Overweight post
Page 45
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Haulage contractors are not the only people with overweight problems. Did you know, for example, that there is a regulation weight for a postman's bag? When Mr Ryland's men leave the sorting office in the morning their post bags should not exceed 35 lb. However, on many occasions they do slip out with a few pounds over, but if they're caught at this overloading practice by an eagle-eyed shop steward, they're in big trouble.
Of course, the bags are not weighed but the experienced postman can judge by looking at them. It's a kind of "guestimated weight", both by the postman and the shop steward. But with all this trouble in the offing, could you blame the man who leaves a little behind, because unlike haulage contractors, the postman can always tip some of his overload back into the sorting office.
What's this got to do with me, you say? Well, the chances are that if you're reading this 10 days after the publication date, then your copy of CM was one of the ones that had to be tipped. It might even have been the only one, the straw that broke the postman's back! Or it might also have been the one that was taken out to make room for two dozen letters. Perhaps even to make room for your telephone account, instead. At !east it gives you the opportunity to appreciate how overweight problems affect the customers.