The Mail vs queueing

ezinra · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2011 10:40 am

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I will not queue for anything. Why should I suffer because you can't run your business properly? A bit of decent competition and the Post Office queue would diminish rapidly......

- Jonathan, Lancaster, 18/7/2011 6:46 Rating 10

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2 1/2 minute queue at the PO? We are lucky to get away with 25. No other business on the High St deserve to go under more quickly given the comtempt for customer service.

- BB1 , Brighton UK, 18/7/2011 4:20 Rating 21

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Queues are a sign of bad service. If you have to wait too long in a queue the company in question does not deserve your business. Too many companies now leave their potential customers waiting too long. The perception of too long always belongs with the customer not the supplier.

- john, northampton, 18/7/2011 4:12 Rating 10

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I dont mind waiting for buses when there is a line but not when there's a mob. (Im sure that there was a law/rule that people had to queue for buses during the war, and there was a large fine if the law wasnt followed? Has that law been repealed, If not? please bring it back into use)

- Mr. Memo, Why?, 18/7/2011 2:19 Rating 7

They loathe the nanny state, these Mail readers.

PS It just so happens that this article comes from a survey by "by the online parcel delivery company myHermes" — a competitor of Royal Mail. Not everyone is happy with myHermes' service. There's even a myHermes sucks facebook page. It's worth noting that the company's drivers — sorry, "lifestyle couriers" — are "self-employed" and some of them appear to work other jobs:

Daily Mirror wrote:

More proof we're not all in this together.

Profits at Leeds-based Hermes Parcelnet - Britain's biggest home delivery firm - are up 37% this year to over £10million and boss Carole Woodhead has seen her pay soar by 270% to £722,353.

But there's no pay rise for Hermes' 7,500 "self-employed" delivery drivers who, as we revealed in July, can earn as little as £3 an hour and struggle to take a day off.

Now the BBC has followed-up our story, interviewing a string of couriers who told them how they deliver parcels for 50p a time, six days a week but with no employment rights.

Hermes insisted: "The vast majority of couriers are content".

storygirl · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2011 12:16 pm

These remind me of the people complaining about the Olympic tickets. It was clearly a disaster because they failed to immediately get what they wanted.

Surely queuing is a sign of demand?

Bones McCoy · **Joined:** Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:08 am **Posts:** 7417

Quote:

Queues are a sign of bad service. If you have to wait too long in a queue the company in question does not deserve your business. Too many companies now leave their potential customers waiting too long. The perception of too long always belongs with the customer not the supplier.

- john, northampton, 18/7/2011 4:12 Rating

Those Harry Potter movies - just another failing business.

davidjay · **Joined:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:24 pm **Posts:** 3938

Judging by my recent experiences Barclays must be falling apart.

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2011 1:24 pm

I watched Lloyds failing for about 20 minutes last week.

Picklechu2 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 13, 2008 10:01 pm **Posts:** 657

I celebrate increased competition and the benefits of privatisation every time I call my utility providers.

culfy · **Joined:** Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:41 pm **Posts:** 510

I do remember when I worked for a fairly well-known Insurance company, a boss, talking about our waiting times, giving a speech along the lines of 'Queueing is bad. If you see a long queue for something, you're going to go elsewhere'

One of my workmates responded with 'If you see a long queue somewhere, chances are it means that that that place is selling something a lot of people want.'

Mr Mordon · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2011 5:14 pm

With regard to the PO: The one in Bradford started implementing a ticket system which seems to work quite well, was under the impression this was being done throughout the larger offices?

It does look a bit daunting when you see the place choc full of people randomly standing around, but once you get used to the system you realise that if your ticket number suggests its going to be a long wait, you can pop out for a sandwich or something for 10 minutes.

ezinra · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2011 5:43 pm

Some branches of La Poste in Paris have a chart on display in the window which uses a colour code to show the busiest and least busy times of the week. It's not infallible, and much of it is common sense, but it does no harm.

Malcolm Armsteen · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2011 5:47 pm

There were three people at the same time in la Poste in Mortain last year. It caused a scandal...

moonkatt · **Posted:** Mon Jul 18, 2011 5:56 pm

I thought queueing was on of the things that made Britain Great?

Bones McCoy · **Joined:** Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:08 am **Posts:** 7417

moonkatt wrote:

I thought queueing was on of the things that made Britain Great?

Ahh, but that's for the "other people", you know like the highway code, tax, etc etc etc.

storygirl · **Posted:** Tue Jul 19, 2011 11:50 am

Malcolm Armsteen wrote:

There were three people at the same time in la Poste in Mortain last year. It caused a scandal...

Sounds like our village post office, where the only queues are caused by long conversations between the post mistress and her friends.

The Mail vs queueing

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