Back in the late 1980s, US postal workers had apparently endured so much stress that they went on the rampage and whipped out guns and massacred several bosses.
The shootings continued until the early 1990s and led to the birth of the term “going postal”, a phrase that has become entrenched in our lexicon and even made it as the title of one of Terry Pratchett’s novels - one of my favourite authors if you’re pondering what to send me for Christmas.
“Going postal” is now a term we attach to anyone who just flips out and goes on a rampage and - while I’m not suggesting South African Postal Workers are shooting their bosses - it is also an apt term for the current state of affairs at the posty.
The post office has become a source of amusement - unless you’re a victim of its inefficiency - and an all-round bad joke.
Who can forget the pictures of mail lying around in jumbled piles at the central hub after the last strike?
Or the endless wait for an item that someone - foolishly - actually entrusted to the postal service.
It’s not even reliable in its inconsistency.
Just this morning, a colleague was telling me a tale of a gift that was posted to her in 2014 and eventually returned to the UK sender some 18 months later for no apparent reason - this despite her spending two hours every Saturday at the posty for six months trying to find the parcel, which had a tracking number.
The same colleague, however, has also received post three days after it was posted.
I’ve also fallen victim to the (in)efficiency of the post office. My local posty managed to return a letter two days before I received the final notification that it was at the post office. My mind boggles as to how they can timeously send something back before they’ve even once told me it was there.
“But, we sent you three letters,’ they said. “No, you only delivered one - the last one,” I argued, and pointed out the irony and questioned how the strike could derail street deliveries but ensure items were returned to sender without fail.
I was wasting my breath - although anyone who has dealt with the post office would have told me not to bother trying to understand its vagaries.
Everyone has similar tales, and most people I know have shifted post to either email or courier. The only thing I get via post now is the rates bill, and that’s because of a mess the City of Johannesburg has created that I do not have the energy to resolve.
In a digital age, it just makes sense to not use physical mail, and my child will probably never know the joy of getting an actual handwritten letter in the post - unless I brave the posty and send her one myself.
So it’s not surprising that the agency expects a loss of R1.3 billion for the financial year to March.
The question is: can new CEO Mark Barnes drag it kicking and screaming into the digital age?
I hope so. We don’t need another white elephant eating up taxpayers’ money.
Barnes, according to 702’s John Robbie, is a respected businessman known for being a maverick and calling a spade a shovel. He brooks no nonsense.
I’m not sure how that will go down with the unions.
But perhaps what the post office needs is a new broom to sweep clean; just not to sweep all those undelivered letters out the door.
It needs to get with it, and understand the times we live in and how it can serve a valuable purpose in this age.
Otherwise we may as well consign it to the rubbish heap of history - just like that letter you were expecting was.
* Nicola Mawson is the online editor of Business Report. Follow her on Twitter @NicolaMawson or Business Report @busrep.
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