Post office closures UK

Linton · 10-02-07, 09:02 AM

I have just heard that my local post ofice is to close.It is well used and a lot of elderly residents rely on it.Instead I will have to go to the main post office and queue for a minimum of 20 minutes.Does anybody know how I can try and get this stopped?

Letum · 10-02-07, 09:21 AM

I've just started working for the post office. They are going through very hard times.
Not least because they have lost a lot of customers to other firms. The PO is also
being hit hard by unusual and special competition laws.
The local closures are in no small part due to this and also the recent and continuing
upgrading of postal machines, management changes and the increased demand of
competition.

The PO used to be a public service, now it is really trapped in limbo between a public
service and a capitalist enterprise. It has all the responsibilities and fines of a public
service, but all the competition of a capitalist business.

They have been forced to make service compromises to meet the new business needs.
This is why some offices have closed.

Despite the competition, no companies are seriously opening new local post offices.
Instead they take the high profit work (i.e. mass mail delivery and parcels) away from
the PO and leave the PO with the low profit work. (i.e. mail sorting and small, local offices).

Writing to the PO won't help as they will have already made their mind up about the
impact report on closing the office. I think your best bet is to talk/write to your MP
and when the next election comes up; talk/write to the candidates and see if you can
make it a local election issue. Easier said than done of course; for you and your MP.

The Munster · 10-02-07, 10:54 AM

You could also try starting a petition like the people over at Beverley but I always feel like once this Government makes a decision like this, it's like a Referee issuing a red card to a footy player; they are never going to change their mind.

STEED · 10-02-07, 11:00 AM

My local one closed not because of cut backs because of armed robbers hitting the place to regularly, lucky for me there is another one a little further away and the main one up the town as well. Pensioners in this country have a hard time of it without there local post office being closed.

CB.. · 10-02-07, 11:10 AM

same here AFAIK my local office is going to close also..
funny thing is they have been reducing the level of service gradualy over the last year or so...can't buy my TV license there any more...and other small changes all of this eats away at the statistical numbers of people walking over the door step..so in a way depending on how you interpret the thing..making it easier to justify the closure...less and less people use it so close it...strange thing is that they have made it less and less usefull during the same period of time...

:hmm: mind you any government that can get away with restricting access to the NHS on the basis of lifestyle..smoking ..weight issues etc etc....is wandering into some pretty sketchy areas..even if they can justify it on some sort of vaguely esoteric moral grounds..it's still outside their brief to judge the populations right to public service on moral grounds...pretty sketchy stuff..if we're short on cash to fund the services then fine...we're short on cash

jumpy · 10-02-07, 01:12 PM

Hehe my local PO shut almost 4 years ago now. The closest one is now a half hour walk into town, which is not convenient to visit during my lunch break at work, due to the mount of people standing in line and the lack of parking anywhere in the city centre since it has become pedestrianised. And when I'm done with work for the day, the PO is shut.

Kapitan · 10-02-07, 01:31 PM

My locla post office closed 3 years ago we have one in the smallish town near us but that closes at 5pm about the time people get on the train to london to come home, they dont open till 9am either so everyone is sitting in thier nice office by then as well.

the major one is rediculos your waiting 45 minuets sometimes with cues right back over 200 yards to the parking area in town (no joke these people start cueing around 7:30am the office dont open till 9am)

Letum · 10-02-07, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kpt. Munson

You could also try starting a petition like the people over at Beverley but I always feel like once this Government makes a decision like this, it's like a Referee issuing a red card to a footy player; they are never going to change their mind.

See my post above. It's not the goverment's decision. The PO makes the decision.
The PO doesn't have much choice either as they are forced to shut down low-profit
offices as their competitors are taking away the high-profit work.

Linton · 10-04-07, 07:07 AM

The postal strike is not going to encourage the UK public to send anything by Royal Mail!

Letum · 10-04-07, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linton

The postal strike is not going to encourage the UK public to send anything by Royal Mail!

The PO has asked people not to post anything over the strike period to avoid backlogs.

They process so many letters, so quickly that when the system stops, the backlogs
quickly get massive. Every time there is a backlog, the PO gets fines, even when there
is a strike. No doubt they are under a lot of pressure from the union.

On the whole the PO doesn't mind too much if the public don't send letters anyway. Public
letters are very much a low profit area for the PO, which is why they have almost no
competition for public letters.

10-02-07, 09:02 AM	#1
Linton Sea Lord Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 1,898 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Post office closures UK I have just heard that my local post ofice is to close.It is well used and a lot of elderly residents rely on it.Instead I will have to go to the main post office and queue for a minimum of 20 minutes.Does anybody know how I can try and get this stopped? __________________ http://lintonsview.blogspot.com/

10-02-07, 09:21 AM	#2
Letum Navy Seal Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: York - UK Posts: 6,079 Downloads: 43 Uploads: 0	I've just started working for the post office. They are going through very hard times. Not least because they have lost a lot of customers to other firms. The PO is also being hit hard by unusual and special competition laws. The local closures are in no small part due to this and also the recent and continuing upgrading of postal machines, management changes and the increased demand of competition. The PO used to be a public service, now it is really trapped in limbo between a public service and a capitalist enterprise. It has all the responsibilities and fines of a public service, but all the competition of a capitalist business. They have been forced to make service compromises to meet the new business needs. This is why some offices have closed. Despite the competition, no companies are seriously opening new local post offices. Instead they take the high profit work (i.e. mass mail delivery and parcels) away from the PO and leave the PO with the low profit work. (i.e. mail sorting and small, local offices). Writing to the PO won't help as they will have already made their mind up about the impact report on closing the office. I think your best bet is to talk/write to your MP and when the next election comes up; talk/write to the candidates and see if you can make it a local election issue. Easier said than done of course; for you and your MP. __________________ Last edited by Letum; 10-02-07 at 11:18 PM.

10-02-07, 10:54 AM	#3
The Munster Ace of the Deep Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Deepest Dumbria Posts: 1,243 Downloads: 2 Uploads: 0	You could also try starting a petition like the people over at Beverley but I always feel like once this Government makes a decision like this, it's like a Referee issuing a red card to a footy player; they are never going to change their mind. __________________ *GWX Team Member; Retired* GWX Home Page

10-02-07, 11:00 AM	#4
STEED Lucky Jack Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Down Town UK Posts: 27,695 Downloads: 89 Uploads: 48	My local one closed not because of cut backs because of armed robbers hitting the place to regularly, lucky for me there is another one a little further away and the main one up the town as well. Pensioners in this country have a hard time of it without there local post office being closed. __________________ Dr Who rest in peace 1963-2017. To borrow Davros saying...I NAME YOU CHIBNALL THE DESTROYER OF DR WHO YOU KILLED IT!

10-02-07, 11:10 AM	#5
CB.. Ace of the Deep Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: UK Posts: 1,278 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	same here AFAIK my local office is going to close also.. funny thing is they have been reducing the level of service gradualy over the last year or so...can't buy my TV license there any more...and other small changes all of this eats away at the statistical numbers of people walking over the door step..so in a way depending on how you interpret the thing..making it easier to justify the closure...less and less people use it so close it...strange thing is that they have made it less and less usefull during the same period of time... :hmm: mind you any government that can get away with restricting access to the NHS on the basis of lifestyle..smoking ..weight issues etc etc....is wandering into some pretty sketchy areas..even if they can justify it on some sort of vaguely esoteric moral grounds..it's still outside their brief to judge the populations right to public service on moral grounds...pretty sketchy stuff..if we're short on cash to fund the services then fine...we're short on cash __________________ the world's tinyiest sh3 supermod- and other SH3/SH2 stuff http://www.ebort2.co.uk/ The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. W.B.Yeats

10-02-07, 01:12 PM	#6
jumpy Admiral Join Date: May 2003 Location: Midlands, UK Posts: 2,139 Downloads: 22 Uploads: 0	Hehe my local PO shut almost 4 years ago now. The closest one is now a half hour walk into town, which is not convenient to visit during my lunch break at work, due to the mount of people standing in line and the lack of parking anywhere in the city centre since it has become pedestrianised. And when I'm done with work for the day, the PO is shut. __________________ when you’ve been so long in the desert, any water, no matter how brackish, looks like life

10-02-07, 01:31 PM	#7
Kapitan Sub Test Pilot Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK + Canada Posts: 7,130 Downloads: 77 Uploads: 7	My locla post office closed 3 years ago we have one in the smallish town near us but that closes at 5pm about the time people get on the train to london to come home, they dont open till 9am either so everyone is sitting in thier nice office by then as well. the major one is rediculos your waiting 45 minuets sometimes with cues right back over 200 yards to the parking area in town (no joke these people start cueing around 7:30am the office dont open till 9am) __________________ DONT FORGET if you like a post to nominate it by using the blue diamond Find out about Museum Ships here: https://www.museumships.us/ Flickr for all my pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/131313936@N03/ Navy general board articles: https://www.navygeneralboard.com/author/aegis/

10-04-07, 07:07 AM	#9
Linton Sea Lord Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 1,898 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	The postal strike is not going to encourage the UK public to send anything by Royal Mail! __________________ http://lintonsview.blogspot.com/