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karohemdOK, I haven't actually written any other parts (using that headline) but that's beside the point.
Today: The post office.
This morning, I went to the post office to send off a CD and only two people in the queue ahead of me (about 8 people) had business I would associate with a post office (sending a parcel and buying stamps), all the others handed in some form or other or picked up their pension or pay a bill.
As the name suggests, it's the post office, for sending and receiving mail, for purchasing stamps and other related material, nothing else.
An example I actually know about: Car tax.
Why do I have to fill in a stupid form, write an antique cheque and take them both to the post office to pay my car tax? It's now slightly more convenient for me as the post office around the corner from work now finally does car tax but previously, I had to go to the bloody one in town.
Why is there no way of paying this by bank transfer or even better, by standing order/direct debit (the standard method of paying bills in Germany for the last 40? 50? longer? years)?
Almost everyone has a mobile phone that has more processing power and memory than my first PC and high speed broadband internet but their banking (not to mention plumbing and other things around the house, but that's a completely different rant) is from the 19th century. I really don't get it.
ETA: What it boils down to is an inherit difference in mentality and the administrative (and social) structures/processes between this country and the one I grew up in.
And if I hear the term "historically" one more time as an excuse for why things are as they are, I'm going to scream. There is no reason whatsoever why things can't change, especially not in a period of 50 years or more.
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no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:09 pm (UTC)Many countries have non-postal services available at the post office; the UK is by no means unique.
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Date: 14/6/06 01:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:11 pm (UTC)Because it's also a point of checking that the car is insured and MOT'd. Of course, you can now buy it online, as they've moved the MOT system to being properly computerised.
Given that Post Offices have been providing other services than pure post-related activities for the last century or more, it shouldn't really come as a surprise to you.
no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:13 pm (UTC)As for banking, i can do everything in 2 minutes from my PC, and if I had a better phone could do it from that!
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Date: 14/6/06 01:21 pm (UTC)Oh, I can do that, too but online banking has only been working properly for a few years. There has been a jump from the dark ages of cheque writing to online banking with nothing in between. There are still people about who don't own/can't use a computer and don't have a net connection, they have to do use the antique system.
If I wanted to, say, pay a one off bill to my landlord's bank account and couldn't do it online, I could go to my bank and do it there but it would cost a horrendous fee (can't remember how much, it was about 10 years ago, but it was at least £15) because he's with a different bank. I don't understand what the problem is because a standing order wasn't a problem and free, too.
no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:25 pm (UTC)And as for the paying it in problem - that's your bank. I do that for free
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Date: 14/6/06 01:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:38 pm (UTC)It went like this
Me: I would like to transfer £x from my account x to Mr y's account y at bank z.
Bank person: Sorry, we can't do that, that's a different bank.
Me: o_O!!!!
BP: What you could do is write us a cheque which we'll then transfer to the other bank and that'll be £s;ludicrous amount.
Me: Wouldn't it be easier if I just gave my landlord a cheque
Them: Or that.
Me: *leaves shaking head and wondering in which third-world country I had landed*
That was in 1996.
no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:39 pm (UTC)As far as I'm aware, banking is just as easy on the internet as it is in the branch, and bills and that are generally paid by direct debit. Mine are anyway!
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Date: 14/6/06 01:40 pm (UTC)2. So are German banks.
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Date: 14/6/06 01:42 pm (UTC)Oh, direct debit has been available for years but it's not that everyone uses it. It's a lot easier for everyone involved but it's difficult to change the mindset.
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Date: 14/6/06 01:43 pm (UTC)Was a great system until they started privatising and closing local branches
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Date: 14/6/06 01:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 01:52 pm (UTC)If you removed all of the other non-core services from the post office, it would make many more of them non-viable and they'd have to close, leaving a lot of people in a mess.
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Date: 14/6/06 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 02:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 14/6/06 02:01 pm (UTC)I guess what it boils down to is an inherit difference in administrative (and social) culture. The British dislike of change is a well known fact so certain processes have been kept despite being completely unnecessary and out of date.
Which brings me to another point of irritation: The word "historically" being used as an excuse for the state of things.
You know, sometimes I think that being bombed to oblivion and forced to rebuilt and restart from scratch would be a very good thing for a few other countries, too. It certainly helped Germany detaching itself from its past.
no subject
Date: 14/6/06 02:03 pm (UTC)I could write a thesis about my rants...