Post Offices to become as rare as a hen's tooth

More than 1,000 post offices have shut or been put up for sale this year, with some not showing up in official closure lists, according to new research.


The Communication Workers Union said there was a "growing trend" of closures in 2010 which it warned would get worse if the Government pressed ahead with controversial plans to privatise the Royal Mail.

A study by the union showed that 162 post offices were listed as "long-term temporary closures" this year and over 900 were put up for sale,

Many are likely to stay closed indefinitely and those that do reopen are liable to provide a diminished service, such as an outreach van with no access to financial services, said the union.

The CWU said almost 10% of the entire network was currently up for sale, warning they could also be lost to the "temporary closure loophole".

Many subpostmasters are retiring or leaving the business because of the low levels of revenue generated in sub-offices, and in many cases it is difficult to find alternative premises or service providers, according to the CWU.

General secretary Billy Hayes said: "Post offices have been closing at an alarming rate this year, but didn't register because they are misleadingly classed as temporary closures. We're seriously concerned about empty government rhetoric on avoiding post office closures. These promises are contradicted by government taking business away from the Post Office and by the planned privatisation of Royal Mail.

"Post Offices rely on work generated by mails business and most would be unsustainable if this was removed. Many of the proposals in the Postal Services Bill, including privatisation of Royal Mail and splitting the postal group apart, seriously threaten mails business arrangements for the Post Office.

"With uncertainty hanging over Royal Mail and the post office network, it's no surprise that buyers are hard to find. The government must change its approach or face the decimation of our cherished post office network. Who's going to buy a business which stands to lose a substantial part of its income?"

Ministers have pledged there will be no repeat of the closure programme under the previous Labour Government, arguing that the plan to privatise the Royal Mail will safeguard the branch network.

There is a notice of motion down to debate at next full council in Walsall on the subject of post office closures. Many of us campaigned against closures of local post offices only to be ignored des[ite a lot of concerns by local residents. I cannot see the current colation of Tories and Liberals stopping the momntum of closures.. they are already on the way to privatising the Royal Mail which subsidises the Post Offices... can you really see a market economy run private company helping to subsidise a local post office?
This notice of motion was put down by the Walsall Liberals... a Party that has dug a big hole for themselves to now fall into... and the more they dig the bigger this hole will become and sure enough the Tories will welcome having a junior partner to pass all the blame onto!