So a postman with the Royal Mail has been suspended for telling customers how they can avoid receiving non-addressed junk mail such as adverts and money-off coupons for the local Pizzeria.
Why have they done that? It's a piece of received wisdom that no-one likes receving junk mail, so surely the Postman was just doing a piece of thoughtful customer service?
On the other hand, the Direct Mail industry tells us that this sort of junk mail actually works, and delivers a relatively high take up of offers amongst recipients. We actually use the money-off coupons. So our behaviour as customers would seem to tell a different tale from what we say?
And of course, this form of mail is quite lucrative to the Royal Mail, and subsidises them to keep delivering first class letters for 32p. Without it, the Royal Mail would go down the pan, or letters would be more expensive. Interesting example of customer behaviour and a systems thinking issue.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
What is the Aim of the Post Office?
I signed a petition recently complaining to the government about the various threats to local post offices. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a letter from my MP confirming that he had presented the petition in Parliament, and attaching a copy of the Hansard record.
It started me thinking about “What is the Aim or Purpose of the Post Office in the Modern World?”
I suppose its purpose in years gone by was to provide access to the postal system, and to be an agency for all sort of public services – TV licenses, Road tax, pension and benefit cash payments and so on. And I suppose the modern world has come along to multiply significantly the means by which such services can be accessed: email and telephone, competing carriers, multiple outlets for stamps, PayPoints for bill payment, direct debit, and of course the internet.
Opponents of Post Office closures will, I guess, point to the social benefits of the network; access for some people (perhaps older, perhaps less well off, perhaps otherwise less able) who may be left unable to source cash and other services; a place at the heart of the community where people meet especially in rural areas; also in rural areas provides the core around which the business of a rural shop might revolve.
So does that mean that the real remaining purpose for the Post Office is solely to provide such service for the otherwise disadvantaged? Or can the Post Office derive a new purpose for the 21st Century which makes it a dynamic business as opposed to a simple social service?
It started me thinking about “What is the Aim or Purpose of the Post Office in the Modern World?”
I suppose its purpose in years gone by was to provide access to the postal system, and to be an agency for all sort of public services – TV licenses, Road tax, pension and benefit cash payments and so on. And I suppose the modern world has come along to multiply significantly the means by which such services can be accessed: email and telephone, competing carriers, multiple outlets for stamps, PayPoints for bill payment, direct debit, and of course the internet.
Opponents of Post Office closures will, I guess, point to the social benefits of the network; access for some people (perhaps older, perhaps less well off, perhaps otherwise less able) who may be left unable to source cash and other services; a place at the heart of the community where people meet especially in rural areas; also in rural areas provides the core around which the business of a rural shop might revolve.
So does that mean that the real remaining purpose for the Post Office is solely to provide such service for the otherwise disadvantaged? Or can the Post Office derive a new purpose for the 21st Century which makes it a dynamic business as opposed to a simple social service?
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