Text 2. Post Offices

Post Offices are found almost everywhere in Britain and are generally open 09.30-17.30 Monday to Friday, and 09.00-12.00 on Saturday. Some post offices in small towns and villages in Britain close for an hour at lunchtime. Post offices in these smaller places may be just a counter within a larger shop, or perhaps a general store.

Post boxes – places for posting letters – are found outside post offices and in streets all over Britain. They are easily identifiable: they are usually red and often at a street corner.

If you wish, you can arrange to have mail delivered to a main post office in Britain. This free service is called poste-restante. To collect your mail you will have to show some form of identification.

Post within Britain can be sent first or second class. First class post usually arrives the day after posting; second class takes longer. One first or second class stamp is enough for a normal letter. Stamps are available from post offices, vending machines*), some shops and some larger hotels.

International letter rate leaflets explain how to send letters and parcels overseas and are available from all post offices.

*)vending machine – slot machine for the sale of mail articles

Guided Conversation

Exercise 1. Answer the questions about the text.

1. What are the working hours of British post offices?

2. What are the days off?

3. British post offices never close for lunch, do they?

4. British post offices are located in special buildings, aren’t they?

5. Where can one find post boxes?

6. Why are they easily identifiable?

7. What post service is called poste-restante? Is it free?

8. How can post be sent within Britain?

9. Which of the two posts delivers mail quicker?

10. Where can you buy stamps?

11. What’s a vending machine?

12. Where can one find all necessary information explaining how to send letters and parcels overseas?

Exercise 2. Speak about the services of the post office in this country.

Exercise 3. Speak about the services of the post office in Britain.

Exercise 4. Compare the services of the post office in this country and in Britain.

Exercise 5. Explain to your guest from Britain how to send a parcel. Give clear instructions.

Exercise 6. Your British friend instructs you how to send a letter to London. Have a dialoque.

Text 3. Sending Letters (a)

David Foster wanted to send a letter from Hong Kong to London. He wanted it to arrive in London as soon as possible. Read this dialogue between Foster and the hotel reception clerk.

Foster: Good afternoon.

Clerk: Good afternoon, sir.

Foster: I’d like to send this letter to London.

Clerk: Oh, yes. Sure. I’ll have to weigh it first. That’s three dollars, sir.

Foster: Well, how long does it take to get to London?

Clerk: It’s about three or four days.

Foster: Three or four days?

Clerk: Yes.

Foster: Could I send it Express?

Clerk: Yes, of course you can. But you’ll have to pay another three dollars.

Foster: That’s fine.

Compare the first dialogue with the next one. Here a traveller wants to send a registered letter from a Post Office in London to Hong Kong.

Traveller: Good afternoon.

Clerk: Good afternoon, sir.

Traveller: I’d like to send this letter to Hong Kong, please. Could I send it by Registered Mail?

Clerk: Of course, sir. Please fill in this form, giving your name, address and contents of the letter.

Traveller: Yes. The contents are rather valuable. Will they be covered up to 250?

Clerk: You’ll have to pay a surcharge. Now, the rates are seventy pence for a hundred pounds of insurance cover and one pound for two hundred and fifty pounds of insurance cover.

Traveller: That’s all right. How much do I have to pay altogether, then?

Clerk: Let’s see. That’s twenty-six pence for the airmail letter, plus sixty pence for the registration, plus a pound for the extra cover, which makes ₤1.86 altogether.

Traveller: There you are.

Clerk: Thank you very much. And here’s your receipt.