At the Post Office 7
A subscriber's experience
I have been fascinated by the post office. I have used it for quite some time now.
A subscriber of this newsletter dared to use the post office and documented the experience. The following are the subscriber’s own words capturing the experience.
Enjoy the read.
Friday, 13th May 2022. I visited the post office today. I am making arrangements to post your letter. I have not finished writing it though but I thought it wise to make enquiries before I am done writing it. So, I stopped by the post office after work.
The post office here in my area in Mangu LGA [of Plateau state] is not far from my old apartment. There are just three houses in between my old apartment and the post office.
Before walking through the gates, I noticed how large the post office area is. The fence is long. The compound is wide. I mean, I did not expect it to be that way. But there it was.
Inside the compound, there is an apartment. The apartment belongs to the postmaster. Now, I don’t know if that is the conventional name for these people who work at the post office but I grew up hearing a man being called “Post Master”. My Dad’s friend who works at the post office was fondly called so. It was not just my Dad’s christening; everyone around here calls him that. Now, I call whoever works there the same.
I met a Post Master when I walked into the compound. Not my Dad’s friend, though.
The Post Master was dressed in shorts and a singlet. He was cultivating the farm field which the space in the post office compound provided him. From his strenuous work, he stood up to respond to me. After greeting I could not help but take note of the post office building. The building is not good at all. Just immediately I had to ask, ‘Post office din nan na aiki?’ (is this post office still functional?)
He spoke assuringly that it was still functional despite the sorry state of the building. The building was so bad that I could not agree with his proposal about the damage. He said the damage happened just the day before due to the rains.
The roofs are caved in. The roofs are dangling. The windows have no glass sheets for the most part. The whole place looked like it got damaged some three years ago. I just could not bring myself to imagine that what I saw was an incident that occurred just yesterday. Although the rain was violent yesterday—it brought down poles, uprooted roof sheets and tress—the post office's dilapidated condition does not allude to it.
I made all the necessary enquiries from the Post Master. He answered all my questions, politely. I will be returning to the post office soon to post your letter.
However, from the pictures I sent you of the post office, I believe you can see why I do not want to come to the post office. That place is terrible.
Tuesday, 17th May 2022. I posted your letter today. Today was yet another experience.
I met the absence of the Post Master. I met his son. I learnt from him that the other Post Master, Post Master 1, travelled for the weekend and hasn’t returned.
The time was about some few minutes to 8 a.m. Not long after, Post Master 1 walked in. He just arrived from his trip.
He attended to me immediately. Nevertheless, I got to work about 15 minutes late.
The whole process in between was crazy. Before the arrival of Post Master 1, I was asked to take his number from the door of the office. Looking at the condition of the building, I was baffled about where exactly on the door the phone number is written. I was quite doubtful and shaky through the entire process to even ask freely as I wanted. But I cheered myself on; I reminded myself that this was for a worthwhile cause. (I do not think I would use the post office again.)
I enquired about owning a box at the post office. He said it would cost me about 3,450 naira or so (I cannot remember exactly, though). He said it would be accessible to me at any time of the day. Otherwise, he said I would have to use stamps whenever I am posting a letter.
Stamped letters that are not registered take too long to arrive at their destination. He said they would be sorted first before they are piled up for distribution. I told him I needed the letter to get to you on this very day. He offered to help but emphasised that it is not possible. He said the van comes in on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The van came in yesterday and so would possibly come in tomorrow. But he promised to call you when the letter finally arrives Jos.
I spent 700 naira to post the letter.
I asked the bike man to wait for me to post the letter then we’d leave immediately. He was patient, honestly. The Post Master is elderly and slow in action.
The bike man had waited for too long. I was expecting him to fume and also to charge me an extra fee. Surprisingly, he got curious. He said, ‘If I was the one I would just use that thing you people call (is it e-mail or what sef?). Or are you sending it to your boyfriend that is why you have to use the post office?’
I told him it was an assignment of some sort. He questioned if it was for an online class. Well, I told him it was something of that nature. He must have been intrigued by the entire process: He said he would try using the post office someday. In addition, he asked for my contact. Certainly not to enquire about the post office procedures. But I declined politely.
You would get your letter in due course. Meanwhile, I don’t consider the whole process as a school of patience curriculum as you proposed because I wasn’t stressed at the post office.
I don’t see myself using the post office again. Not any time soon. Thank you.
Now, there you have it: another user’s experience.
I am interested in knowing what your experience is with the post office in your locality. You can send in a journal entry of your post experience via this e-mail and it will be published like this one, totally in compliance with agreed terms on publicity: wungakhatongjal12@gmail.com
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The following are the preceding posts:
At the Post Office 1: Read
At the Post Office 2: Read
At the Post Office 3: Read
At the Post Office 4: Read
At the Post Office 5: Read
At the Post Office 6: Read
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Nice piece, unfortunately the relevance of post office is fading away and poor management cultural the future is bleak