Lilysunshine

I am a big fan of internet shopping. It started back in the early days of my internet addiction: I would buy all my cds, dvds and books from the mighty Amazon. The fact that their warehouse was just minutes away from where I lived at the time was also a big factor: quick deliveries and support of the local economy (well, you need a lot of people to work in those huge warehouses!).

It’s been almost 10 years. Now I buy almost everything from the internet: furniture, groceries, clothes, craft supplies, etc… I love the comfort of not having to fight with hundreds of other people while trying to look up an item. And I can take as long as I want to do some shopping without upsetting my significant other. Oh and the very good deals too (thanks to Ebay, mainly). Until recently it was all fine.

So what happened?… Royal Mail… They went on strike about a month ago and since then, the mail has been rather disrupted. At the moment, I have something like 5 parcels somewhere in a Royal Mail warehouse. Yesterday, I have received the magazine I usually receive around the 15th of each month. Almost 3 weeks late. My mother has sent me a package full of baby goodies 2 weeks ago (from France, ok, but still) and I still haven’t received it. And I’m not talking about the diverse crafty stuff waiting somewhere when I actually need them now.

I understand the need of standing for what you want / need. In fact, I approve of it. I am a big supporter of strikes and striking rights. I am French, after all! Ah! If you want a strike to be effective, it had to be disruptive and annoying. That’s the way it is. My only issue with this series of strikes from Royal Mail is that Royal Mail (and not Royal Mail employees) is not doing anything to help us poor users / customers.
1) They don’t seem to be negociating with the unions to help find a solution to the problems that caused the strikes (another strike is planned for this week).
2) They don’t want to pay any extra-hours to the staff that are willing to get this sorted out by clearing the backlogs of mail.

I am so annoyed.

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