When Businesses Fail To Adapt
Yesterday there was more bad news on the job front for South Africans as the Post Office a Government SOE is closing or merging nearly 100 branches. This will see another 5000 jobs lost just 3 weeks before the general elections.
There was a discussion last week that the government would step in, but business rescue reported it was not feasible. I thought they would retrench after the elections because this is not exactly good news prior to voting. The government tried and were blocked leaving them in a seriously bad place.
For those that don't know the SA Post Office has not been working like it should for years. The majority of the country do not send parcels or registered letters using this service like they used to and have moved to more reliable private service providers.
This is not about cost anymore and more about making sure your delivery happens on time ad not receiving a Christmas card 12 months later. I have not seen a postman in years and do not know if they even exist. We do receive post like bank statements and normally find them blowing around in the garden and not the post box. Why the banks just don't use email I have no clue and it maybe they have a deal with the government to use their facilities because no one else does.
Over the last few months I have been sending registered mail multiple times a week and not once have I considered using the Post Office. These documents are just too important so you have to use the likes of Postnet which is a private all in one service provider. Spcialised printing, courier via DHL and evey other service you would expect from an admin side of things. These Postnet's are where the Post Office should have been and by not moving with the times have fallen by the wayside.
From what I can see the only business they are doing is paying out pensions and the monthly grant for the unemployed. Thigs like renewing your motor license disc are being offered by most retailers so as an offering the cupboard is bare.
Similar to private security replacing the police force in your area businesses are benefitting due to the lack of foresight. They are providing services that the community needs and one has to expect that within 5 years the Post Office will be a distant memory. You cannot continue doing the same thing year after year when the industry has moved on.
As you can tell not much works here in South Africa with the electricity provider failing to supply the number of kw required. Refineries that processed the oil coming off tankers have all gone therefore the imported product is 100% petrol and diesel. South African Airways with all of it's 9 planes used to be the nations carrier. At one stage SAA had 10 staff for every 100 passengers and they wanted to know why they could not make ends meet.
One could continue on and on, but all of these businesses have something in common and that is they have never kept up with what was required. They will all eventually be replaced by the private sector which will see even more job losses. Everything the government has touched they have broken all within 30 years of governance.
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The same is happening here in our country, the government is closing down its institutions, so people are losing their jobs and they are facing a lot of problems. Why should not be done because if people want to live then they have to work. Government should provide some other work to these people.
The stories you and others tell about how things are there is just incredible. It does seem like important things like banking would go to emails. It only makes good sense.
Of course, when does "good sense" come into anything anymore... right?
There is no common sense and I think the banks using the postal service is more about the Government doing a deal that they still use the Post Office. There is nothing normal here and your first thought is normally the right thought because the people are that simple. We have ministers who are not educated. They even put in a minister of finance because he had done some online course and thought he was the best candidate amongst themselves who would understand the position and thankfully only lasted 3 days. During a press conference he was asked a few basic questions and when he answered everyone knew he had no clue and panicked.