Thursday, November 16, 2006

Postman Pat gets Asbestosis

Apparently the Post Office aren't very happy about this website, the online home of the Asbestos Watchdog. This is because the watchdog are a group of people encouraging you to send them asbestos though the mail.



There are several things you could say are wrong with this; the Post office unsurprisingly is mostly concerned with the sending through the mail part. I however take issue with other instructions on the site; it suggests when sending this through the mail to use a "tea-spoon sized sample". This I suppose is to make sure no-one sends them a large bucket of asbestos, but they say nothing about what to do with the tea-spoon after you gather the sample. Should one wash it? Throw it away? Lick it clean? Being as it tells you to "wear gloves and wash your hands", you'd possibly want to err on the side of caution. But would leaving the spoon on the washing-up pile be potentially life-threatening? People could be unnecessarily throwing away a tea-spoon from a wedding
gift tea set when washing it over in the next week would be more then
enough. They should really make more instructions here.. How safe is safe? Should the spoon be washed more then once, just washed once thoroughly only used for guests you're not that fond of? Or is asbestos perfectly safe to eat? These questions go unanswered.



Also the site asks that you send your sample in a bag along with a £20 donation. A donation? Donation implies a voluntary giving, expecting no return. If you have to pay £20 that is a fee. If the amount was variable then maybe it'd make sense to call it a donation; but a fixed amount for a fixed service is paying. When I go into a shop and buy a DVD I am paying them stupid amounts of money for something that cost a fraction of the price to produce. I can't try to argue that the price is too high, because that's how paying works. I either accept their price and leave product in hand, or go home without and buy the DVD online.

If you pay a set amount and get a set something in return that in my book is called paying. Calling it a donation doesn't make it so. (Like say, calling things a loan when they're not).



Anyway, back to the Post Office who claim that sending asbestos through the post is dangerous and irresponsible. Well personally I think it could actually be a good thing for the Post Office. Tell all the staff about it and it might provide actual motivation for them to send post through the system quicker. No-one wants an asbestos parcel hanging round the sorting office, and I'd bet postmen would deliver the post quicker too. Who knows, people might get their morning mail actually in the morning.Not to mention those who find it interesting to go through your letters and remove things would probably be slightly discouraged.



In fact sending asbestos through the mail seems actually quite a good thing; just sending it to a place that doesn't require a compulsorily 'donation' or fails to instruct you in after-use tea-spoon care. I sense an intresting business opportunity...





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