We always send from the village as we are allowed to take a couple of boxes home to test for size, before packing one and taking it back to the post office, which is open every weekday from 0900 for an hour. Weighed recorded and stamped, they get to Sweden or the UK in about 4 days. This also applied to Xmas cards we have sent, so I have always considered it a pretty good service.
However, coming the other way from the UK is a complete lottery and we have yet to work out whether the delay is in Spain or in the UK. Swedish post seems to arrive within the week as a rule, so I guess the delay is in the UK.
The girl in the post office in the village has decided that unless everyone has a postbox, she will not deliver as post was getting lost when she stuck it in the door. Spanish doors tend not to have letter boxes. This is no trouble, especially as she will hold all mail if we advise that we will be away for a while, all at no charge.
Just the type of service I think must have been given by the GPO in the 1950's. Unfortunately Deutsche Bank has taken it over and I fear these small benefits will soon disappear.
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Wuppertal
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Re: Postboxes

Post by Wuppertal »

sejintenej wrote:Of course I've complained and of course they haven't bothered to get a reply to me.
Just a thought - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum specialises in consumer rights issues like the one you described.

---

A few months ago a friend in Ireland sent me a letter addressed to "Hartland, Devon, United Kingdom". It went to "Hartland, North Dakota, United States", before being returned to sender. And my postcode was on it! On the second attempt it got to me :)

I too have had big problems receiving mail abroad. I have to say that my worst regular postal stress has been France, and I think it is their system rather than the British one, because even sending things within France it has often been slow...I sent a letter from one village in the Allier to a neighbouring village about 5 kilometres away and it took 10 days to get there. Also some things from Britain took about 3 weeks, though of course there it is not possible to say whose system was at fault (quite possibly both!).

That is very unfortunate, sejitenej, to read of your problems even with recorded delivery - I had thought that that was the most reliable way of sending things.

A bit off thread, but recorded delivery has served me well on one occasion: I was once wrongly issued a parking ticket - it must have been a typo or something because it was issued in Northampton and I've never even been to Northampton and nor has the car - anyway so I challenged it and once I'd found proof of where I'd been in the form of shop receipts from the same time as the "offence" etc., I sent the evidence by recorded delivery to the police, and I duly got a receipt a few days later to say it had been signed for upon delivery at the police station. But a few weeks later I got a letter saying my evidence had never arrived and I had a court summons. Either there had been a mix up with who had received the evidence or they were trying to deliberately take me down. So as soon as I got to court I showed the judge my proof of delivery and their case against me was thrown out. The look on the face of the police officer was a picture!
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Re: Postboxes

Post by sejintenej »

Wuppertal wrote: A few months ago a friend in Ireland sent me a letter addressed to "Hartland, Devon, United Kingdom". It went to "Hartland, North Dakota, United States", before being returned to sender. And my postcode was on it! On the second attempt it got to me :)
The UK Post Office is little better even with post codes - my town has the same first letter as Birmingham (but I think almost all the the other 8 are different) which is where they have consigned letters in the past. You have to remember that the US education and information systems are a bit different to ours; the next state is abroad, the other side of the pond is equivalent to Mars. Many of them simply have not heard of the United Kingdom as an area not controlled by Bush or Iraq. As for Ireland - one of then actually asked me which state it is in :x :x :x :x . International director of one of the biggest New York bank had to ask where Marrakesh is (the conversation related to a banking conference there).
Wuppertal wrote: I too have had big problems receiving mail abroad. I have to say that my worst regular postal stress has been France, and I think it is their system rather than the British one, because even sending things within France it has often been slow...I sent a letter from one village in the Allier to a neighbouring village about 5 kilometres away and it took 10 days to get there. Also some things from Britain took about 3 weeks, though of course there it is not possible to say whose system was at fault (quite possibly both!).
I have actually given a letter to the postman at about 1pm for a town 30km away in a different departement and got the response at 1pm the next day. That I rate as very good service. From Yorkshire it is 3 days, occasionally 2.
Wuppertal wrote: That is very unfortunate, sejitenej, to read of your problems even with recorded delivery - I had thought that that was the most reliable way of sending things.
Would be fine if they got off their butts. However, now, if anyone sends such a letter to me properly addresed in England it will simply be returned undelivered
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