Viewpoint: Last chance to save post offices

Opinion

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Editor: Martin Lindsay

Monday, May 12, 2008

The People's Post Office? Today sees what could be the final chance to plead for the future of almost 100 small post offices around Northern Ireland. Post Office Ltd is ending public consultation on the closure plans announced six weeks ago, which caused considerable distress to operators and the public who rely on their services.

Often where Government is concerned, consultation is little more than a statutory nod at the people most affected by decisions that have already been taken. We trust that's not the case with the Post Office, because the very real needs of rural and isolated communities need to be taken on board. We hope as well that those communities, led by their political representatives, have used the opportunity to make their case, rather than simply resigning themselves to their fate.

Because with many, if not most of the premises marked for closure, there is a sound case for retention.

From the very introduction of a universal postal service, it's been understood that cost efficiency doesn't always match up with the goal of delivering services to every part of the country. Admittedly the parts of the service making money are fewer and there is also a case for streamlining business in these times of economic change.

But the Post Office is more than a commercial operation and decisions must be taken for reasons beyond the bottom lines. Village post offices or the counters in local shops provide a range of important services, a range ironically emphasised by the current advertising campaign exhorting us to use the so-called People's Post Office.There is a deep underlying problem here that can be traced back to through the UK Government's many attempts to reorganise postal services. The postal service they created —encompassing the Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd — is expected to compete like an ordinary business and at the same time deliver highly uncompetitive services. That much was indicated in a Government report released last week. Supposed reforms left the Royal Mail fighting plenty of hungry competitors for lucrative business deliveries while tied to the universal delivery service that we need, but those hungry competitors need not bother with.

No wonder Royal Mail's profits recently fell for the third year running. The problem is compounded by a shrinking market: more documents and information are passed electronically, making the competition for business that much more fierce. Yet just as the paperless office is often predicted and never arrives, it's difficult to see a day when we can do entirely without a postal service.

Which is why the Government — the owners of the Royal Mail and Post Office Ltd — must intervene and reorganise as a matter of urgency. It's not enough to plead changing times and leave the customers to their lot.

Remember Northern Ireland's rail network, which was largely closed in the name of progress, but would now be welcome back but for the expense of revival. It's easy to do away with public services. It's much, much harder to bring them back.