Shrewsbury's main Post Office on St Mary's Street is to be moved to the inside of WH Smith's to save money.

This was being discussed on Radio Shropshire this morning and people were concerned about the reduced size of the post office area (the space allocated to it in Smith's won't be anything like the current floor area it has) and the fact that it will be inside another shop.

Now this sort of thing happens in smaller towns, where the independent post office branch closes and is instead integrated into another shop, but for this to happen to the county town's branch is surprising. In my view its another money-making scheme for the Post Office/Royal Mail, who will be able to sell off their current building to developers.

Which brings up the point of maybe a fairly large town centre commercial development arising soon, with the former Burger King building and the Post Office building becoming part of a redevelopment scheme. Surely they won't be allowed to build apartments here too?!

I use the St Mary's Street Post Office regularly and I think that moving it into WH Smith's would be a huge error.

I'm always impressed with the fact that although the post office gets VERY busy several times a day (and crazy at the start of the month with car tax etc.) the long queue moves quickly and I never have to wait long. This is in main due to the fact that the have a good number of customer points which are well staffed. Reducing the post office in scale could lead to chaos.

Things were looking shakey for post offices a while back, electronic mail haveing seriously hit their figures. Then eBaying etc. took off and the post office was busier than ever.

This is one area where they shouldn't be trying to save money. Moving it into WH Smiths would probably cause a large headache. I can envissage Smiths becoming so crowded with people desperately trying to post stuff that shoppers would avoid the store.

I work for Royal Mail and normally we get the "briefs" about changes to the business before the public find out but for some reason I had not heard about this (although I have been on holiday recently so may have missed it.)

A quick look on the net and it seems that Shrewsbury is actually one of six sites being moved as part of a pilot scheme to see how well things go and it seems that the CWU (Communication Workers Union) are not impressed by the plans as you can imagine.

The sites are:

# The Kingsway, Swansea
# St Mary’s St, Shrewsbury
# Observatory, Slough
# Warrington St, Ashton-Under-Lyne
# The Broadway, Centre Hammersmith
# John St, Llanelli.

There is more info on the CWU Website

Personally speaking I think moving it would not be a good thing because they offer a wide range or services and to be fair to them, the times that I have used the post office there, they have been very efficient, knowlegable and helpful unlike certain sub-post offices I could name.

To be honest I think that the Royal Mail are more concerned that big town centre Post Offices make big losses.

I was given to understand that car taxation would no longer be handled by the Post Office in a few months time.

Yeah, this is a stupid idea. I could see the motivation behind it if the current post office building didn't get as busy as does, but the place is heaving every time I go there - if anything they should be thinking about making it bigger! Moving into WHSmith's will result in queues snaking around the building and out into the street and we see quite enough foot-tapping and wristwatch-checking in the current post office as it is. Once again Royal Mail (or whatever they're called this afternoon) are ignoring the needs of their customers to save a few pennies for the shareholders. I can't say I'm particularly surprised.

Whilst the move is an attempt to reduce losses from the one remaining area of the business still running at a loss (Royal Mail had openly announced that this is the reason why;) these decisions are not made on a local or regional level. They are made at a national level by executive level people who (based on past ideas) have limited knowlege of the local issues or economics being affected.

It is worth pointing out that as a nationally owned business; Royal Mail does not have shareholders, unless you count the govenment's 100% controlling influence, despite what is reported in the press and what Alan Leighton is trying to push through in the way of employee share options which is more of a productivity bonus scheme. Royal Mail and the govt have also announced / confirmed recently that privitisation is "no longer on the table."

The reason why Royal Mail has been making many changes recently (many of which are not obvious to the public) is because they are being forced to in order to compete in a competitive market and to meet the increasing cost / efficiency targets placed on them by the govt and postcomm (whom Royal Mail wanted appointed - oh the irony.)

I still think moving a busy post office like the one in Shrewsbury to a small shop is a bad idea but I can see why / how the decision has been made.

Theoretically Royal Mail Group has one share and HM Government is the shareholder.

From today's Shropshire Star:

Post office jobs to go

Staff at Shrewsbury’s main post office face redundancy as all 17 jobs will go in its move to WHSmith.

Last week Royal Mail announced it would move the St Mary’s street branch into the lower level of WHSmith in a new partnership deal aimed at cutting multi-million pound losses.

Staff have until July 11 to decide if they want to move to another job within the firm or take voluntary redundancy.

Local CWU Leaders are organising a campaign today (11 July) outside of the main post office building in St Marys Street to engage public opinion of the move and to try and rally support with a petition against the move which will be handed to the powers that be at the very top of royal mail.

Local union representative and council member Jon Tandy when asked for comment yesterday said that "it is very important that the public get involved in this because it affects them and the services that they deserve and have come to expect from our main post office on St Marys Street.

Local media outlets will be in attendance from 14:30 onwards covering the story and any member of the public is welcome to come along wishing to find out more about the planned move and the issues that the move would bring as well as people wishing to pledge their support for the campaign and make their voices heard as to what the people, the customers want to see happen."

Jon has read the forum posts and said that "It is clear from the messages that the move is not a popular one so this is an oppertunity to be heard and to let the CWU and Royal Mail bosses know your views on the move and hopefully play a part in stopping this kind of money saving tactic being applied further throughout the business."

As an update to my last post. Over 3,000 people have signed the petition so far and there is a letter writing campaign being organised enabling people to contact the person in charge of the relocation project and express objection to the planned relocation.

If anyone is interested I can obtain the mailing address and a pre-written letter that can be downloaded and printed meaning that all people need do is sign the letter and post it to the person in charge if they do not have the time to write their own letter.

If anyone is interested in this then I can get the address/letter in the next couple of days and will post the information on here.

Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council also oppose such a move...

http://www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/public/news/b...erelocation.htm

(I suspect for political reasons)

interesting link. spot the mistake at the bottom of the page.

"The Council have strongly objected to the proposal and asked BT to reconsider its plans."

It also helps when a certain councillor is also a CWU representative.

Is it not possible to create an on-line petition, they may get more response?

Article in the Guardian Newspaper

I'm not sure why it has come up like this but at least the article has linked.



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Link name changed from "My Homepage" to "Article in the Guardian Newspaper" for clarity.
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Good article - I assume this is also in the actual printed newspaper?

I would assume that it was also printed in the newspaper because Jon was telling me that quite a few people had asked him about the Guardian Article in interviews and when on the street with the posters and pettion.

Jon saw Shrewsbury Shrew's idea of an online petion and thinks that it is a good idea so we are looking at how best to implement the idea but I have obtained the petiton document that can be printed out and taken around friends and family etc and returned to Jon.

[edit]
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Paper Petition download removed by me now that the Online Petition is up and running
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Jon has said that he will email the letter to me as it is on his home computer whereas the petition was on his work computer.

He said that he is handing out 200 letters a day so the letter writing idea seems to be a popular one and is keen to bring it online.

How about using a service like this: http://www.petitiononline.com/ its quick and easy to use, I could send out the details as part of Shrewsbury Forum's next newsletter!

Thank you for the online petition suggestion - I will be setting one up using petitionsonline soon.

I have obtained the campaign letter that Jon has been handing out and converted it into the most popular file formats for cross platform compatability.

Campaign Letter - Open Office Format (.ODT)

Campaign Letter - MS Word Format (.Doc)

Campaign Letter - Adobe Acrobat Format (.PDF)


If you do not have MS Office, Adobe Acrobat or Open Office then you can download the following software.

OpenOffice 2.0 suite (for .ODT) can be downloaded for Free from OpenOffice.org (This is what I Use)

Word Viewer (Windows Only) (for.Doc) can be downloaded From Microsoft although OpenOffice.org can also use .Doc files.

Adobe Acrobat Reader (Windows Only) (for .PDF) can be downloaded for Free from Adobe

The Campaign Letter is two pages long and can be printed off and all that needs to be done is to sign the bottom and post it to the following address.

Byron Roberts
Programme Director
Post Office Ltd, c/o National Consultation Team
PO Box 2060
WATFORD
WD18 8ZW

Just a quick update, this morning I have been filming the campaign for our new website along side Chris Bradley who was taking pictures outside the post office in Shrewsbury town centre.

At the moment we only have a holding page available but the full site will be on-line later this week. The site links to Shrewsbury Forum so welcome to our new guests and members if you have joined us to comment on the campaign...

Website: http://www.saveourpostoffice.co.uk

Watch a video feature regarding the proposed move:

Watch Feature

As mentioned in the video feature; there is now an online petition which will available by-way of the main Save Our Post Office website and directly at Petition Online

I encourage everyone to share the petition link with their friends, family and work colleagues.

I have also received a short press release about a march to support the campaign on Saturday 29 July:

Stop Press!!!

ASSEMBLE AT 12.15 OUTSIDE MUSIC HALL AT THE MARKET SQ.

MARCH FROM MARKET SQ AT 1230 TO PRIDE HILL POST OFFICE

ONLY 8 PEOPLE HAVE SIGNED!

please sign, it only takes a few seconds.

s.g.d.

Done ;)

I would like to thank everyone who has (or is going to) sign the petition - 8 Sigs is not too bad considering that the petition has only been online since 14:30 (ish) and I have done no promotion yet except for my post on here.

I have setup a campaign blog to go with the website so all comments. feedback appriciated.

I encourage everyone to forward the links to their friends, family etc because every signature counts in our campaign.

No disrespect ! I never use the post office in Shrewsbury mainly because i'm sick of queing! I do believe it needs to stay though but will add these places are so out of date with the times!

I just added myself to the list. But surely you'd be better getting people in Shrewsbury? I'd hate to think that you had to rely on people who live in a different county, like me...

There's over 10,000 people signed the petition so far outside the main post office and I think 6,000 letters have been received, today we launched the website hence the e-mail.

I thought it may make those who are not aware or don't go into town that often sign the petition on-line if they are interested. At the end of the day it all helps!

When I run the broadband4harlescott campaign that went really well via spreading information on the net.

Well. It looks like we (saveourpostoffice.co.uk) got mentioned in the Shrewsbury Chronicle this week :D

Yes, I read the Chronicle this week and it is indeed a sad day when our Post Office moves to WH Smiths. Mind you, call me selfish (yes, I am selfish) but it would be great for my business. ...

For those who are unable or unwilling to negotiate the obstacles WH Smith put in their way in order to send a box of presents to their grandchildren in France, or despatch their eBay goods, come to Mail Boxes Etc. on Shoplatch. Here you can enter at street level, have a seat while we deal with your parcel, have a chat and pay less for the service. Yes, good old fashioned service with a smile at up to half the price.... Personally I can't wait for the Post Office to disappear into the bowels of the Darwin Shopping Centre.

On a less selfish note though, it's a pretty poor show for a town of this size to reduce its Post Office offering. When I am old and knackered, I won't want to fight my way past rows of pot-bellied middle-aged men leafing through "Practical Photographer" and "What PC?" in order to buy a tax disk.

;)

I work Sunday to Friday and your place is never open on a Saturday which is why I need Shrewsbury to have a post office 8.30 till 5.30 6 days a week.

s.g.d.

Good point..... although I did try opening on Saturdays for months and months but all I got was a little old lady wanting one photocopy. It is true that most of my customers are business customers and that's why Saturdays are so quiet.

Clearly if the Post Office was to move to WH Smiths I would revisit this decision and try opening on a Saturday again.

xx

Welcome to the forum bring_your_parcels_to_me,

I have always walked past your store wondering what services you offer? its free plug time...

Forget the petions folks,the decision has already been made,petions are a waste of time,i have never know one work yet.

that is not a very positive attitude.

we have to try something,what would you suggest?

s.g.d.

Its not a very good attitude,i agree,but true nontheless.

I am involved in the campaign and today during the march I was on the front line (literally) filming the event for the campaign website (I will get Chris Pritchard to edit the footage tomorrow) and for a dvd that the campaigners wish to give to Alan Leighton.

I was approached by a bbc local television journalist who was interested in obtaining my tapes which I will be forwarding on to them once Chris has downloaded the footage into his video editing software.

We had a lot of support and overall it was a good day if somewhat panicy when the march was coming up pride hill faster than planned and the PA system was still being wired into Jons van.

Will the petition work? I don't know, I hope so and it is going to be handed to Alan Leighton next week by Jon and our MP so hopefully it will lead to an open dialogue between the campaigners and post office counters leading to a solution that is best for both sides because the petition, letters, march etc is not to find a solution here and now but to show that there is opposition to the plan and to get the attention of national level executives and impress that discussion needs to take place before things are finalised.

Nationally the post office have given a window of oppertunity for feedback, discussion of the relocation so we are using this time to hand them our petitions, letters of support, campaign footage etc to show the strength of public / business objection to the plan in its current format.

If it doesn't work then hey, we tried. we involved the public and gathered a lot of backing from all corners of the community and showed that there is much opposition to the re-location and things can re-assessed because this is a pilot scheme and a three year trial franchise agreement has been implimented so that both the post office and wh smith are not locked into a long term contract so if the move has a negative impact on either of their businesses then they can re-evaluate the franchise after the three years.

well done Chris to you and all who turned up,looked a lot in the picture in the Star.

s.g.d.

Thank you s.g.d. the shopshire star guy was running around like mad taking plenty of pictures for the late edition of the paper and they look good. I think a guy was there from the chronicle as well as someone else with an expensive dslr but I'm not sure where he was from.

I have some still pictures of the campaign in the square that I took on my k750i and I have been given the memory card from Jons camera that his nephew was using to take pictures in the square and on pride hill.

If anyone is wondering who the "Martin Eddies" is who was interviewed in the Shropshire Star article then here he is:



A few hundred people "officially" took part in the march but between the square and the end point half way up pride hill a large number of shoppers, pedestrians, staff from local shops on tea-breaks had joined us after seeing what we were doing.

I posted a Blog Entry earlier about the march before I fell asleep (I had been awake for over 36 hours at that point) and I have some good footage of Jon and Steve in Belle Vue Tavern afterwards conducting a post march analysis and thanking everyone.

The borough council are looking into helping out...

http://www.shropshirestar.com/show_article.php?aID=47321