Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Let the Anger Begin

I had almost (*almost*) forgotten how incredibly frustrating my move here was 4 years ago.  I had almost (but not quite...) forgotten how incredibly angry I felt for the first 3 months I was living in London while trying to establish my life here, and had to deal with the endless bureaucracy.  Almost.

And, then I was reminded today when I had to go to the Post Office and submit our change of address form.    Oh, US Postal Service.  How I sooooo took you for granted when living in the US-and for that, I will forever be sorry.  I sincerely apologize.  I want to thank you for delivering my mail to me (unlike my current post man who is completely incapable), and I want to thank you for not charging me an extortionate amount of money (or, anything for that matter!) when I submit a change of address form when I move.  Mind you, this could possibly explain why you're currently bankrupt, but I don't want to split hairs...

The UK Post Office, in their piss-poor way, thinks it's OK to charge me £250 for 6 months of mail forwarding.  £125 for Simon. £125 for me.  Because we have different.last.names.  Same house.  Same address.  Both moving.  Different last names. And for that we're being penalized.

Given the track record of mail delivery the past 4 years (my magazine subscriptions 'mysteriously' stopped getting delivered....and last week, I took delivery of *all* of my neighbors mail-one of dozens of mis-deliveries...), I get the sincere feeling that submitting the form doesn't really matter-and we're very likely to only receive 10-15% of all of the mail that we'll be due.

Grumble. Grumble.

7 comments:

  1. That is so weird. I don't remember paying that when we moved back to the US but we forwarded everything to my in-laws in Newcastle and they send it on to us, so maybe that is £250 is completely absurd!

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  2. I think you have too rosy of memories of USPS. Our mail route is totally unreliable - to the point that I had to give up on NetFlix since others got to see the movies, but not me.

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  3. I feel your pain! I'm still waiting for some pieces of mail that hsould have been delivered last september. They are only cards...nothing big (in size) but somehow they disappeared into thin air. Horrible system here!

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  4. Good luck with your move my dear! We (http://flyingmonkeytravels.blogspot.co.uk/) arrived here in London one year ago on the 4th of July - a sort of reverse Independence Day. Funny you are leaving that same day.

    Have a great summer, Charleston is one of my favorite places in the US - warm beaches and cocktails - nothing better. If you end up somewhere around San Francisco, you have a friend:) We will be back there either in November or next spring. Things are a bit up in the air right now......

    Keep blogging, I love reading.

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    1. Thanks, Jane. Seattle...San Francisco...who knows? :) But, I will keep blogging for a while, and if we end up in San Fran, I will give a shout!

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  5. Wow - that's a lot of money for crap mail-forwarding. I have to admit though, that the USPS quality is not what you might remember. Apart from deliveries whenever the heck they feel like it, I frequently get the man-from-the-next-street's mail (same door number), half of my magazines never show up and they leave parcels on the doorstop for everyone to see, and in the pouring rain. It's no wonder they're going under.

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  6. I agree, it seems that postmen in the UK can't seem to read number properly, I have lost count of the amount of times I have gotten neighbours mail. I don't recall that happening in Canada. However mail gets delivered so much faster here (perhaps this is where haste makes waste) for what seems to be a lot less than Canada post charges. England it is a smaller country though!

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