Why are we saying goodbye to post offices?

The news these days is filled with stories of post offices closing, and communities attempting to fight these closures. But how did post offices go from being so vital to a company losing around £4million a week (1)?

Post offices have long been known as the centre of life in small rural villages. It was the place for the elderly to collect their pensions, the place for those on benefits to collect them, and often just a general meeting place for residents.

The importance of post offices was even shown to children, with one of the most popular cartoons of the 1980s and 1990s being about a postman in a small village.



The stories of Postman Pat show how local communities have depended on post offices as their lifeline to the outside world.

The world has been changing, and the post office has been forced to change with it.

Until a few years ago, people could only collect pensions and benefits at the post office, but now they can get them paid directly into their bank accounts. This change had a huge affect on the custom of post offices. It is said that post offices have lost four million customers in the last two years alone. (2)

However, some people, mainly the elderly, still do depend on post offices to get their pensions.

It is not about the services the post office provides that is threatened by closures, it is also the general community spirit, and also a way of the community to keep an eye on the more vulnerable members of society.


A traditional rural post office, in the village of Clifton Hampden in Oxfordshire.
Image from Flickr user sparker


In a recent BBC article (3), a resident of a tiny village in Yorkshire called Burton Fleming said how the post office was vital. He said that the staff in the post office knew every member of the village, and what times they usually came in to collect their money. This allows them to keep residents safe, as if someone does not come at their usual time, the staff can alert someone to check on them.

Ever since the motion of closing post offices has been suggested, there have been campaigns and protests against it. There are groups such as CAPOC – Communities Against Post Office Closures. (4) Political parties, such as the Liberal Democrats have vehemently protested the scheme (5). Even on social networking sites such as Facebook people are against the idea, as shown by groups such as “Save our Post Offices” (6). Four million people signed a petition against the closures (7), however around two million people were thought to have marched against war in Iraq in 2003 with the government ignoring this (8)…

But why is it all happening?

As with everything else in the world, it comes down to money. In 2006, the government announced that they plan to withdraw the Post Office card account. They also brought in the Direct Payment scheme, meaning benefits and pension can go directly into bank accounts. (9) This was a huge blow to post offices, as this has, according to the BBC Action Network, led to a loss of up to 75% of some post offices’ incomes (10).

Also in 2006, the Post Office lost its TV License contract, another blow.(11)

However, despite the huge losses from the Post Office, Royal Mail’s overall profits in 2006 were £233 million (12), so maybe it isn’t all down to the money.

Either way it seems like the small village post office has no future in modern Britain, and may even lead to the end of village life as we know it.



Links:
1 – BBC: Why are post offices at risk?
2 - The Independent: Post office closures: Death of the village
3 - BBC: Last post for rural post office?
4 - CAPOC
5 - Liberal Democrats: Post office
6 - Facebook: Save our Post Offices
7 - What price a post office?"
8 - BBC: 'Million' march against Iraq war
9 - The Guardian: Loss of benefits contract 'threat to post offices'
10 - BBC Action Network: What can you do about rural post office closures?
11 - BBC: Post Office loses TV license deal
12 - Pension fund trustees 'could sink Royal Mail'

The Guardian: Q&A post office closures
The Post Office

58 post offices to go in the region

Two post offices in Southport will be closed along with 56 others in the region, despite protests to keep them open.

The two post offices, located on Forest Road and Manor Road, will be closed on May 7, with other local post offices being closed between April 29 and May 11.
Forest Road Post Office employs two staff, Jude and Caroline Cropper, who have been in charge of the post office for nine years.

Post mistress Caroline Cropper told the Southport Visiter: “We are devastated and just trying to get our heads around the decision. It will affect the elderly the most, a lot of them don’t have their own transport and will really struggle getting to a new branch.

“The Post Office said they have made a fully assessed decision so we can only go by their word. We’d like to thank everyone who has supported us over the last couple of months.”


Southport MP John Pugh at Downing Street protesting the closures, with Cllr Colin Elderidge
(Image from Flickr user libdems)

However, the Forest Road Post Office closure will have a smaller impact on the local community than other closures across the region, due to it being located near the central Southport post office.

This Google map shows all the post offices in the local area which will be closed.



View Larger Map


Many of the post offices across Lancashire which are to close are in the more rural areas, which will make it harder for local residents to get to their local post offices, especially elderly people or those without cars.

The residents of the village of Shirdley Hill, in Ormskirk will be some of the worst hit.

After the closure of the local post office, their nearest post office will be 1.6 miles away in Southport.

There is only one bus which services Southport and Shirdley Hill, which is only every 30 minutes.

However, this service does not go by the nearest post offices, so residents will either have to catch another bus, or walk to it, which is not convenient for those who cannot get around easily.

The Post Office say that the changes will not affect many people, with 99% of the population being within 3 miles of their nearest post office, and 90% of the population to be within 1 mile of their nearest post office.

As well as the closures, six post offices in the region will be replaced by outreach outlets, which are reduced hours openings held in local places, mainly village and church halls.

The post offices being replaced by outreach outlets will be the Bashell Eaves branch in Clitheroe, the Bolton by Bowland branch in Clitheroe, the Calder Vale branch in Preston, the Glasson Dock branch in Lancaster, the Quernmore branch in Lancaster, and the Chipping branch in Preston.

Royal Mail say that these outlets will “transact core Post Office products and services”, however, they do not specify what these will be.

Post offices, especially rural ones, are relied on by people for not only sending post, but for collecting benefits and pensions, and paying car tax.

These sorts of services are vital for people without bank accounts or access to the internet, generally the more elderly people.

Overall, Royal Mail are to close 2500 post offices across the UK, with 500 of these becoming outreach units, after making losses of £4 million a week in 2006.


Southport Visiter: Southport's Forest Road and Manor Road post offices WILL close