Post Office - Seperate Queues for social welfare payments?

Do we need separate queues in the post office for people who want to collect their social welfare payments and customers who try to use other postal services?

This morning I decided to give my local post office some business but when I showed up there was a queue which not only sprung its way within the office, no it actually went up the road outside the post office!

In fact it was long that it nearly merged with the queue outside the container that is used by the social welfare office here for their business. Only the street was separating the two queues.

A sad state the country is in, where people on social welfare have to queue to get into a container to get service.

One of the shop keepers opposite the Post Office told me that it’s now happening regularly that the queues are going up the street in the Post office.

Now I’m not arguing that people on social welfare have more time than people trying to send a letter, parcel or do some other postal stuff (as paying customer), but why would I continue to use the Post Office rather than a private competitor if I have to queue for 1 hour to send a courier item?

I do agree with you there should be separate windows in post offices for SW payments or else reintroduce bank payments.

signing for the payment was brought back in for a reason.

Our local little post office always has queues out the door. The only day you can get in and out quickly is Saturday.
I think there should be separate queues

corkgal said:

signing for the payment was brought back in for a reason.

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An Irish Solution to an Irish Problem?

This myth that nearly all foreigners are taking the benefits here while living in their cheaper home countries and maybe only flying in once in a while?

I think it is clear that our goverment again spoke without having the full picture. It is completly unneeded to come here to legaly collect, you can get your irish entitlement paid out in another EU state for a long period without a problem. No need to cheat the Goverment. Not only that but even after that period you can have your period in Ireland counted against local requirments so you can get local payments after your Irish run out.

To have 402,100 people go to local post offices to collect money is just not good for either the people which try to use the post office for sending mail or for the cost that is generating.

The cost to pay out 402,100 people via the post office must be hugh, way higher than any payment to bank accounts or even prepaid cards would cost, even if there is a certain percentage of fraud involved.

So instead of implementing a solid system we force people to visit a post office, pay AnPost a lot of money for that and create certains days a week where we declare some Post Offices as "NO GO Zones" for customers trying to use it.

To have 402,100 people go to local post offices to collect money

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Just wondering though, does that figure include people who are on short weeks (as I am)? If so I get a cheque sent to my home address - which seems like a waste as I have to send in a casual work docket, signed by myself and stamped/signed by my employer each week so there is really no reason not to pay direct to the bank in cases like mine.

Where I live we have no queues because we have no Post Office. An Post downgraded our post office a few years back and then when the shop closed where our skeleton office was we were left with none.

I have raised similar question on a different forum a few years back and I got absolutely flamed for saying that pensioners and stay at home mothers have more time to queue than people who have to leave work to go to the post office.

In principle, I agree that people collecting SW have more time but they are also paying customers as the post office is getting paid to hand out the payment. I also think that a lot of SW recepients would object to being 'segregated' or being put second to someone who wants to buy a 55c stamp.

I believe that DSW have introduced a new sign on procedure in which case bank payments would make a lot more sense. The point that the cost of post office payments is higher than the loss by fraudulent claims is also valid IMHO.

I think we need to face reality.

Soon 20% of the potential workforce will stand in post office trying to get their benefits while at the same time local postmasters go out of business and they can’t hire more staff to deal with the more work.

So those who actually currently ensure that these 20% can receive their money (because what they paid into the magic social welfare fond while they worked has been plundered by the government to bail out their buddies in the banks and builders) can’t go to the post office on certain days.

I’m not advocating a queue jumping system in which those of us fortunate enough to have a job can jump in front of the unlucky ones automatically, but there must be a balance.

Either introduce electronic payment with an enforcement arm that actually works (well with the quality of talents in the relevant department I actually think it’s going to be hard) or ensure that the post office can actually be used to deliver what it’s supposed to do under the PSO. By having at least some dedicated windows that deal with paying customers who want to use the old fashioned postal service.