History YMMV / GoingPostal

** The telecommunications industry has only sunken deeper into the pitfalls this book described since it came out: a few greedy corporate interests who never understood them in the first place bought the provider companies out from the bright passionate men who made them and running them into the ground, charging higher and higher prices for worse service with frequent breakdowns and interruptions and holding on through practical or actual monopolies so that customers can't take their custom elsewhere. However, unlike in the novel, where government policies root out corruption and create healthy competition, in real life these companies have instead bribed and bullied governments into doing their bidding, freezing technology and supporting rather than undermining their poorly-run monopolies.

** The telecommunications industry has only sunken deeper into the pitfalls this book described since it came out: a few greedy corporate interests who bought the provider companies out from the bright passionate men who made them and never understood them in the first place running them into the ground, charging higher and higher prices for worse service with frequent breakdowns and interruptions and holding on through practical or actual monopolies so that customers can't take their custom elsewhere. However, unlike in the novel, where government policies root out corruption and create healthy competition, in real life these companies have instead bribed and bullied governments into doing their bidding, freezing technology and supporting rather than undermining their poorly-run monopolies.

* HilariousInHindsight: Fans have noted that playing Lord Vetinari was essentially Charles Dance's dress rehearsal for [[Series/GameOfThrones Tywin Lannister.]]

* WTHCastingAgency: Richard Coyle's face is far too distinctive to be generic like Moist's.

* {Woolseyism}}: In the Finnish translation, Reacher's claim that the Grand Trunk is "about people" (a phrase that doesn't really exist in Finnish) is rendered as him saying that the company "connects people". Not only does this work as an example of a similarly meaningless marketing phrase, it also references the slogan of Nokia, which used to dominate both the global cell phone market and the Finnish economy around the time that the novel was written.

* Woolseyism: In the Finnish translation, Reacher's claim that the Grand Trunk is "about people" (a phrase that doesn't really exist in Finnish) is rendered as him saying that the company "connects people". Not only does this work as an example of a similarly meaningless marketing phrase, it also references the slogan of Nokia, which used to dominate both the global cell phone market and the Finnish economy around the time that the novel was written.

* HarsherInHindsight: Mr. Pump's "When banks fail, it is seldom bankers who starve" has a much harsher ring to it post-2008. Needless to say, the live-action adaptation made in 2010 (see below) emphasised this more strongly.
** Also, Moist mentioning that The Trunk is "too big to fail"
** Reacher Gilt's plan is, word-for-word, exactly the type of scheme that Mitt Romney was accused of doing repeatedly as part of Bain Capital during the 2012 US presidential election. This may be HilariousInHindsight to some.
*** In fact, Gilt's plan is essentially the modus operandi of a growing number of predatory private equity firms.

* HeartwarmingInHindsightt: "A man isn't dead as long as his name is still spoken" became even more powerful and moving following Pratchett's demise, with ''many'' of his fans doing exactly the same as the clack employees by making his name circulate on the web.

** this is not the case in most countries
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: "A man isn't dead as long as his name is still spoken" became even more powerful and moving following Pratchett's demise, with ''many'' of his fans doing exactly the same as the clack employees by making his name circulate on the web.

** For US tropers, the events of the 2016 presidential election and subsequent changes to the leadership of institutions regulating telecommunications make the events of this book a little bleaker. A businessman openly advertising himself as a conman with political ambitions (who’s based in ''Trump Tower'')? A push towards greater industry control over the internet?

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/ClaireFoy (Adora Belle) would later turn up as Elizabeth II in ''Series/TheCrown2016''.

* CantUnhearIt: Creator/CharlesDance was unanimously praised as basically ''being'' Vetinari.

* BrokenBase: A mild one. Among Discworld fans, there are those who like the adaption for what it is, a BroadStrokes adaption of a book with top-notch casting, with plenty of on-screen chemistry about. The other half, while acknowledging these traits, is still not impressed due to the massive changes to the story (The curse of the post office is something completely different in the books), and generally making Moist a much worse human being (with higher "body count" to boot) than he actually is; he is constantly scheming to get away, when in the books he's doing a two-pronged approach (planning his escape and actually helping along the post office) even in the beginning, and later more genuinely becomes a good guy due to his dislike of Guilt. It also completely defangs Guilt, making him a straight unscrupulous businessman instead of Moist at his worst writ large.

* {{Narm}}: Because of Moist's criminal past Adora Belle started smoking...

** The aforementioned [[PsychoForHire Mr Gryle]] is a Banshee and sadistic assassin working for Gilt, [[CardCarryingVillain proudly describing himself]] as "the Post Office curse". Having killed the four Postmasters before Moist von Lipwig in ways [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident mistaken for gruesome accidents]], Gryle also murders John Dearheart, Adora Bella's brother, just after sarcastically announcing his presence, and mocking him before detaching his safety harness and letting him fall to his death. Later told by Gilt that Moist is a "nuisance", Gryle burns down the Post Office--nearly suffocating Tolliver Groat--and attempts to savagely kill Stanley while bragging about [[ImAHumanitarian eating his own grandmother]]. Finally confronting Moist when he attempts to rescue Stanley from the blaze, Gryle gleefully confesses to his previous murders--uncaring that this gives Gilt away--and brags that John "[[WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied squealed like a pig]]" as he tries to complete his "collection" of Postmasters by ending Moist's life.

** One of the parts of the Clacks tower mechanism is a "Jacquard," which is known to jam. As it turns out, a Jacquard mechanism is a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquard_loom mechanical punch-card reader for controlling a loom]]. So it makes sense that it can send a prerecorded distress call, among other things.

** For US tropers, the events of the 2016 presidential election and subsequent changes to the leadership of institutions regulating telecommunications make the events of this book a little bleaker. A businessman openly advertising himself as a conman with political ambitions (who’s based in ''Tump Tower'')? A push towards greater industry control over the internet?

** [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Reacher Gilt]] is the corrupt head of the Grand Trunk after the Dearhearts are bankrupted, running it into the ground to [[{{Greed}} line his own pockets]]. Having multiple Postmasters and the uncovered spy John Dearheart assassinated by Mr Gryle, Gilt half-heartedly attempts to dissuade Moist von Lipwig from restoring the defunct Ankh-Morpork Post Office and then orders Gryle to burn the office down and kill Moist and his staff when this fails. As the rivalry between Trunk and Post Office heats up, Gilt [[SanitySlippage slowly loses his grip on sanity]], [[BadBoss beating his chief accountant Horsefry to death for keeping records too meticulously and threatening to drop employees to their deaths]] when wrongly suspecting them of sabotage, not caring when his chief engineer Mr Pony protests that the employee is his niece and later threatening her if the Clacks loses its race with the Post Office. When seeming to have won, Gilt tries to speed up Moist's scheduled demise, and when finally exposed as a criminal, spitefully attempts to smash an omniscope, [[LackOfEmpathy uncaring]] of the potential harm to everyone and almost causing Moist to be hanged.

** The aforementioned [[PsychoForHire Mr Gryle]] is a Banshee and sadistic assassin working for Gilt, [[CardCarryingVillain proudly describing himself]] as "the Post Office curse". Having killed the four Postmasters before Moist von Lipwig in ways [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident mistaken for gruesome accidents]], Gryle also murders John Dearheart, Adora Bella's brother, just after sarcastically announcing his presence, and mocking him before detaching his safety harness and letting him fall to his death. Later told by Gilt that Moist is a "nuisance", Gryle burns down the Post Office--nearly suffocating Tolliver Groat--and attempts to savagely kill Stanley while bragging about [[ImAHumanitarian eating his own grandmother]]. Finally confronting Moist when he attempts to rescue Stanley from the blaze, Gryle gleefully confesses to his previous murders--uncaring that this gives Gilt away--and brags that John "squealed like a pig" as he tries to complete his "collection" of Postmasters by ending Moist's life.

** [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Reacher Gilt]] is the corrupt head of the Grand Trunk after the Dearhearts are bankrupted, running it into the ground to [[{{Greed}} line his own pockets]]. Having multiple Postmasters and the uncovered spy John Dearheart assassinated by Mr Gryle, Gilt half-heartedly attempts to dissuade Moist von Lipwig from restoring the defunct Ankh-Morpork Post Office and then orders Gryle to burn the office down and kill Moist and his staff when this fails. As the rivalry between Trunk and Post Office heats up, Gilt [[SanitySlippage slowly loses his grip on sanity]], [[BadBoss beating his chief accountant Horsefry to death for keeping records too meticulously and threatening to drop employees to their deaths]] when wrongly suspecting them of sabotage, not caring when his chief engineer Mr Pony protests that the employee is his niece and later threatening her if the Clacks loses its race with the Post Office. When seeming to have won, Gilt tries to speed up Moist's scheduled demise, and when finally exposed as a criminal, spitefully attempts to smash an omniscope, uncaring of the potential harm to everyone and almost causing Moist to be hanged.

* MagnificentBastard: Moist is a brilliant rogue; Reacher Gilt is to corporate crime what Moist is to street crime and someone who Moist himself admits could mentor him in {{Magnificent Bastard}}ry--a man who has figured out how to do basic conman tricks like rigged three-card monte... with entire banks. In the end, they're both way out of their league when they go up against Havelock Vetinari, though Moist is wise enough to realize that he can still benefit if he goes along with Vetinari's schemes of his own accord.

* MagnificentBastard: Moist is a brilliant rogue; Reacher Gilt is to corporate crime what Moist is to street crime and someone who Moist himself admits could mentor him in {{Magnificent Bastard}}ry--a man who has figured out how to do basic conman tricks like rigged three-card monte... with entire banks. In the end, they're both way out of their league when they go up against Havelock Vetinari, though Moist is wise enough to realize that he can still benefit it he goes along with Vetinari's schemes of his own accord.