Think of a number... add it to Post Office closures

Think of a number... any number. Double it, add a few hundred and multiply some more. No need for subtraction or division - the amount only ever goes up. This is the crude maths formula used by the Government for closing post offices.

Not long ago there were more than 18,500 across Britain. This was the turn of the Century when the Save Our Post Office campaign first kicked off.

We launched the campaign because, against the wishes of just about every customer, the Post Office was axing the benefits book and forcing recipients to have cash paid directly into a bank account instead.

Those that were not intimidated by the bullies elected to have a Post Office Card Account - a substitute that cost an eye-watering £1 billion to install.

Post office branches began to drop like flies as the most vulnerable felt the squeeze trying to survive. If the Government is to be believed this was little more than a coincidence.

Then the overpaid spin doctors moved in. They coined a pernicious phrase - 'network reinvention programme'. This Stalinist doctrine closed a further 3,000 branches. The only silver lining was it was the last time anyone would suffer. Once the wheat was sorted from the chaff no more branches would be forced out of business.

But of course, a couple of years later it was time for yet another 'reinvention'. This time 2,500 more post offices had to go – but still no word of closure as this time it was 'network change.' Even those branches that were making a healthy profit would be targeted in the latest culling.

And what now, as the grim reaper scythes his way through the beleaguered survivors - surely no more can face the axe? After all, almost half the number of post offices in existence when Labour came to power in 1997 have now been closed down.

Then we learn that the Post Office Card Account is up for grabs. Among those bidding for the business is PayPoint, which recently won the lucrative chance to sell TV Licenses. According to the Federation of SubPostmasters 3,000 branches will close down in 2010 if the Post Office loses the card account.

As the misery continues so must the fight to Save Our Post Offices

May 19, 2008 in Author: Toby Walne | Permalink