What is it with Royal Mail?

The Royal Mail. What can I say? It used to be that the postman would arrive, bright eyed and bushy tailed, sometime around breakfast, BEFORE you went to work. These days, they turn up when they feel like it, if they can be bothered.

Here in sunny Dartford, it's not unusual for the lazy git to not turn up until 2pm! - Now, I might be unfair blaming the postman, but he is the public face of Royal Mail, surely he should represent them, and to be honest, if I get a card through the door once more, explaining that I have to collect a parcel as I was not in at time of delivery, I will scream. Surely, if the post arrived at the traditional, breakfast time, I WOULD be here to accept delivery.

Perhaps I should invoice Royal Mail for my time wasted eveytime I have to traipse off to collect a parcel that they have tried to deliver at some ridiculous time of the day.

It's also worth questioning why he did not think of leaving the parcel with a neighbour, would that be too much like using his iniative, or is it that in todays world, most of us hate our neighbours, and would rather NOT have to knock on their doors to pick up a parcel? Come to think of it, I would rather collect from the depot than speak to the freaks living either side of me.

Now, we all know that the Post Office say's it is suffering these days, with more competition and the immidiacy of email, but surely, if they bucked up their ideas, and maximised on their potential, they should be able to turn things around, don't tell me EBAY and the like have'nt drummed up a mini delivery empire waiting to be picked up by a delivery/shipping company with a little savvy - there are so many partnership ventures now (BT Yahoo broadband anyone?) that surely the Post Office could join forces with Ebay or similar to provide a reliable service, that benefits all concerned.

In the meantime, it looks like a walk to the depot to collect parcels, will at least provide me with some much needed exercise.