Comments on Benjamin Langlois: The State of Jersey: Sympathy for a Post Office Employee

The postal employee could have contacted the polic...

2009-04-03T10:41:00.000+01:00

The postal employee could have contacted the police who in turn could have brought round a sniffer dog and sorted the whole thing out on the spot.

What actually happened was a clear invasion of privacy ande could have had implications for the individual concerned (Mr Keegan) in his home area. It was quite disgraceful.

I must admit I overlooked that aspect of postcard-...

2008-05-02T05:34:00.000+01:00

I must admit I overlooked that aspect of postcard-collecting, and I guess as a postal worker the employee must (or should) have been aware of this.

Although I still empathise with the employee, reading your comments I am beginning to empathise with the collector also (to some extent), which I must say represents a minor dilemma for me at the moment!

Of course I do not claim that the employee's actions were in any way the right way to act, however I still maintain that his actions were performed with good-will. This certainly does not make his actions acceptable (i.e. I would not defend these actions if they became the norm at the Post Office), however surely they were not so serious as to prevoke police action?

Thank you as always for your comments.

- Benjamin Langlois

There's a rather good reason why a postcard collec...

2008-05-01T17:36:00.000+01:00

There's a rather good reason why a postcard collector may choose to send his cards through the mail - the postmark. For some of them the 'correct' postmark makes the card more desirable. And again, that's something one would expect a Post Office employee to be aware of.

I think if we deem the behaviour of the postal employee in question to be perfectly acceptable, then we're treading rather dangerous ground, potentially looking at the thin edge of a very insidious wedge...

A Holiday in the Sun:Of course I agree that the Po...

2008-04-29T21:05:00.000+01:00

A Holiday in the Sun:

Of course I agree that the Post Office employee may have reacted to his concerns in a slightly controversial manner, I maintain that his actions were essentially good-willed and so should be praised.

You rightly mention that the employee should have raised his concerns with his superiors or a relevant authority, however (although I understand what you mean by this) I believe the emplyee thought that was exactly what he was doing; he wasn't, but again his intentions were good.

With regards to your comment that some people collect postcards; if I was the Post Office employee I would also become concerned upon seeing 39 blank postcards going through the system - why didn't the collector simply keep them until he returned home?

As you can tell I really empathise with the employee, although I am not entirely sure why I feel so strongly motivated to defend him.

But anyway, thanks for the comment (they are building-up slowly) and I could not agree more with your last paragraph!

- Benjamin Langlois

Whilst I agree the gentleman concerned was somewha...

2008-04-29T14:31:00.000+01:00

Whilst I agree the gentleman concerned was somewhat over the top with his comments regarding Jersey being a "surveillance society", I don't agree with the actions of the Postal employee - and as the Police are now involved it would seem neither do his superiors.

In my view a huge part of the problem with this issue is the way in which the matter was handled. If the employee had suspicions, he should have raised them with his superiors - or a relevant authority - not taken it upon himself to contact Mr. Postcard-man's local Council and ask them to check him out.

There's also an inherent idiocy revealed in the comment made by the Postal employee that "we cannot immediately see a terribly plausible use that 39 postcards like this could be put to."

Shocking as this would undoubtably sound to that postal employee, some people collect postcards. Is that any less a plausible activity than collecting used stamps, or those First Day Covers the Post Office themselves sell?

It's interesting that you mention the ability to send drugs via postcard. When it comes to mailing anything from my local Post Office, I'm convinced they keep chicken entrails and rune stones behind the counter as a price guide. Anyone trying to send drugs through there would probably half the time find the postal costs outweighing the value of the illicit substance!