postcard.co.uk

Hi Members, I wonder how many of you deplore the intended action to deprive and introduce closures and facilities in place at the Post Office. The service has been with us since Victorian times. One National columnist suggested villages and churches
should see this as an expansion partnership opportunity in rural areas to enhance community activity for lost amenities! I would be interested to hear your viewpoints. Brian

I can see that some (many) post offices are unviable, given that they've lost so many of their services. Since last year I've renewed my car Road Fund on-line, which takes me about 30 seconds, and saves the bother of going to the nearest PO that renews car tax and queuing for at least five minutes.

A small PO seven minutes walk from my house is closing, which means I shall have to go out of my way to either of the nearest other two, 12 and 20 minutes walk away.Given that people in many villagers (will) have to drive some miles to the nearest PO, I can't complain and didn't make any effort to sign the inevitable "Save our Post Office" form. Truth to tell, the guy behind the counter was not exactly charismatic.

The problem for villages is that a post office is far more important to them than for those of us in suburbia. It's a trek to the nearest one and a further diminution of village life, as shops and pubs close -and I believe there may be a trend towards closing some village schools. And the loss of some post offices threatens the future of the village shops in which they're located.

Though there is some rural poverty of course, I'm not happy with the concept of village Post Offices being kept open at the expense of the rest of the network just so that the stockbroker can pop out of his weekend cottage for a 1st class stamp on a Saturday morning.

Yes, a sad sign of the times when the profit motive will come before the needs of people. My local post office at Wellingborough in Northamptonshire has just closed, now the pensioners must "hobble" along to the next available post office! There was no point in signing the petition, the post office are always going to do what they are going to do anyway.

The other day I went past a sub-post office about a mile from the one nearest to me that's to close next month. There was a queue of eight people on the pavement outside; doesn't bode well when it has to cater for the "disposssessed".


Moonraker