Post Office Closures - who is to blame?
From:
Nicholas Newman
Date:
Oct 01 11:19 UTC
Short link
Julia, as to who is to blame about the demise of local branch post offices. I
would suggest we are all to blame to some extent.
Decline in usage of the post office is for a number of reasons. These include:
1. Increased competition from alternative providers of similar services in the
availability of services e.g. banking and financial services.
2. The rise of the internet to send messages and conduct business e.g. texting
and internet banking to pay bills.
3. The failure of the post office to adapt to the new more competitive business
environment.
4. Changes in market behaviour.
5. The failure to end the geographical uniform tariff. E.g. It costs more for
the post office to deliver to rural Oxfordshire than it does to Oxford.
Blaming Europe as the cause of the current state of the British post office is
too easy. The European Union postal services reforms were approved by member
governments, our elected Members of the European Parliament and supported by
many interest groups. These reforms have turned the German post office who own
TNT into the most profitable and efficient post office in Europe. The real
question is why the British post office failed to make the necessary reforms in
time to prepare it to operate in the new more competitive business environment.
.