Post Office closures

[gerry]

snorky Wrote:

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> keep it.

>

> I have yet to wait less than 15 minutes in the big

> LL one

>

> Even the great Satan and its hapless servants of

> international capital - the USA - views its postal

> service as an untouchable, yet we are happy chop

> it up at the first opportunity

Snorky, you can't resist spewing anti-American sentiments, now can you????

[snorky]

lets not derail the thread.

if you are that insecure about you nationality, then I suggest you begin a rambling thread in teh Lounge

[gerry]

Sorry, but you enjoy American bashing at every turn and its sad........keep to the thread.

[snorky]

pointless goading comment removed, as it will just provoke a world of bleating

[????]

if a Post Office can't make money why should tax payers subsidise it? (difficult concept for politicians to get their nonces round I know).......especially in London where there's plenty of nearby alternatives. You could, maybe, just, make acse for stte support in an isoltaed community.

[BJL]

???? Wrote:

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> if a Post Office can't make money why should tax

> payers subsidise it?

Would you apply that argument to libraries, hospitals, parks, museums and schools? How about the police and armed forces?

[snorky]

The problem is that the people who use the PO most are invariably at the bottom of the pile economically and likely have less of a voice.

I dont really used the PO apart from sending stuff I send out to paying victims, but many many people have no choice - the money that they live on goes tho' the PO.

You also cant estimate the non monetary value of somewhere like a PO in terms of a loose social network for people on ther margins - although this is more important in isolated areas as you say.

[Cassius]

The spokeswoman from the Post Office who was questioned about this on the Channel 4 news had no answer when asked how the old/infirm etc were meant to manage - presumably such customers don't make enough revenue to be worth considering.

[????]

Libraries - rationliasation, yes, hospitals (increasingly questioning but far too complex than to no state subsidy but certainly would like a more commercial focus) parks - no, museum no, schools no. Police - I'd happily see local beat type monitoring run by a private agency leaving the highly paid police to get on with dealing with proper crime not issuing parking tickets and 'easy' crime, armed forces - no. There's a degree of simplification in these responses but how the sacred cowiness off state owned and run businesse should be questioned thoroughly and constatntly....

How many post offices are there in ED? Where else can I buy stamps? Open bank accounts? etc etc

[????]

Interesting contrast to views on commercially successfull and largely working class clientele Bookies.....

[PeckhamRose]

The Post office is a service.

Thus it should not be a limited company.

As someone said earlier, even the Americans have saved their postal service.

[gerry]

Yes Rose, there are fewer post offices in the states than there are here, and have less services on offer. I feel it would be unfortunate to lose another PO here as they provide so much for the community. When the PO on Wood Vale shut a few years ago it forced people back into their cars, which either means we are all lazy or we were driving the elderly to the nearest one. Also mothers and children now have to find another means of transport apart from walking, defeating the whole purpose of trying to help the environment.

[????]

So a post office on every corner it is then..........

*shakes head at usual sentimental, irrational 'Public Service' guff slapped all over this thread.....

[BJL]

???? Wrote:

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> So a post office on every corner it is

> then..........

*shakes head at another deliberate misrepresentation of other people's statements and opinions and that strange need to mention "bookies" in every thread.*

[peckhamboy]

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> if a Post Office can't make money why should tax

> payers subsidise it?

Would you apply that argument to libraries, hospitals, parks, museums and schools? How about the police and armed forces?

Are you suggesting that the police and armed forces should be privatised? Interesting idea.

[BJL]

peckhamboy Wrote:

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> Are you suggesting that the police and armed

> forces should be privatised?

No, not at all.

[mikese22]

???? Wrote:

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> if a Post Office can't make money why should tax

> payers subsidise it? (difficult concept for

> politicians to get their nonces round I

> know).......especially in London where there's

> plenty of nearby alternatives. You could, maybe,

> just, make acse for stte support in an isoltaed

> community.

I agree - if the post office is the only shop in a rural village then fair enough, but round the corner from another branch in suburban London??

I always struggle with the point of the post office anyway (parcels excepted); most things they used to have a monopoly on can be done easier elsewhere (post, phone, online, at the bank, newsagents etc....) and the things they now promote are just services that loads of other companies do (travel insurance, currency exchange, broadband, credit cards etc)

I know you could argue that if the government(s) hadn't taken their monopolies away then it would be different, but you could also argue that if the government hadn't allowed the gas and electricity industries to expand then the coal industry would be in better shape; or if BT hadn't been privatised then the post office could still make a nice profit from forcing us to wait 6 months for a brown telephone and a shared 'party' line - things move on and the only unique selling point for the post office now is somewhere to take parcels imho

[????]

Careful mikese - attacking a sacred cow like the PO is equivalent to mugging old ladies.....no joined up thinking on this, or any other nationalised industry for that matter, just sentimental rheoteric. Some of us remember how appaling MOST of them were....

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Party lines were such fun for eavesdropping!

[mikese22]

Peckhamgatecrasher Wrote:

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> Party lines were such fun for eavesdropping!

true - we shared one with Nan (slightly scary Yorkshire matriarch) who threatened to 'tan my hide' for listening in when I was about 5

[janos777]

As far as I am concerned, ALL post offices should be closed. No need to buy postage from them as you can print your own online.Letters can posted in post-boxes. Money can be transferred to bank accounts and collected from ATM.Everything else can be done at news-agents who are much more efficient,friendly,profitable. The sad people to whom social life means standing in a post office queue should look for a new hobby,or go back to the ballet school and jump. Post Offices are dinosauruses..Keep a few in museums and get rid of the rest.

[PeckhamRose]

If Val Shawcross is upset about it, then we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

http://www.valshawcross.com/index.php?id=331

No, wait, that's rubbish, little will change. Done deal etc.

[monopoly69]

Keep the PO in Melbourne Grove, definitely. If it goes, LL will obviously get even busier and at the moment Melbourne Grove is a godsend for those of us who:

1) are freelance or otherwise working from home and without access to an office-based post room

2) often post items larger than a normal letter (and who often rely on being able to do so in order to earn a living)

3) send presents to non-local friends or family, using a cheaper form of delivery than a courier that also offers signature on receipt

4) have active toddlers in tow much of the time and find it difficult to keep said toddler entertained in the LL PO queue for 15 minutes

[KalamityKel]

I notice the FH one has moved to WHSmiths... *sighs* twas prob gone YEARS ago but hey ho...

[MrsEd]

Someone from the South London Press will be at the Melbourne Grove PO tomorrow lunchtime for those that would like to show support and can make it.