Tag: Postwatch

Hundreds of post offices to shut in Scotland

Posted by | May 14, 2007 | |

Hundreds of post offices across Scotland are set to be closed as part of government plans to be announced this week.

AlistairDarling, the Trade and Industry Secretary, will reveal the response to a consultation on closures which campaigners believe will spell the end for as many as 800 branches in Scotland. Pensioners’ groups and rural communities have been outraged by the programme they fearwill cut off many people from vital services.

However, the government insists the network is losing millions of pounds every week and is impossible to sustain. Around 2500 post offices are understood to be closing out of a total of 14,000 in the UK but with a high proportion in Scotland. Between one-quarter and one-third of all closures are believed to be north of the border.

Figures from consumer group Postwatch show the number of post offices in Britain has fallen from 18,393 in 1999 to 14,376 in 2005.

Last June there were 1676 post offices in Scotland – 1117 in rural areas and 559 in urban areas.

Mr Darling has said many remote post offices which do not meet the criteria will be allowed to remain open but hundreds are still expected to close.

New criteria over how far away people should be expected to live from their nearest post office will change and the closures are expected by hit urban as well as rural areas.

Under the new rules, 95per cent of the urban population will be within one mile of a post office and in rural areas 95per cent should be within three miles and in remote areas 95per cent within six miles.

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Axe falls on thousands of post offices

Posted by | May 13, 2007 | |

The government will this week announce the closure of 2,500 post offices across the country as part of plans to stem losses of GBP 4m a week across the 14,000 strong network.

Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling will release the government’s response to a six-month consultation on the network, indicating where offices will be lost and what measures will be taken to support those that are left.
At the same time, the Communication Workers Union is preparing to launch a ballot for strike action across its 140,000 membership at Royal Mail in a dispute over pay. The union plans to issue notification of the ballot on Tuesday if talks with Royal Mail on the current 2.5 per cent offer on Monday fail to reach a breakthrough.

There are also plans for a ballot among staff at main Crown post offices over plans to move 85 offices into WH Smith stores, while members at Post Office Cash Services, the division that handles and transports money from branches, are threatening a ballot over pay as well. A union source said there could be strikes across the mail and postal sector.

A spokesman for the National Federation of Sub Postmasters said half the government closures were expected in rural areas and half in towns and cities.
The government has indicated that if the post office network were a purely commercial organisation, it would run only 4,000 branches. However, it accepts that it also has a social role.

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Postwatch concerned about zonal pricing: who wins?

Posted by | Apr 2, 2007 | |

The postal regulator Postcomm has today started to consult on Royal Mail’s application to price its bulk mail products differently according to where they are delivered. The Royal Mail wants to divide the UK into 4 zones according to the density of delivery points and in addition London where it claims costs are higher.

Postwatch, the watchdog for postal services, will be studying the proposals carefully before responding on behalf of customers. Clearly the implications of introducing zonal pricing need to be fully worked through and fully understood before being allowed.

Postwatch is concerned that there is a real risk bulk mailers will curtail mailing to rural areas and all or parts of London because those areas will attract a surcharge. Not only could this be detrimental to customers and businesses in those areas but it could also have an irreversible effect on volumes. This is at a time when Royal Mail itself is constantly expressing concerns about the decline in the amount of mail it is delivering.

Millie Banerjee, Chair of Postwatch, said: “We are concerned that this second attempt to persuade the regulator to allow the introduction of zonal pricing will be successful. It may pass the test of allowing specific product prices to be more closely aligned to their costs. But it may also result in an unfortunate lose – lose situation, where customers, competing postal operators and Royal Mail itself are all worse off.

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Royal Mail puts pressure on Postcomm

Posted by | Feb 27, 2007 | |

Royal Mail(UK). through an interview with the Financial Times and then issuing a press release, is trying to use the media to pressure the postal regulator Postcomm to loosen the regulatory regime. This would allow Royal Mail to increase substantially the price of stamps to its domestic and small business customers and to reduce prices to large business mailers.

Postwatch, the watchdog for postal services, is confident that the regulator will not allow stamp prices to increase by 6 pence – far above the rate of inflation.

Postwatch, believes the regulator will cut through the rhetoric and instead will analyse objectively the hard numbers that must support any formal request, should Royal Mail make one.

Howard Webber, Chief Executive of Postwatch, commenting on today’s events said, “The current generous price control, which allowed first class stamps to increase from 30 pence to 36 pence between April 2006 and March 2010, has been in place for less than a year. Royal Mail has already taken advantage of the flexibility offered to increase prices by 2 pence in April 2006 and 2007.

“This four year deal was at the time welcomed by Royal Mail as providing the certainty it needed to plan for the future. But now they want more.

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UK Post office closure proposals update

Posted by | Feb 9, 2007 | |

Postwatch, the watchdog for postal services, urges customers to have their say on the future of the post office network by responding to the government’s consultation, due to close on 8th
March.

The government is proposing to close up to 2,500 post offices throughout the UK, establish new minimum access criteria to maintain a national network, put in place 500 ‘outreach’ services such as mobile post offices, and continue to fund the rural network to 2011. These proposed changes seek to address the network’s current difficulties, with 90 percent of rural branches failing to make a profit, revenue from government transactions falling by GBP 68 million last year, and overall financial losses for the network expected to rise from GBP 111 million to GBP 200 million this year.

Commenting on the consultation, Millie Banerjee, Chair of Postwatch, said:
“The government’s proposals signal a massive change for the post office network, and anyone who uses these services should take an interest in the consultation.

“Postwatch has been urging the government to take action to address the current problems and to put in place a sustainable way of meeting customers’ post office needs. We therefore welcome the opportunity the consultation gives to contribute our thoughts on the appropriate next steps.

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