Tracking mail

could become an obsession now that the Downunder postal service has been reduced to such an extent that it seems to be barely there. 

I sent a small parcel off to someone in another state at the beginning of the month. It still has not reached them. The tracking information suggests that it has finally reached a sorting office somewhere. I asked about this in the Post Office yesterday and was met with a sigh and shrug,

   "You know what it's like Cat. It could be a few days yet."

Not good enough. We only get mail delivered on alternate days anyway. There is another "long weekend" (for ANZAC Day) coming up. That will make yet another week when we only have two deliveries.

"But people don't get much mail any more. It's all done on-line," I was told. 

This is apparently what the postal service wants. Letter delivery does not pay. They don't want people to write letters. They want people to use e-mail or their fancy phones. 

I posted a letter yesterday. I sent it registered post because I need proof it has been posted. It was ridiculously expensive to do this because it was actually being posted to a letter box in the same post office as it was posted in. This is a matter of a few metres.  The postal service assistant at the counter was not impressed at the cost - and neither was I.

And now the parcel delivery service - which is quite separate from the regular delivery service - seems to come when the contractor feels like it. A packet came for the Senior Cat last Sunday. It is still classed as "mail" but it was delivered on a Sunday? I queried this.

"It's my second job. I just do it when I can," I was told. Really? This is the way they run things now?

When my parents first moved in here there was a regular mail service and an equally regular parcel service. We knew the parcel delivery person. She was great fun. She lived on a boat in the docks area and we heard about their plans to eventually travel further than the best fishing spots. More than once we filled her water bottle on a hot day. We were sorry when she eventually retired and they did sail off. She sent us a post card from thousands of kilometres away. They were enjoying life.  We just wished that the parcel delivery people who took over were as good and as efficient. None of them have lasted long. 

Now I have "tracking numbers" to tell me where parcels are supposed to be and when registered letters have been delivered. Those don't seem to work either. 

Today is supposed to be a delivery day. I am expecting mail but I doubt it will be delivered. The postal delivery person will decide, perhaps rightly, that it is too difficult to get down the street while the WITS are here. 

Perhaps I should just curl up on my sleeping mat and put my paw over my ears and sleep until the usual services resume?