Should the post offices have been the first things to be privatised?

I think they should.

It's no wonder they are all being closed down.
They don't open Sundays, they close for lunch, they close early and open late, there is not even a faint wiff of any sort of decent customer service - they enjoy keeping you waiting in long queues and never apologise.
The people running them are either old and doddery or women in the middle of the menopause who are permanently angry, and all they stock is elastic bands and crappy felt tip pens

I run a chain of fashion shops and if I closed for lunch every day for two hours, i'd be out of business in no time.

So what makes the post office so special?

I already know what sort of answers i'll get......
'How will all the 97 year old ladies collect their pensions'
and the more predictable 'taking away the post offices will rob people of community spirit'
Please can I have something more original!!!

* I think it's mostly Americans answering, so presumably you're post offices are great over there!

If the UK post offices were privatised they would probably be open 24 hours, staffed with fit young attractive men and women. They'd be faster at service and much politer, they would act like tesco and open up another till if someones waiting, instead of looking the other way and offer more gadgets and products and would be quite 'cool' places to be.

Face it you communists, goverments should NOT be running businesses. The people they put in charge are usually penpushing cival servants with no idea of what the customer wants.
Every single thing the govenment or local council touches turns to disaster, they are just not up to making quick decisions and getting things done.

Can we please shut down every post office in the world.. NO....im really serious. They have people queueing up outside the door for 20mins all day everyday. Some people only want to get 1 thing weighed, and others pay all their bills and take 15minutes to do it.Working people just dont stand a chance of making it to the front, and they shut at lunchtime...arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggg They are such stressful places.
Sorry to anyone who works there, but its true. and NO to privatization, it would be even worse to know they are making massive profits.

You don't run the postal service.Run your own business as you please.I don't know where you are, but the postal workers around here are polite and helpful.Let me guess you might lean a little to the right and want to privatize all government operations so your wealthy friends can get their hands on even more? No? Is that a little more original?

Another sign that big businesses are taking over small businesses.

Well you seem to be ranting, but no they shouldn't be privatized.

Sacramento CA

Well my post office everyone is friendly.they sell plenty of things.

the idea of "privatization" is to systematically take everything the people own for thyemselves (and so at LEAST not have to pay an inflated price just to go into the park,for example, just so some congress croney can take your money as a PROFIT)
or for another example so that YOUR kid can get the same level education (so the same opportunity at the START in life) as the richer kid can, cause you all go to the same well funded public school------> you take THAT away, and it just widens and reinforces the moat between the walmart workers and the owners who dont even work!


it was something the republican party set out to do a few decades ago, if they ever DID get control, they figured, they'd take EVERY opportunity they could find to make more profit, and own more conrol of the public resources.

Privatization was to take the publicly funded things (schools, state parks even, all of it) and just GIVE it to some rich guy, and let him triple the price.

I can't see a reason for us to go along with that idea.

It's supposed to be a democracy.
(Remember this one? "OF the people. FOR the people, BY the people")
I see that NOWHERE.