YP Letters: Closing post office services hits rural communities hard

I AM writing to express my concern about the changes in the provision of post offices and the effects on small rural communities.

I understand that now as postmasters retire, or move on, the post office is often closed or relocated within a local shop.

The new post offices work on a commission basis rather than attracting the salary of a postmaster / mistress.

Good economics for the Post Office, but a poor return for the local shop concerned.

I am not sure if such an arrangement is profitable 
for towns and larger communities with much usage.

My concern is for the smaller communities where the post office did provide much 
more than basic services, 
but also a local centre where people met and accessed most financial services they needed.

Currently our village has no post office service, our local postmaster retired and our post office was relocated to a pub at the other end of the high street.

This happened about one year ago, they are currently closed and the introduction of a mobile post office in the area, fully funded on a salary by the Post Office.

As a local post office they are expected to be open from 9am to 8pm at night, six days a week.

What a nonsense, our village was quite happy with a 9am to 5pm service five and a half days a week. Currently we have nothing.

Without a post office, a rural village such as ours is deprived of a place to access financial services, cash, pensions etc.

Many people in rural communities do not drive, buses are increasingly expensive and infrequent and also many older people do not use the internet.

We read in the papers about ‘the pub is the hub’ and local shops taking on post offices – ‘wonderful’ we say as readers.

I wonder how many of these post offices are viable and how many stay open after several years?

I know of another rural shop who took on a post office and wish they had not, as it is not financially viable.

Perhaps it is time for post office services to consider their role in society and not just their finances?

The Post Office has been a national institution of which 
we used to be proud, and as 
such should be more aware 
of the impact the loss of a 
branch has on a small rural community like ours in 
North Yorkshire.