Post Office closure list of 180 is released

Thank you for recognising the importance to rural communities of the village Post Office by sparing from closure the sub-PO in Grindleford, Derbyshire - and neighbouring villages
A DAVIES - Grindleford, Derbyshire/private

I would just like to say that the closure of a great number of local Post Offices is yet another inconvenient step towards making the quality of life for the infirm and elderly even more difficult. There seems to be no end of erosion towards the small helpful things that made the English way of life distinctive, universally admired and which in a way represents our culture. We soon will be a bland non-entity of people nestling in the far flung corner of Europe, and not necessarliy any better off with an array of cost cutting exercises.
Roger Edwards - Leader of the Pensioners Party

Langton Green Post Office provides an essential service to the village and local school. People without a car cannot get to the post offices in nearby villages easily. The owner Pat even has small groups of children from the school come in at certain times of the year and teaches them about what a post office does etc.

My children are extremely upset about its imminent closure and even started a petition up yesterday and within 1 hour got 25 signatures from local residents.
Alison Dry - Langton Green

The closure of the post office at Kinoulton will cause hardship for many people in our area, because in addtion to the people of Kinoulton who look on it as the centre of the village, it serves neighbouring Owthorpe and Hickling. As it is, the shop may not be viable without the post office, but with the right person running it it's ideally placed to be a big success.
Elizabeth Evans - Chairman Kinoulton Parish Council

Please can we have a post office back in Stanton Hill in Notts. We dont even have a proper post box. The nearest Post Office is some walk away all up hill coming back, or a bus ride into Sutton in Ashfield. There are guite a lot if elderly people living here and like myself find it very difficult.
E Twine - Stanton Hill Sutton-in-Ashfeild Notts.

The small post office in Hastings will close & the long queues at the main post offices will continue to grow. Will you be adding extra staff to the main post office
Annie - hastings

Having seen the closure of 2 of the 3 post offices within easy walking distance of my home in recent years, it is heartening to see the branch on Ashbourne Road, near Derby, follow the same way - After all who needs any kind of services in a community.

I hope the government will now use the money they have saved to build something pointless and temporary in London.
Brian Davidson - Derby

So Labour represent normal working people do they. Lets get them out at the next election!
Trev Colman - LINCOLN

High profile expensive TV advertising of "THE PEOPLES POST OFFICE". Cancel the adds and use the saving to let the people keep their post offices.
Jeff Friend - Stafford

This is madness! Three rural post offices within a five mile radius of my home are being closed, which means that people from at least five villages now have to travel at least 4 miles because everyone now has to go to Southwold - a place which has a single road in and out and is about the worst place I know for parking. In the summer, when the tourist visitor numbers are at their peak, it is even worse. The buses go there infrequently, and the inconvenience presents logistical nightmares for many people. I can understand the need to cull a few POs in towns where they may be situated only streets apart, but central decision-making is never going to meet the needs of both urban and rural communities. In an even madder move, the local PO which is currently in the Spar shop in Wangford is being replaced by an outreach service in the local community hall! WHY?? When there is a perfectly good, secure and efficent system, already in place, would you choose to replace it with a makeshift alternative. It makes no sense to me - and if the PO are trying to save money by making cuts, they may well succeed - but they may also lose customers in the process.
Lesley Dibley - Frostenden, Suffolk

just out of curiositiy i am wondering if you have any idea which north west blackpool area post offices are looking at closure yours j burgess
jane burgess - blackpool

Post Office seem to be hell bent on closing any branch they can get away with without any consideration for the local population nor how viable that particular branch is, whilst ignoring failing branches that would welcome the pay-off. These branches will then shut giving the PO additional closures at no cost!

When will this all stop – when the only post offices remaining are those in the major towns?

What next – possibly deliveries to remote locations. It won’t be long before those living in the fens or the wilds of Scotland and Wales will find themselves having to pick up their mail from the nearest town!

Even Margaret Thatcher recognised the Royal Mail / Post Office as a service, not a business!

It is also very strange that the media have kept all of this at a local level! What is going on? It is about time that this debate got nation-wide before it’s too late – together we stand, divided …

Take a look at our campaign (http://www.rippingalevillage.co.uk/Shop-ClosureOfPostOffice-1.htm) and make contact (FORPO@RippingaleVillage.co.uk).

John Warman - ''Friends of Rippingale Post Office'' (FORPO), Rippingale, Lincs

How can I find out what post offices are closing in Greater Manchester? Thankyou...
S Jordan-Roberts - Manchester 21

the post office we use has shut down the closest one is 3 mile away now and the old ppl that have no money to get a bus has to walk there do you think that is fair to them thats payed tax all there days
Carerer - Falkirk Bainsford

Our Post Office is in the consultation period now with Post Office and its just as bad for us. With having to face loosing our jobs, our livelihoods and being part of the community that we love. I love my job and love helping others. This consultation has left me with many lost hours of sleep and cannot think of how we will survive without the Post Office, as our village shop will surely not survive. We are 5 miles from nearest town and are praying that we survive for our village and the people who support us.
s mason - newbridge on wye, llandrindod wells

It's just plain business sense. If it doesn't pay it goes bust.

Get real people it's now a business not a social service, both Labour and Conservatives support that view.

If you want a loss making PO to stay open, pay for it with a locally raised subsidy. Don't ask the rest of the tax paying public to pay for it.

By the way, I live in a village not a large town, so closure could affect me from a convenience point of view, but, like almost everone else I shop in the nearby town (to which there is a bus service) and that has a PO.
Mike - Woodchester, Glos.

Mike - that is very sad!

The Post Office was always a service, not a business. There is a vast difference between running a service on business like grounds, and running it as a business.

In any case PO Ltd are closing viable POs, in some cases replacing them with a much reduced service - Outreach - at a greater cost than that of the original PO!!! Many loss making POs are remaining open - are you happy to pay for them then?

I take it you are happy to pay all the extra cost for that lot - so much for getting real!!

By the way - where is that bus service? If it's there it's heavily subsidised - hope you like paying for that as well!! In most villages it does not exist anyway!
Broken Heart - Lincs

It is madness to shut our local post office. we are now going to have 500 new homes a mile down the road. I for one cannot walk to the other post office at the other end of town. Our country is going to rack and ruin. Nearly everything we used to love about our country is being destroyed. Good job I am too old to emigrate as I would leave this country like a shot. The country is being destroyed.
Patricia Fiske - Swaffham

My local post office in London is closing down, I really dont see why all of a suden it needs to be closed. my next post office is about 25 min walk away. how conveniant thanks goverment you done your self a good favour there. why do we allow these people to do such stupid things. we put them into power and this is how they repay the general puplic. regardless of if its costing the postoffice money or not, thats not our fault its theres, so there making us all suffer and closing down post offices. years ago this would of never happend, but now its getting out of control.
chad - London/Edmonton

Neither the Government or The Post Office are the slightest bit interested in who will be inconvenienced by their endeavour to save money. Indeed, one of the people who is responsible in the Manchester area was heard, in a local hospital waiting room ,to advise people in her presence that she was on her way to tell ??? Post Office that it was her intention to have it closed. Yes, she actually mentioned the name of the Post Office concerned.

Several offices on the 'Proposed Closure List' have been put there so that it will appear, at a later date, that they have taken another view and will not close it. They will then seek another office and close that one.

You can imagine how much business is lost between the 'Proposal' and the new closure as customers transfer their business to an office they think is staying open.

Although the oganisation that represents Subpostmasters agrees to a closure programme, the 11500 left will, unless the Pensions business contract is placed with the Post Office, be reduced even further.

Now, if you have a letter to post, you cannot work out how much postage to put on it, if it contains anything other than a few pages and is in a Post Office Preferred Envelope. So, a visit to the 'local' Post Office is needed. The elderly who don't use a computer rely on the mail; so do the infirm. 'Going to ther dogs' comes to mind.

'Use it or lose it' was the slogan some time ago. We did but look what's happened. Business lost to competition because they can do it cheaper. TV Licences, Car Tax etc etc...... gone.
Mr Manchester - Manchester

This government has denuded the facilities available at the post office and now the post office are complaining that they are in a loss situation.
The sooner this government and the Post office recognises that the citizens of this country require some consideration and appreciate some of the difficulties that old people are going to have because of Post office closures the better. In my business life which spanned 43 years I operated under one rule which was.
TREAT OTHER PEOPLE AS YOU YOURSELF WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED.
Operating on this principle How can the Government and Post office treat this older generation of ours in such a DISGUSTING WAY.
jUST NOW AND AGAIN CONSIDER THE NEEDS OF THE POPULATION AND ACT RESPONSIBLY TOWARDS THEM
A DISGUSTED 80 YEAR OLD PENSIONER
Donald Wiltshire - badsworth. Pontefract

keep up the fight for your postoffices its sad when small towns and or middle size towns, have large cumbersom malls, replacing our quaint supburbs. it happened to us, one of our banks closed, which was very inconvenant
Julie Ormerod - Australia

Again the Gov't is forcing the population to use their cars more than ever. The result will be more stop signs and Lights meaning less mileage for everyone.
Allan W, Greeley - Enerson, USA