Waiting for Government (2) ...
In its own news announcement on the prospect of a Government statement on the post office network, the National Federation of SubPostmasters (NFSP) asserts: "This is a recovery package not a closure programme".
Media reports - such as this one - quote NSFP Secretary General Colin Baker as calling for "a grown up discussion" on the future of the network.
Media reports - such as this one - quote NSFP Secretary General Colin Baker as calling for "a grown up discussion" on the future of the network.
posted by Anonymous at 2:10 pm
2 Comments:
Barely mentioned amongst all the hype about Post Office closures is the effect they will have on adjacent businesses as well as communities.
The rural network in particular should be encouraged to sell a far wider range of services and certainly banking facilities. Scaling down the Post Office network is one thing but we have to be careful that we don't, in the process, force hundreds if not thousands of other businesses to close their doors as a result.
We should also be curbing car use not encouraging it.
Postwatch's own research suggests that around three quarters of rural post offices have an attached shop. Post office closures in 2004/5 show that 70% of all rural post offices that closed had an attached business.
Postwatch's remit is to ensure that customers have access to postal services. However it's important that when government consults this week, it is prepared to fund the social role it identifies for the rural and deprived urban networks.
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