An Early Post for Christmas

I doubt I shall call in the post office again this year. 

Grocery products introduced in 2022 are now much reduced at the post office

This month, I've been in twice. That's a bit of a record. It's the season for Christmas stamps and one parcel. Fewer Christmas stamps than usual, though. Last year, a few people dropped off. 

The second and final time this month was December 9th. It wasn't a coincidence that it just happened to be exactly 365 days, one whole year, since my previous visit on December 9th, 2022. 

I am somehow not surprised that 2023 has been almost post office-less. These days, it's quite easy to manage without it. I suppose that's why in most towns they have tended to migrate to some inconvenient, obscure dark corner of W H Smith, at present itself one of the saddest shops in Britain. (Chester's Smith's is a shadow of its former self.)

Back to Rhuthun/Ruthin, I found the post office's shelves gappy. They seem to have run down their stock. Almost gone altogether were the grocery products I noted in August 2022 (when there was quite an eclectic assortment). It would seem that these were not a success. 

Time was when we paid our gas and electricity bills there each quarter. We begrudgingly paid our Denbighshire council taxes each month. We taxed our cars and our TVs annually. And we frequently bought stamps for letters. So far in 2023, I've written one letter. Prior, the last time I wrote a letter was on December 12th, 2021. I managed three letters that year; five in 2020; and three in 2019. During one of my December 2023 post office visits, I did buy an additional stamp for a letter I know I shall need to send next week.

2019	8 visits to the post office	£36.58 spent
2020	0 visits†	£0.00
2021	0 visits†	£0.00
2022	4 visits	£43.55
2023	2 visits	£27.55

† Christmas postage stamps (definitives, not Christmas issue) purchased at the Co-op or Castle Bell, avoiding queues, thanks to coronavirus

Christmas Cards

Some people are now saying that it's getting too expensive to post Christmas cards. The post office put up the cost of a stamp by 10 per cent in 2023 and 11 per cent in 2022 but at 75p to me it still makes sense to remember those whom you only contact once a year. 

The town council is making an economy regarding its Christmas cards. The mayor has requested that no such cards be issued this year. That, too, could be a mistake. If sent to volunteers, it might be the only official recognition or thanks they get.