40% of customers “unaware” of changes after £2bn Post Office modernisation

New consumer research out today in the UK says 40% of Post Office Ltd customers are not noticing any particular improvement to service under the government’s £2bn modernisation programme. The survey from UK national consumer watchdog Consumer Futures said customers were generally satisfied with service levels, but more than a third did not notice any “tangible” benefits from the investment into modernising the larger branches.

Post Office Ltd dismissed the findings of the survey today, stating that the research was conducted almost a year ago, based on only 53 modernised branches operating at the time and therefore was “misleading”.

The UK government launched the modernisation programme in November 2012, aiming to have around 3,000 to 4,000 of the network’s larger branches modernised as “Post Office Mains” by 2017/18. The network now has about 1,100 operating Main branches that have been modernised.

These Post Office Mains provide a larger range of services than smaller Post Office Locals, and aim to attract more customers with better service and longer opening hours.

The Consumer Futures report said only half of branches offer significantly longer opening hours, and within these only 13% of customers were even aware that the post office opened after 5.30pm.

The watchdog also said that 39% of customers who queued reported waiting for five minutes or more in branches, with Consumer Futures commenting that customers should not be experiencing any delays in service following the investment in modernisation.

The report revealed that where longer opening hours were being offered, more customers were coming through the doors, including younger customers.

It said the type of premises in which a Post Office Main is located is key to its success, and the ability to offer longer opening hours, and therefore the right kind of operators had to run Main branches.

Andy Burrows, the head of post office at Consumer Futures, said longer opening hours had to be a priority for those operating Post Office Mains in return for the investment they receive for modernisation.

He said there also needed to be more marketing activity to spread awareness of longer opening hours, and more effort to shorten queue times.

“POL has promised that the investment in PO Mains will improve customer service, offer longer opening hours and create modern branches,” he said.

“Although customers are generally satisfied with current provision more needs to be done if POL is to deliver necessary service improvements and to ensure maximum value for money from such a large funding package.”

“Misleading”

A spokesperson for Post Office Ltd told Post&Parcel this morning that the company saw the research as “a little misleading”, since the survey was carried out during the early stages of the transformation programme.

The Post Office spokesperson said: “The Consumer Futures research is based on just 53 branches during the first year of our transformation programme. We now have over 1,100 main models offering new modern branches for communities across the UK offering customers an extra 27,000 opening hours a week.

“In total almost 2000 new main and local Post Office branches have been transformed, providing a total of over 50,000 extra opening hours a week. These branches are proving extremely popular with customers recording 95% customer satisfaction levels.”

“Shocking”

The Communication Workers Union said today that the Consumer Futures report showed that the modernisation programme at Post Office Ltd was “failing to give real benefits to customers”.

The union called on Post Office Ltd to invest in attracting quality sub-postmasters to ensure local post offices adequately meet the needs of the community, pay them a “decent” rate and ensure staff are well-trained.

Andy Furey, the CWU national officer, said the findings of the survey were “shocking” considering the amount of money spent on modernisation.

“Despite the £2bn investment programme to modernise the Post Office, the company is failing to deliver tangible benefits for customers. This is disappointing and a missed opportunity for the company to bring in new customers,” he said.

“After this level of investment it begs the question what was the point in the first place?”