Today I wrote her a nice thank-you-note, but in my opinion that
wasn’t enough. So, I went to one of the local card shops and bought a nice cheerful card for her. Wrote a little bit extra in the card and then it was off to the post office for a € 0.39 stamp. I was a bit surprised to find out that I had to wait in line on a weekday, but hey it was for a good cause, so I waited patiently.The lady in front of me needed some stamps too. To her (and mine) surprise she heard that the post office did not sell single stamps anymore. HUH?? Bummer! So she asked for the 5 stamp sheet. “I am sorry, we only sell sheets with 10 stamps on them these days” was the reply she got. The lady really needed the stamp so she bought them.
I was a bit flabbergasted and asked the post office lady if I really needed to buy 10 stamps when I only use maybe 3 or 4 regular stamps in a year.
Her answer: ‘Yes!’
My reply: ‘How ridiculous! I need to buy 10 stamps now and by the end of the year I can’t use them anymore because you change the rate next year’.
Her answer: ‘but you can use them next year. You’ll only need to buy another 10 stamps to pay for the difference then. You can stick these next to the old ones and you’ll be good to go’
Me: ‘but if I use, lets say, 5 of the current stamps, and then have to buy 10 stamps to pay for the difference in the beginning of 2007, I’ll be left with 5 stamps which I can't use because I haven't got any more € 0.39 stamps left. What do I do with the rest of them? Should I just throw them away? That’s just plain robbery!’
She: ‘Well, that’s your problem! Don't send mail, email instead. Oh, and if you don’t like this, write to the post office people!’
Me: *sigh* ‘I think I will!’
But what to do next? I could not send the card without a stamp. When I walked towards the exit I saw the 10-stamps-buying-lady again and said ‘this might come across very bold, but do you have any spare stamps? If you have, I would like to buy one from you :)’. She smiled at me and said she would be delighted to sell me one! Hooray!! I was so happy; I almost hugged her :) So glad, there are still nice people out there!!
Oh and in case you are wondering, we are both going to file a complaint with the post office people :)
7 comments:
You could always start a stamp sharing collective for all you folks who use less than 10 stamps a year!
Oh....that's a brilliant idea, Andre. Thanks for that :)
same thing in singapore. i usually send the remaining stamps in my letters and/or cards to a chosen few, else they expire (difference in value)
oh and hello {{Dakota}}
Hi there, {{Boo}}. Nice to see you again :)
Another brilliant solution! I'll keep that in mind next time they try to force me into buying 10 stamps :)
Coincidentally, I saw something on the news last night about a)Canada Post is no longer going to print 1-cent stamps and b) Canada Post is introducing a new 'permanent stamp' which will always be sufficient postage, even if you don't use it for years. (I'm not sure how much it will cost though...I didn't pay much attention since, like you, I almost never send letters.)
I don't know whether you can still buy single stamps in the UK. I can't remember the last time I actually bought a stamp. I always ask the nearest person if they have one. People are very nice - I offer to pay but they never take the money.
I think that is quite an interesting solution, Zoom!. That way you'll always have a stamp around and you’ll never have to worry about the current postage rate. Brilliant people…the Canadians :)
Most people I know don’t send a lot of “regular” mail, Kat. So I could ask them for a stamp but they’d probably suggest sending an email instead. Come to think of it, I guess most people here only use the post to send cards at Christmas (when they can buy special Christmas stamp – which are cheaper and can’t be used after the New Year).
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