My local post office to close in busy urban area
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A lot of it is also down to the business model. It’s archaic to have to run the PO as a separate counter and business from the shop, with different opening times, staff etc. Why should I pick up an envelope at the PO counter to use, queue at the PO counter for the postage then have to queue at the shop counter to pay for the envelope? Or find that when I buy my paper and milk in the morning I can’t post a parcel and have to come back during the restricted range of hours that the PO counter is open? And why are parcels returned to a down-town depot ten miles away with no parking, rather than held in the village PO?0
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I wouldn't do that for treble what they're offering.Heres an insight. A PO I know and have been in a few times.
VERY busy.
separate foreign currency counter & 2 serving positions.
relatively locally 2 po's have closed with another to close next week.
This PO is packed most days and will continue to be.
at least 3 staff plus manager
'operation manager; for the PO has been up for a while
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The two nearest POs to me have closed but reopened in different places.
One moved about 50 yds into a convenience store and the other moved across the road to a pub! The one in the pub is weird in the run up to Christmas. The pub does good food and is very busy, but at Christmas the diners have a queue of about 20 people next to their tables trying to get to the PO counter - which is just the end of the bar!
In town there is now a pretty large PO at the rear of the ground floor in W H Smiths.0 -
Post office services are a pull to attract customers, they aren't very profitable alone.
Along with the post office counter you will see a fully functioning shop selling all sorts of stuff. This is what makes the real money.
People tend to shop about these days so they come in and use the post office without buying the stuff the shop needs to sell to stay afloat. it's not the first to close and certainly won't be the last.
There are dozens in my local area and surroundings now closed for the same reason. We need to go to our local Asda now for the PO services, and lets not forget a lot of it can now also be done online.0 -
A lot of it is also down to the business model. It’s archaic to have to run the PO as a separate counter and business from the shop, with different opening times, staff etc. Why should I pick up an envelope at the PO counter to use, queue at the PO counter for the postage then have to queue at the shop counter to pay for the envelope? Or find that when I buy my paper and milk in the morning I can’t post a parcel and have to come back during the restricted range of hours that the PO counter is open? And why are parcels returned to a down-town depot ten miles away with no parking, rather than held in the village PO?
You mean Royal Mail keeping Royal Mail packages in their own depot.
Rather than pay POC to hold them?
You malign archaic practices and then malign the loss of archaic practices in one post.0 -
You mean Royal Mail keeping Royal Mail packages in their own depot.
Rather than pay POC to hold them?
You malign archaic practices and then malign the loss of archaic practices in one post.
I’m not sure why having RM and POC enter into a commercial arrangement would be be an archaic practice. It is the model that is developing for other delivery services and on-line purchases - I can arrange to pick up my Amazon or EBay purchases from a range of places, but not my RM deliveries.
But you also come back to this artificial separation between the POC business as a separate entity from the shop that houses it. The village shop is trusted to handle other deliveries and to hand out prescription medicines on behalf of NHS, it is trusted to have a separate POC entity within it, but not trusted to sell POC services outwith a narrow set of hours and through a separate till.0 -
I’m not sure why having RM and POC enter into a commercial arrangement would be be an archaic practice. It is the model that is developing for other delivery services and on-line purchases - I can arrange to pick up my Amazon or EBay purchases from a range of places, but not my RM deliveries
RM pay POC to leave packages for collection. This costs RM money and IME lead to many issues with missing packets etc that RM are on the hook for.
Want a redelivery of an item left at a PO? then it leads to faff of determining the item is at the POC,collecting it etc. another issue is scanning performance of POCs vs RMs own staff. Another factor RM is liable for. I could go in.
The ability to have items sent directly to POs & RM offices has existed for over a decade.
I think you will find you can selectto have you Amazon piurchases sent directly to that post office (size/amazon carrier dependant)
https://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/choose-local-collect
I use it myself regularly.
But you also come back to this artificial separation between the POC business as a separate entity from the shop that houses it. The village shop is trusted to handle other deliveries and to hand out prescription medicines on behalf of NHS, it is trusted to have a separate POC entity within it, but not trusted to sell POC services outwith a narrow set of hours and through a separate till.
I think you will find those limitations are down to the shop running the POC. My local shop has a 'proper' PO section with glass screens etc. However if the shops open and the PO is closed,you can access PO services by a smaller PO counter at the main tills.
This set up is purely down to staffing costs as the whole operation is run by the shop owning family.0 -
My son's local PO is closing in June. It is very busy, but the commission that POC pay dosn't cover the staff wages.
There, in a nutshell, is the problem. The Post Office only pay commission now rather than paying a salary (except for main branches).
The main PO in Colchester has closed and moved into WH Smith. There is a growing campaign to not buy anything from the WH Smith shop when using the PO counter services. Basically kicking the shop where it hurts.Never Knowingly Understood.
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My son's local PO is closing in June. It is very busy, but the commission that POC pay dosn't cover the staff wages.
There, in a nutshell, is the problem. The Post Office only pay commission now rather than paying a salary (except for main branches).
The main PO in Colchester has closed and moved into WH Smith. There is a growing campaign to not buy anything from the WH Smith shop when using the PO counter services. Basically kicking the shop where it hurts.
Then the PO becomes a loss and people cry when it closes.
One of the reasons the local PO i discussed closing is closing because of this sort of thing.
They heard banks were pushing customers to bank at their PO rather than visit branch.
it was the final straw for them after having the PO in the family for decades0
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