Postal changes could lead to global warming

It came as an initial shock this week to realise the letter I had just posted first class in my local letter box in Colne would take 52 hours to reach its destination in Nelson, assuming delivery times were similar to those to my house. This is because the last collection time for almost all boxes is now 9am.

Reflection quickly triggered the conclusion that the relentless on-going drop in traditional mail by virtue of the onward march of email would be the culprit.

A chat with Mr Pendle, alerting him to the problem, prompted him to kindly speak to his contact at Royal Mail, who confirmed the new system had been rolled out nationwide to minimise the expensive cost of collecting from little-used post boxes. Unfortunately, this includes, for example, the box at Heifer Lane, which I know to be a busy one. The only later posting times for us are stated to be Skipton Road Post Office at 4pm and Burnley Sorting Office at 7pm.

I felt both hurt and astounded such an important change had been slipped in apparently without reasonable warning to Royal Mail’s 60 million customers and the exhaust fumes of countless individual personal vehicles would replace those of one Royal Mail van when we are being encouraged to cut down such pollution. Is this another step on the increasingly slippery slope to self destruction of the human race by global warming?

Owen Oliver

Colne