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How do I interpret French postal addresses?


Richard
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[quote user="Patf"][quote user="Chancer"]

In France it is one of the best rewaded and most cushy jobs, no wonder they are so happy, and by showing it they are rubbing it in to the rest of the population!

  [:D]

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But this has changed recently as La Poste is now in competition with various private delivery companies. So I expect their jobs will no longer be so secure.
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Quite true a white van arrived in the hamlet with a parcel for No 4 on the other side of the road. The young lad asked me if I would mind signing for the parcel and looking after it until the lady across the road came home. This is something that in the past I would normally do as a favour. On learning that it was a service in competition with La Poste I explained that I would unfortunately as a matter of principle decline his request. I was pleased to see his white van without commercial identification return a couple of hours later.

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  • 2 weeks later...
[quote user="DerekJ"][quote user="Mr Coeur de Lion"]I like French address system, normally only requires two lines and little writing. Very efficient.[/quote]

Yes but....  I'm always amazed that we ever receive anything in the countryside given that there is so little information within the address.  It seems to rely on local knowledge.

[/quote]

Unless you happen to live in the "town Centre", the low density of houses in each cluster of communes that might share a postcode means that its easy to identify people, Our postcode in France is 50860, so anything sent from the UK to our address gets sorted by the 50 to identify the Dept, then sorted by the postal district 860 and then the local post sorting office will look for the village, then the commune name to plot it into the delivery route.. so there is a lot of filtering and sorting done.. Back in the uk, i'm continually amazed by the Royal Mail's systems which electronically read and sort addresses even when the postcode is hand-written !! Not sure if that is done in france though.
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On learning that it was a service in competition with La Poste I explained that I would unfortunately as a matter of principle decline his request. I was pleased to see his white van without commercial identification return a couple of hours later.

I guess you wont be adding environmentalist to your many credits then !

When people on this forum have experienced post taking over a month to get to the UK to France I'm surprised you are defending La Poste

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[quote user="Russethouse"]

On learning that it was a service in competition with La Poste I explained that I would unfortunately as a matter of principle decline his request. I was pleased to see his white van without commercial identification return a couple of hours later.

I guess you wont be adding environmentalist to your many credits then !

When people on this forum have experienced post taking over a month to get to the UK to France I'm surprised you are defending La Poste

[/quote]

Oh Yes! I have known the "factrice" now for 14 years and regard her as a good friend who keeps me well informed of all the local tittle-tattle. She passes by every morning except sunday, around mid morning, as regular as clockwork. If I am shopping in Parthenay and see her in HyperU, I will pass the time of day. If I am driving in to town and she passes in her van then we will exchange a friendly wave.All part of life in rural france.

Although I have a rather small carbon foot print it is due to an enthusiastic application of the Micawber Principle;

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

 

rather than any pronounced environmentalist tendency: indeed I completely disagree with the CO2- global warming mantra espoused by the BBC et Al. 

So you may rest assured in the prescient knowledge that I will not be adding the tag of environmentalist to my carbon credits.

I am perfectly happy with the service I receive from La Poste, nevertheless I extend my sympathy to those who for one reason or another have experienced difficulty in the service to the UK to France or indeed also to France to the UK. 

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[quote user="pachapapa"]

I am perfectly happy with the service I receive from La Poste, nevertheless I extend my sympathy to those who for one reason or another have experienced difficulty in the service to the UK to France or indeed also to France to the UK. 

[/quote]

As rural dwellers I must say that we've never had any problems with La Poste, even a parcel sent from Pakistan just before Christmas arrived in good time, with no-one opening it to investigate the contents. It contained metallic items which would have seemed 'iffy' in an x-ray! [:-))]

FairyNuff

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