Home from Home | Post offices still provide vital services, even if their role has changed in the era of internet and competition from private delivery services
- When communication with loved ones was done by writing letters, visits to the Poste Restante counter at Hong Kong’s General Post Office were keenly anticipated
- The role of post offices everywhere has changed in the internet era, but in rural Britain they continue to provide essential services. Long may that continue
Visits to the post office are among my earliest memories of Hong Kong. Having arrived before the days of email, instant messaging and social media, snail mail provided a vital link with friends and relatives back in Britain.
Back in Britain, post offices provide essential services. The one at my local village shop is a lifesaver when I need to withdraw cash.
A very different side of the British Post Office, however, has dominated the news recently, thanks to a good old-fashioned television drama. The four-part series, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, tells the extraordinary story of a desperate battle for justice by sub-postmasters that has spanned 25 years.
More than 900 of them were wrongly convicted of false accounting, fraud or theft when blamed for shortfalls in their accounts. Some went to jail. As they suspected all along, the problem lay not with them, but a faulty computer system used by the Post Office.
The scandal has had a devastating impact on their lives and those of many others who, although not convicted, lost their jobs, homes and savings. At least four committed suicide.