"Phil Cook" wrote

Royal Mail went to first and second deliveries to just one some time ago.
The last letter is in theory about 14.00, which counts as lunchtime. The
first may be something like 10.30, but it will depend where you are on the
round. You may get post earlier or later than this if the postie is
covering for a colleague.

How it used to be:
When my grandparents were courting, before WW1, my grandfather was in the
Army, and didn't know until during the morning whether he'd be free to meet
my grandmother that evening - so he'd send her a postcard which would be
delivered during the afternoon. This was in Cork.

Peter

In message , at 20:36:47 on
Wed, 12 Mar 2014, Peter Masson
remarked:
How it used to be:
When my grandparents were courting, before WW1, my grandfather was in
the Army, and didn't know until during the morning whether he'd be free
to meet my grandmother that evening - so he'd send her a postcard which
would be delivered during the afternoon. This was in Cork.

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still
post a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be
delivered to someone in another town by 8am.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still post
a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be delivered to
someone in another town by 8am.

In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

Peter

"Peter Masson" wrote:
"Roland Perry" wrote

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still
post a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be
delivered to someone in another town by 8am.

In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

And now you can send an email, text, tweet, IM, DM, usenet post, etc,
usually for little or no charge, and have it delivered anywhere in the
world in seconds. With that sort of competition, no-one's going to pay for
the huge network of people, sorting offices and vans that would be needed
to maintain the old style of physical mail services, that delivered locally
in hours, from a previous era.

Just be grateful that we still have deliveries to everyone's front door,
six days a week, across the whole country, at a standard price. In years to
come, we'll look back in amazement at that level of service. Most other
countries no longer offer it.

On 12/03/2014 21:23, Recliner wrote:
"Peter Masson" wrote:
"Roland Perry" wrote

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still
post a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be
delivered to someone in another town by 8am.

In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

And now you can send an email, text, tweet, IM, DM, usenet post, etc,
usually for little or no charge, and have it delivered anywhere in the
world in seconds. With that sort of competition, no-one's going to pay for
the huge network of people, sorting offices and vans that would be needed
to maintain the old style of physical mail services, that delivered locally
in hours, from a previous era.

Just be grateful that we still have deliveries to everyone's front door,
six days a week, across the whole country, at a standard price. In years to
come, we'll look back in amazement at that level of service. Most other
countries no longer offer it.


On-line sales and junk mail has bee the saviour of the postal service
apparently.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

On Wed, 12 Mar 2014 16:23:21 -0500, Recliner wrote:

"Peter Masson" wrote:
"Roland Perry" wrote

In London in the 40's you could post a letter in the morning informing
someone you'd be round for afternoon tea. By the 70's you could still
post a letter at 9pm in a town in the Southeast and expect it to be
delivered to someone in another town by 8am.

In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

And now you can send an email, text, tweet, IM, DM, usenet post, etc,
usually for little or no charge, and have it delivered anywhere in the
world in seconds. With that sort of competition, no-one's going to pay for
the huge network of people, sorting offices and vans that would be needed
to maintain the old style of physical mail services, that delivered locally
in hours, from a previous era.

Just be grateful that we still have deliveries to everyone's front door,
six days a week, across the whole country, at a standard price. In years to
come, we'll look back in amazement at that level of service. Most other
countries no longer offer it.

I'd rather cut deliveries down to three or even two a week if it would cut the cost of postage.

Optimist wrote:

Just be grateful that we still have deliveries to everyone's front door,
six days a week, across the whole country, at a standard price. In years
to
come, we'll look back in amazement at that level of service. Most other
countries no longer offer it.

I'd rather cut deliveries down to three or even two a week if it would cut
the
cost of postage.

Sadly it probably wouldn't. And with online shopping such a key part of the
Royal Mail's business there'd be fierce opposition to reducing the speed of
delivery or else a decamp to incompetent couriers.

--
My blog: http://adf.ly/4hi4c

On 13/03/2014 00:21, Tim Roll-Pickering wrote:
Optimist wrote:

Just be grateful that we still have deliveries to everyone's front door,
six days a week, across the whole country, at a standard price. In years
to
come, we'll look back in amazement at that level of service. Most other
countries no longer offer it.

I'd rather cut deliveries down to three or even two a week if it would cut
the
cost of postage.

Sadly it probably wouldn't. And with online shopping such a key part of the
Royal Mail's business there'd be fierce opposition to reducing the speed of
delivery or else a decamp to incompetent couriers.


Why use incompetent couriers when there are plenty of competent ones
available.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

In message

, at 16:23:21 on Wed, 12 Mar 2014, Recliner
remarked:
In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

And now you can send an email, text, tweet, IM, DM, usenet post, etc,
usually for little or no charge, and have it delivered anywhere in the
world in seconds. With that sort of competition, no-one's going to pay for
the huge network of people, sorting offices and vans that would be needed
to maintain the old style of physical mail services, that delivered locally
in hours, from a previous era.

Vans? It was all bikes and Shank's pony. Even today a lot of postmen buy
their own cars and use those to get to their delivery patch earlier,
Royal Mail doesn't buy them vans. (Let's not get confused with
Parcelforce).
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry writes:

In message

, at 16:23:21 on Wed, 12 Mar 2014, Recliner
remarked:
In 1970 I could post a letter at the main post office in Oxford up to
midnight and it would be delivered in South East London at breakfast time.

And now you can send an email, text, tweet, IM, DM, usenet post, etc,
usually for little or no charge, and have it delivered anywhere in the
world in seconds. With that sort of competition, no-one's going to pay for
the huge network of people, sorting offices and vans that would be needed
to maintain the old style of physical mail services, that delivered locally
in hours, from a previous era.

Vans? It was all bikes and Shank's pony. Even today a lot of postmen
buy their own cars and use those to get to their delivery patch
earlier, Royal Mail doesn't buy them vans. (Let's not get confused
with Parcelforce).

Royal Mail has several vans here, its the only way to deliver
efficiently to the rural area.

Phil