Irony
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Just some random thoughts. I went down to the post office this morning to collect a parcel that wasn't delivered on Friday because I was out; and I got home with it to find another missed delivery card through the door. That's irony. The Post Office is only open from 10 till 12am which happens to be the time that deliveries are made too, so in order to make a collection nine times out of ten you will miss any delivery. That's irony. To top it off the parcel I missed today was the one I thought I was collecting - I need the contents for Monday. And the real cream on the pudding is that Monday is a Bank Holiday here, so the Post Office won't be open. That's awfully close to being ironic. Still, at least they are better than banks. Banks open at 9:30am and close at 4pm Monday to Friday, and don't open Saturdays. So if you work during the day you'd better not need to go to your bank... And does my bank offer out-of-hours deposits? Of course not. The only way to make a cash deposit with Barclays is to actually visit them. That's not ironic, just bloody annoying.
Ðavid Wulff Audioscrobbler :: flickr Die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen (video)
I don't know if you have a Royal Bank of Scotland in your area, but since they own NatWest they might have the same practices. RBS open on a Saturday morning - There are certain transactions you cannot do because it is the weekend, but as I've never needed one of those I don't know what they are. They just do a check on the details and any transaction you do make is actually processed on the next business day.
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I don't know if you have a Royal Bank of Scotland in your area, but since they own NatWest they might have the same practices. RBS open on a Saturday morning - There are certain transactions you cannot do because it is the weekend, but as I've never needed one of those I don't know what they are. They just do a check on the details and any transaction you do make is actually processed on the next business day.
My: Blog | Photos WDevs.com - Open Source Code Hosting, Blogs, FTP, Mail and More
There isn't an RBS locally, but I believe there is still a NatWest in the high street. The problem is, if I leave Barclays for my personal account I lose the benefits on my business accounts (basically no fees and interest free overdrafts). And I'm quite happy with the business support they give, it's pretty much all with their personal banking that I have the problems. I don't like the idea of just leaving my account with them empty and opening a new checking account with NatWest - I've been down the road of having more bank accounts than fingers and it makes money management very, very hard. I closed off three accounts this past year and it has made my life a hell of a lot easier. Are you familiar with this banking code thing they all sign up to? Does that specify anything like 'banks need to be available for certain, common duties to their customers'? It might make for a good Watchdog (BBC1) story.
Ðavid Wulff Audioscrobbler :: flickr Die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen (video)
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Just some random thoughts. I went down to the post office this morning to collect a parcel that wasn't delivered on Friday because I was out; and I got home with it to find another missed delivery card through the door. That's irony. The Post Office is only open from 10 till 12am which happens to be the time that deliveries are made too, so in order to make a collection nine times out of ten you will miss any delivery. That's irony. To top it off the parcel I missed today was the one I thought I was collecting - I need the contents for Monday. And the real cream on the pudding is that Monday is a Bank Holiday here, so the Post Office won't be open. That's awfully close to being ironic. Still, at least they are better than banks. Banks open at 9:30am and close at 4pm Monday to Friday, and don't open Saturdays. So if you work during the day you'd better not need to go to your bank... And does my bank offer out-of-hours deposits? Of course not. The only way to make a cash deposit with Barclays is to actually visit them. That's not ironic, just bloody annoying.
Ðavid Wulff Audioscrobbler :: flickr Die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen (video)
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David Wulff wrote: And does my bank offer out-of-hours deposits? Of course not. What?! :omg: do you live in the 3rd world? Every bank here allows deposits through ATM's
I'm sure they probably did at one point, but in the ever increasing drive to cut costs they have been dropped by some of our main high street banks. You see, it is hard to outsource cash deposits to India. I bet more banks in 3rd world countries offer out-of-hours deposits than they do here in the UK.
Ðavid Wulff Audioscrobbler :: flickr Die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen (video)
-- modified at 1:49 Monday 29th August, 2005
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Just some random thoughts. I went down to the post office this morning to collect a parcel that wasn't delivered on Friday because I was out; and I got home with it to find another missed delivery card through the door. That's irony. The Post Office is only open from 10 till 12am which happens to be the time that deliveries are made too, so in order to make a collection nine times out of ten you will miss any delivery. That's irony. To top it off the parcel I missed today was the one I thought I was collecting - I need the contents for Monday. And the real cream on the pudding is that Monday is a Bank Holiday here, so the Post Office won't be open. That's awfully close to being ironic. Still, at least they are better than banks. Banks open at 9:30am and close at 4pm Monday to Friday, and don't open Saturdays. So if you work during the day you'd better not need to go to your bank... And does my bank offer out-of-hours deposits? Of course not. The only way to make a cash deposit with Barclays is to actually visit them. That's not ironic, just bloody annoying.
Ðavid Wulff Audioscrobbler :: flickr Die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen (video)
In France, they just leave it on your dorrstep, or with a neighbour. Of course people here are so honest that it never gets nicked. Plus the post office is open all day, even in a piddly little village. And they all have banks that open on saturday mornings. Ahh! The joys of europe! Good old downsized cutback england... oh it brings back memories of branch closures and penny pinching service! Nunc est bibendum!
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In France, they just leave it on your dorrstep, or with a neighbour. Of course people here are so honest that it never gets nicked. Plus the post office is open all day, even in a piddly little village. And they all have banks that open on saturday mornings. Ahh! The joys of europe! Good old downsized cutback england... oh it brings back memories of branch closures and penny pinching service! Nunc est bibendum!
The parcel requires my signature, no one elses, for delivery. I also (knowing my postman pretty well over the years) have strict instructions that no parcels that could be left with a neighbour are, not for trust reasons but because my neighbour is 93 years old and has poor mobility. The last thing I want is him struggling to carry round boxes when I get home in the evening, which has happened before. The post office wont leave non-SD parcels outside, because I have also instructed my postman not to - I have come home before to find parcels completely destroyed by rain. I don't have anywhere accessible that is under cover. And FWIW fat_boy, you are vastly overstating the european postal services. I have shipped a ton of letters into Europe, mainly the Netherlands and Germany, and Royal Mail beats them on price, speed and reliablity every time. I have had recipients phone me up to ask where their letters were because their postman didn't deliver them. It's no good a post office being open if your letter/parcel is in the back of a van while the postman completes his route. fat_boy wrote: Good old downsized cutback england... oh it brings back memories of branch closures and penny pinching service! The post office? I have three branches and a sorting office within walking distance of my home, and all the local villages have post offices. Even my local supermarket has a pseudo post office inside it.
Ðavid Wulff Audioscrobbler :: flickr Die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen (video)
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The parcel requires my signature, no one elses, for delivery. I also (knowing my postman pretty well over the years) have strict instructions that no parcels that could be left with a neighbour are, not for trust reasons but because my neighbour is 93 years old and has poor mobility. The last thing I want is him struggling to carry round boxes when I get home in the evening, which has happened before. The post office wont leave non-SD parcels outside, because I have also instructed my postman not to - I have come home before to find parcels completely destroyed by rain. I don't have anywhere accessible that is under cover. And FWIW fat_boy, you are vastly overstating the european postal services. I have shipped a ton of letters into Europe, mainly the Netherlands and Germany, and Royal Mail beats them on price, speed and reliablity every time. I have had recipients phone me up to ask where their letters were because their postman didn't deliver them. It's no good a post office being open if your letter/parcel is in the back of a van while the postman completes his route. fat_boy wrote: Good old downsized cutback england... oh it brings back memories of branch closures and penny pinching service! The post office? I have three branches and a sorting office within walking distance of my home, and all the local villages have post offices. Even my local supermarket has a pseudo post office inside it.
Ðavid Wulff Audioscrobbler :: flickr Die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen (video)
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93 year old neighbours, not surprised, devon is becoming a retirtement home. Nunc est bibendum!
If anything Devon is becoming a hotbed for families moving in from the cities. I happen to live in a flat, well accessible area of town which is popular with retired and disabled people for obvious reasons.
Ðavid Wulff Audioscrobbler :: flickr Die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen (video)
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I'm sure they probably did at one point, but in the ever increasing drive to cut costs they have been dropped by some of our main high street banks. You see, it is hard to outsource cash deposits to India. I bet more banks in 3rd world countries offer out-of-hours deposits than they do here in the UK.
Ðavid Wulff Audioscrobbler :: flickr Die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen (video)
-- modified at 1:49 Monday 29th August, 2005
David Wulff wrote: I bet more banks in 3rd world countries offer out-of-hours deposits than they do here in the UK. Well I live in the 3'd world country of Texas and our ( at least the three I use ) are quite different. I have an account for checking ( Chase), a seperate tax account at another bank (Bank One) and a savings account at a third bank(Wells Fargo higher interest rate ). The tax account and the checking account are in different banks but they are really the same - Bank One was purchased by Chase and my two accounts are thought of as one by the bank. As long as I have over 2500.00 in both accounts checking and other minor little services are free. The banks are open till 7 PM M-F and from 9 AM till 1 PM on Saturday. I have E-mail notification of all debit and ATM transactions and overdraft protection. Not shabby. Richard Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a member of Congress... But I repeat myself. --Mark Twain
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David Wulff wrote: I bet more banks in 3rd world countries offer out-of-hours deposits than they do here in the UK. Well I live in the 3'd world country of Texas and our ( at least the three I use ) are quite different. I have an account for checking ( Chase), a seperate tax account at another bank (Bank One) and a savings account at a third bank(Wells Fargo higher interest rate ). The tax account and the checking account are in different banks but they are really the same - Bank One was purchased by Chase and my two accounts are thought of as one by the bank. As long as I have over 2500.00 in both accounts checking and other minor little services are free. The banks are open till 7 PM M-F and from 9 AM till 1 PM on Saturday. I have E-mail notification of all debit and ATM transactions and overdraft protection. Not shabby. Richard Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a member of Congress... But I repeat myself. --Mark Twain
Unfortunately, with English banks, the first victim to heavy competition on the high street is service. Nowadays most people don't even care, they just want an extra 0.01% interest paid. :sigh: Idiots, all of them!
Ðavid Wulff Audioscrobbler :: flickr Die Freiheit spielt auf allen Geigen (video)
-- modified at 8:00 Tuesday 30th August, 2005