Letter: Mail mediocrity

I am sorry to have annoyed Ian Jones (Letters, 6 January) with my comments about the Post Office. I readily acknowledge that most postal workers are conscientious and deserve their holidays. My point was that the Post Office as an organisation ought to provide a better service.

This was reinforced on Wednesday when I had to wait for 25 minutes to reach the counter at an Edinburgh post office because so many people had business which had accumulated during the break and the post office in question was not staffed to cope with the workload.

Gordon Macintyre

Murrayfield Road

Edinburgh

The British consumers' obsession with low prices has driven every public service into the bargain basement of mediocrity, Royal Mail being just the latest, judging by complaints of its performance over the recent holiday period. When full privatisation of this excellent organisation takes place, as it inevitably will, the consumer will be faced with the real cost of delivering a next-day letter, which experience of the courier and parcel delivery industries tells me will be at least 4.50.

Malcolm Parkin

Gamekeepers Road

Kinnesswood, Kinross