More charges (From Penarth Times)

More charges

CONSIGNIA, formerly The Royal Mail, lets it be known that it intends to charge for postal deliveries if the punter wishes to receive his or her post before 9am. By the time that Consignia has reverted to its old name, these charges may well be operational. So a charge of perhaps £2 per day may be made for delivering post at a time which has been more or less traditional in years past.

At the same time, there is a plan (still somewhat notional, I understand) to charge householders for collecting rubbish, the suggested tariff being £1 per bag.

Existing methods are not, and should not be, sacrosanct but the two above services are already being charged for, of course, in one case through postage charges, in the other through council tax.

If it were proposed to substitute one method of charging for another, these proposals might have some theoretical merit. Otherwise they should probably be opposed.

A more generous Royal Mail might instead offer discounts to householders who would be happy about deliveries at noon; and councils to offer rebates of some sort to those whose rubbish is not cleared efficiently, including street refuse. But no, it is charge, charge and charge again and cynics might feel it is only what is to be expected from cash short and sometimes greedy and extravagant councils and national bodies.

Michael O'Neill Railway Terrace Penarth