Walk 20 miles in his/her shoes......

So, I'm sitting slurping my morning coffee, looking out my front window and wondering if the Summer is ever going to reach Northern Ireland when I see my Postman, happily whistling as he walks up our path. He stops, checks his bag one last time (he's a thorough fella, our Postman) and stuffs his delivery into the letter box in our front door and goes about his round.  My Scrubby collects the post and announces

"Nothing in the Post, its only advertising."

I tutt ungraciously replying "I don't know why he insist on stuffing our letterbox full of that crap that is only filling up our recycling bin."

So I had a rummage through the "Post".  A menu for a local takeaway that we get at least 4 times a month, a leaflet with the latest deals from a local hardware shop, a leaflet with offers at the local Spar....Ohhhh, buy 1 get 1 free on Andrex toilet rolls.....Yippee!!  But basically, what was put through my door was recycling fodder.

But then I had a thought.....My Postman had to come to our door today.......even though there was no specifically addressed post for us.  So, not only does my Postman have to get up at around 4am to start his shift for the day to deliver letters and parcels to specific addresses, but he has to then deliver advertising that will inevitably wind up in the recycling bin to houses that didn't even have post to be delivered to them in the first place!  Of course I'm sure Royal Mail gets a handsome little sum for all this advertising to be posted through every single door in my town.  But does that mean the Postman gets extra for delivering to every door?  And if they do, is it enough of a pay rise to justify getting up at 4am and delivering to every single house on a street rather than just those who actually have post addressed to them?

I am at the end of my road, so I know that that is nearly 200 houses my Postman has to deliver to.  And that's the houses I know he delivers too.  He could also deliver to the road across from me too.  So, not only does he deliver addressed letters and parcels but he or she now has to deliver to every single house whether they have addressed post or not because advertisers have paid Royal Mail to deliver their offers, menu's, leaflets etc.  And not only does my poor wee Postie have to go to every house (in the fine Northern Ireland weather)..........but I can guarantee you, that all those households that didn't in fact have addressed post that day........they sure as hell didn't want to see a load of old crappy advertising being shoved through the door!  I know I certainly don't want it.  We get plagued with the stuff.  I hate unnecessary waste and this stuff immediately goes into my recycling bin.  But I will never give off to my Postie about the "crap" stuck in my letterbox because chances are, he or she hates having to go to every single house instead of just those receiving genuine post.

And another thing Royal Mail......your price hikes are ridiculous.  And I don't care if you say you are delivering more parcels than letters now, you were more than likely going that way anyway to deliver other things.  Let's face it, f my Postman has to deliver advertising to every single household anyway, including the usual parcels and letters.....you are still getting paid either way, should it be by the Advertisers, our letter postage fee or parcel postage fee and my Postie still has to deliver to EVERY single house.  So don't cry about having to deliver more parcels when you are obviously sending your Post People to every single household anyway, delivering rubbish, spam and advertisements regardless.  The Big Boys are all about keeping the Shareholders happy and boy they must be ecstatic and laughing at all of us spending almost £1 for a tiny letter!

So, next time you see your local Postie coming down your path and you want to tackle him or her to the ground for putting crap through your door, maybe consider just how far he or she has walked that day and all the unnecessary miles they've had to walk just so the Fat Cats at Royal Mail can get their year end bonuses and pat each other on the back, congratulating each other on being Masters of the Universe.

And to my local Postie.........You're the Man (or Woman)!

And any Postmen or Women out there who want to give your tuppence worth, feel free to leave a comment below.  You are all stars.  x