The mail is slow, but “Maria-Ra” is happy

I stood in line at the post office for 40 minutes to find out that my letter had been sent back to the sender. While I was waiting, I looked at the range of products offered by Russian Post:

* Washing powders, soap, washcloths, shower gels, shampoos, toothpaste, toilet paper;
* Juice, cookies, sweets, tea;
* Blank CDs;
* Clothes a la Belarusian knitwear;
* Books with recipes, brochures “Advice for summer residents”;
* Sketchbooks, sets of colored paper for applique, felt-tip pens;
* Lighters.

Then he noticed why people came to the post office and what services this organization offers, judging by the booklets and advertisements:

* Receiving pensions, child benefits, payments;
* Payment for telephone, light, internet, utilities;
* Lottery tickets;
* Your credit cards;
* Travel tickets;
* Tickets to theaters and various cultural events.

I, of course, did not discover America. It has long been known to everyone that the Russian Post deals with everything except, in fact, postal services. A sort of “Everything for the Home” supermarket + “For the Lazy” bank. To send a measly piece of paper or a box, you will have to wait for all these people who come to the post office as if they were going to a store. The desire to contact the post office after such trips disappears. And when you still have to go there, you prepare for this moment, like going to the mountains.

In the farthest corner, on one modest rack hung three types of boxes for parcels and a couple of bags for parcels and registered letters. Naturally, only one employee worked, the other two carried papers back and forth. Probably, if it were the will of the postal workers themselves, they would stop dealing with postal items and retrain as sellers.

By the way, the parcel I sent to Kronstadt a month ago never reached the addressee. She's probably walking or got lost somewhere along the way. Most likely, it fell from a cart somewhere in the Urals.

* * *

I go to Maria-Ra for groceries. There's a line at the checkout. Three out of five people came to the grocery store just to pay for a cell phone.

— I get 100 rubles for Beeline and 200 rubles for MTS.
— Put 100 rubles on Megafon.
— Can I put change for 84 rubles and 15 kopecks on my phone?

You can also pay for taxi services at the same cash desk (sic!).

It seems to me, or has this become the norm in our society for a long time now - to buy washing powder at the post office and pay for a taxi at the grocery store?

I can’t wait for conductors on buses and trams to start issuing pensions or accepting payments for the Internet. Well, everyone can do it, but why can’t they?

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