Do you think that the Government's proposed plan to close small rural Post Offices is just a form of ageism?

Question

Considering that a lot of the people who use the smaller rural post offices are the very elderly, who cannot use public transport (due to their infirmities) and do not have the internet, is it not these very people who need the local Post Office, often in the village shop where they buy their groceries?

This question is aimed at UK residents. I do not know what is happening in the USA but it would appear to have similar problems to here. Thanks for your viewpoints.

Answer 1

I think that is a very well thought out question. Transport and internet access for older people in rural areas are both serious problems. Not to mention the fact that post offices are great places to pass on information to people about what is happening locally.
My grandmother (who lived in a little village) was partially sighted and very frail towards the end of her life and had to rely on neighbours for shopping/ someone collecting her pension when the village store closed. However, she had always been a very independent person and having to rely on people so much got her down at times.
That is perhaps the positive side - villages are more community spirited than rural areas and people do help their neighbours out more. But again, removing the post offices would mean removing sources of information about clubs/societies/ organisations needing volunteers.

Answer 2

There is no general plan to close small rural post offices. Post Offices in village stores are usually operated as CPO's or contract Post Offices which is a negotiated rental agreement between the store owner and the postal service. The store owner is not a postal employee and must ask a reasonable rent vs profit ratio. As long as the two parties can come to terms and the service confirms to postal reg's, the office shouldn't be closed.

The USPS has gone over backwards to provide services to the old and infirm. If the customer needs mail to brought to the door and requested a "hardship" delivery do to infirmity, it will be granted. A rural carrier is a "post office on wheels" and can provide all the services a concrete Post Office does. We sell stamps, pickup packages and sometimes provide a bit of chat.

Have you spoken to the Postmaster in your town before you conclude this is an ageism issue?

Answer 3

The law of unintended consequences means that as more and people use the internet, so there is less and less mail, one major source of post office income.

Technology has also made Government benefits payments direct into bank accounts more cost effective, so the post office's chief source of revenue has gone. Sad, really - I used to enjoy the weekly chats in the queue when I picked up my Family Benefits when the kids were small... 30 years ago.

Post office facilities SHOULD be available in each village, but how to subsidise such a service is beyond me. Have a 'Post Office Tax' built into internet use, perhaps... :) !

Answer 4

i don't think of it will impact me that plenty. I stay interior the city, and there are 3 positioned up places of work all interior strolling odistance or some stops by utilising bus. yet I do think of it unfair that the government is final down a exceptional form of those PO's. extraordinarily if rural communities are to be on the main deprived. Plus what approximately people who can not get right of entry to greater city positioned up places of work? quite the government can keep some funds from someplace (specifically the unlawful conflict in Iraq and their ridiculous wages for sitting on their ar*ses all day doing not something). and that i think of the information become given out on a Saturday because of the fact no-one will pay plenty interest to the information on a Saturday...the government is often attempting to bury undesirable information...spineless tw*ts.

Answer 5

Its worse than ageism, its masochism. The Postal Service is shooting itself in the foot to scratch an itch. Rural offices are not terribly cost effective and they see this as a way of saving a lot of money. Unfortunately taking service away from customers just hastens their rush into competitors arms. Your mail service may soon be provided by HCR's (highway contract routes). HCR's are set up using a low bidder system. Guess who suffers? not the government.

Answer 6

Yep. Its outrageous the way the elderly generation is getting treated in the UK. It seems that there only remembered just before election and bunged a couple of hundred quid for a 'bribe'.

Given that this was the generation that went to war twice in the name of 'freedom' and 'democracy' against the evils of the Axis Powers we have a pretty strange way of looking after there basic needs.

Seems like yet another case of "I'm alright Jack, screw you". Didnt we learn anything from the greed fuelled years of the eighties?

Answer 7

our local post office shut down.. now if u need a post office u have to que up for 2 hours.. and they wounder why pensioners pass out in the summer etc they have 2 stand there as there is no seating.. the government need to stand in these ques instead of making there PA s do it

Answer 8

no think its the post office not the gov and maybe the alliance and Leicester who are running this form of ageism my local post office do everything else in store so to speak maybe they are shooting themselves in foot who know but they will do what they like they always do anyway ...

Answer 9

It absolutely is. The same as banks closing their branches. My great-aunt is 87, if the local branch closes she is not in a position to do online banking or cope with an incomprehensible call-centre in Calcutta.
Local councils should have to ensure that certain services remain in town centres for all of us.

Answer 10

I do. Not everyone uses the internet or credit cards to pay for things on line. I think its just another way to push for Identity cards, that hold ALL information about you. The people of this country are slowly being held to randsome......