Less than a month now until Christmas and the end run of the year has begun. We are gearing up for the festive season at work.
There have been a few Christmas cards coming through the mail in the last week but I would imagine as the last days of November fade and December begins most people will realise Christmas is sneaking up on them and get their cards in the mail. That is if they send cards.
The Christmas mail has dropped off dramatically over the years due to the internet of course but I have always found sending e-cards and greetings generally over the internet too impersonal for my own tastes. Obviously very few people share my inhibitions and as the global trend to communicate online grows so the mail service suffers.
No matter. Just another industry falling by the wayside. It is the way of the world and the old adage, “adapt or die” is very applicable to postal networks all around the world.
Of course where that leaves me and my ilk is up in the air and as I don’t want to transfer to the “golden goose”, the “light on the hill”, which of course is the new parcel sorting facility.
Those who are left sorting the ever dwindling supply of small letters, large letters and whatever else is left over have a cloudy future. I will always have a job if I want it but what exactly that job may be in ten years is anybody’s guess.
As the mail service continues to decline the cost of sending small letters will probably increase and I can see a day coming when mail deliveries only occur a few times a week. Then there will be a hue and cry from the average punter, wailing over rising costs and lack of service. Of course the answer to that is “use it or lose it” but the world will not look back now and the day of the small letter being used as a conduit for sending our best wishes home or abroad or conducting personal business or paying bills is coming to an end. The world keeps turning and change is inevitable and there is nothing to be done about it.
The light at the end of the tunnel for mail services around the world is the boom in online shopping. Parcels of course can’t be sent over the internet so now and in the future there will be a huge market for parcel delivery services and the mail system is desperately trying to adapt to take advantage of that, fearing of course that the private companies which also deliver parcels are already a step ahead of them.
I am not convinced Australia’s mail service managers are up to the challenge.
For me it simply means pushing my canoe into the water and tackling the rapids and see where I come out at the other end. It is a disconcerting prospect but I have always been a prisoner of fate and not one to bend it to my own ends, much to my discredit.
The job itself is okay, the endless repetition and boredom is what eclipses patience and the uncertainty of the future is a weight keeping everyone down plus a lack of confidence in certain vital areas of the operation.
After Christmas I have a five week break. Plenty of time to relax and enjoy life for a while, getting out on my bike and writing until my heart is content. Away from the ills and travails of the “Happiness Factory” for a while and a chance to enjoy life without a care. I am counting down the days.
And so, as summer finally breaks upon us here in the south eastern parts of the continent I hope that wherever you are you are negotiating the fog of life and the traffic jam of this time of November with aplomb and consideration and enjoying your life and those who congregate in it for at the end of the day those folk are the only people who really matter. Let those lesser people who you will inevitably encounter during the day sweep by you like a wave in the ocean and enjoy your day without discomfort from those who seek to tear you down.
Have a good one.
There have been a few Christmas cards coming through the mail in the last week but I would imagine as the last days of November fade and December begins most people will realise Christmas is sneaking up on them and get their cards in the mail. That is if they send cards.
The Christmas mail has dropped off dramatically over the years due to the internet of course but I have always found sending e-cards and greetings generally over the internet too impersonal for my own tastes. Obviously very few people share my inhibitions and as the global trend to communicate online grows so the mail service suffers.
No matter. Just another industry falling by the wayside. It is the way of the world and the old adage, “adapt or die” is very applicable to postal networks all around the world.
Of course where that leaves me and my ilk is up in the air and as I don’t want to transfer to the “golden goose”, the “light on the hill”, which of course is the new parcel sorting facility.
Those who are left sorting the ever dwindling supply of small letters, large letters and whatever else is left over have a cloudy future. I will always have a job if I want it but what exactly that job may be in ten years is anybody’s guess.
As the mail service continues to decline the cost of sending small letters will probably increase and I can see a day coming when mail deliveries only occur a few times a week. Then there will be a hue and cry from the average punter, wailing over rising costs and lack of service. Of course the answer to that is “use it or lose it” but the world will not look back now and the day of the small letter being used as a conduit for sending our best wishes home or abroad or conducting personal business or paying bills is coming to an end. The world keeps turning and change is inevitable and there is nothing to be done about it.
The light at the end of the tunnel for mail services around the world is the boom in online shopping. Parcels of course can’t be sent over the internet so now and in the future there will be a huge market for parcel delivery services and the mail system is desperately trying to adapt to take advantage of that, fearing of course that the private companies which also deliver parcels are already a step ahead of them.
I am not convinced Australia’s mail service managers are up to the challenge.
For me it simply means pushing my canoe into the water and tackling the rapids and see where I come out at the other end. It is a disconcerting prospect but I have always been a prisoner of fate and not one to bend it to my own ends, much to my discredit.
The job itself is okay, the endless repetition and boredom is what eclipses patience and the uncertainty of the future is a weight keeping everyone down plus a lack of confidence in certain vital areas of the operation.
After Christmas I have a five week break. Plenty of time to relax and enjoy life for a while, getting out on my bike and writing until my heart is content. Away from the ills and travails of the “Happiness Factory” for a while and a chance to enjoy life without a care. I am counting down the days.
And so, as summer finally breaks upon us here in the south eastern parts of the continent I hope that wherever you are you are negotiating the fog of life and the traffic jam of this time of November with aplomb and consideration and enjoying your life and those who congregate in it for at the end of the day those folk are the only people who really matter. Let those lesser people who you will inevitably encounter during the day sweep by you like a wave in the ocean and enjoy your day without discomfort from those who seek to tear you down.
Have a good one.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 