I HAVE been waiting to read the letters from readers outraged at the introduction of the ludicrous new postal charges - 29 different bands, I believe - for letters, large letters, packages and parcels. Surprisingly, I have only read one.

Maybe people are dumbstruck that people who are paid salaries that most of us can only fantasise about have come up with such a nonsensical scheme.

Only buffoons would ask anyone to measure the thickness of a letter, but to expect the elderly, many of whom have problems enough with failing eyesight, cataracts and arthritic fingers, to do so, is beyond belief.

I can imagine the confusion in the sorting offices when over-thick letters arrive under-priced. Are we going to be asked to pay "cash on delivery" for these, or willwe have to go to the post office for them and pay the difference?

Or maybe the powers-that-be are expecting us to pay more than we need to, to be on the safe side!

The alternative is to take each letter, large letter, or parcel to the post office to have it sized and priced.

But, of course, many of our local post offices have been closed - probably by the same buffoons who thought up this idiotic idea. So, for many of us, it will be a long walk, a drive, or a bus ride, to the nearest one, or to the GPO.

Can't wait until Christmas!

Brian Derbyshire, Ribchester Grove, Bolton