Letters: Self-service taking away human interaction

It is not that many years back when you drove into a petrol station and had your car filled, your windscreen washed and your oil checked then you paid for your purchase, were wished a "good day" and drove off happily.

You could also sit in the grocery store and tell the chap or girl behind the desk just what you needed and it was wrapped up, put in your basket and off you went quite happily.

Now you serve yourself at petrol stations and supermarkets expect you to act as your own checkout girl!

Airports are also now expecting us to check ourselves in for a flight!

Next, I suppose the police and fire service will not bother answering calls but will tell us just to "get on with it!" It will be very interesting to see which of the "service community"
comes up with a new way for them to avoid hiring staff!

Jim Adams
Rotorua

No excuse for animal cruelty

I was so upset to hear the John Campbell interview on Radio NZ and to watch the TVNZ footage of the Northland sharemilker beating his cows with a metal pipe!

These poor animals were voiceless and at the mercy of this dreadful man. There is no excuse for such cruelty to animals and he needs to be held accountable for his actions.

Catherine Cameron
Glenholme

Central PostShop closure

I understand the central PostShop is closing. This is not surprising if you look at the recent past record of some of NZ Post's decisions:

Closure of the Te Ngae and Whaka post offices, downsizing of the central post office, closure of many self-posting boxes in the community and introduction of limited three-day-a-week delivery service.

At the same time you couldn't expect more from a very good and helpful staff. My observation is that the central PostShop is a very busy place of business for six days of the week.

If you reduce the quality of your service it's no wonder patronage declines. Why not relocate to a busier part of town and open a nice new post shop? Bigger than the present one?

How sad to see the demise of a key public service. I believe the post office in NZ officially opened in 1840 in a room in a store in Kororāreka in the Bay of Islands. For a time it was located in the Victoria Hotel which must have been a popular choice for the drinkers.

Mail was first carried by the Armed Constabulary between Kororāreka and Hokianga. The post office had a staff of 24,000 in 1959 and every small town had a post office with the local postmaster an important figure in the community. It was a significant employer of women.

I cannot help wondering if our central PostShop will today end up like in 1840…. "A room in a store".

Wayne Hall
Lynmore