Mike-C:
I’d be interested to hear from the guys in America, if they get random checks on the road. The Americans are very big on infringements of their right to go about their buisness, or supposed to be 
There are Scales or Ports of Entry at the borders of every State, if they’re open you have to pull in & if they want to have a look at you they will, they enter your DOT number (basically an O licence) which has to be displayed on the outside of the cab, into the computer & if you’re a bad boy you can guarantee a full turn out (log books & a full MOT) sometimes they just do it randomly, there are also mobile units that will pull you too, the basic theory behind it all is that as soon as you go out on the public highway you waive all your rights to privacy, if a cop comes up to you on the street & asks you to show ID you can refuse (unless you’ve committed a crime) but as soon as you get stopped in any vehicle you must show your driver’s licence to prove your identity, that is Federal Law in all 50 States 
switchlogic:
but then the Post Office couldn’t possibly get any worse if it was private, it’d have to get better.
How? They’ve closed lots of offices, massive amounts. People have to travel further to get to one and wait longer in one.
Mike-C:
switchlogic:
but then the Post Office couldn’t possibly get any worse if it was private, it’d have to get better.
How? They’ve closed lots of offices, massive amounts. People have to travel further to get to one and wait longer in one.
You sort of proved my point there, they couldn’t get worse.
Mike-C:
How? They’ve closed lots of offices, massive amounts. People have to travel further to get to one and wait longer in one.
Hardly surprising though, I haven’t set foot in one for years, I can buy road tax online in less than the time it takes to walk there and it’s only 300 yards away. I even buy postage on the internet. Lots of people do the same. If they aren’t being used as much it’s inevitable that they are going to be thinned out.
switchlogic:
Mike-C:
switchlogic:
but then the Post Office couldn’t possibly get any worse if it was private, it’d have to get better.
How? They’ve closed lots of offices, massive amounts. People have to travel further to get to one and wait longer in one.
You sort of proved my point there, they couldn’t get worse.
The post offices have been sold to slim down the costs before privatisation, as thats the way its hoped to go and you have noted this too. The actual offices are fine, so they could get a lot worse they function great but they are often oversubscribed. I was just struggling with your analogy with "Deutsche Post " who are primarily a mail carrier. The post office is not. I suppose "Deutsche Post " may make a great job of running the Post Office as you suggest, i can imagine some war pensioners choking on their tea when they get their war pension with German insignia all over it !!
Sorry Mike I wasn’t being too clear here. I wasn’t really talking about just the Post Office but Royal Mail as a whole. The Deutsche Post comment was an example of a former state owned mail carrier that was privatised and is now the biggest logistics provider in the world. I wasn’t suggesting they take over. Although if Royal Mail was up for sale they’d probably be one of the few companies big enough to handle it. Royal Mail could have done very well in private hands, as it is it’s a creaking over unionised dinosaur.