So, in spite of the two large further consultation posters obscuring half the windows at Llanfwrog post office, the facility is finally to close. We can only assume that being in a second round of consultation meant the branch was borderline. In the event, it seems it was *too* borderline.
Yet, how borderline is 21,000 to 26,000 post office visits per annum? From a population in Llanfwrog Urban of 1,909? And that’s without the 360 or so who will eventually live at Glasdir.
When in August we first raised this issue, we felt we had to accept that if people can travel into town to fulfil their wants and needs, the same can be true of post office services. We commented that there were often local alternatives. Virtually everything you can do at the post office can be done elsewhere, often at times when the counter is shut (e.g. PayPoint services within the Co-op building that houses Llanfwrog post office and also at nearby Bridge Services). There’s now even a cash machine at Bridge Services for access to cash and the pensions and benefits you tend to use the post office for, albeit with a £1.60 charge per withdrawal at Texaco.
Alternatives there may be. For some things there are none. Like actually posting a packet larger than can fit in the small *letter* box in Llanfwrog post office’s wall. Like fathoming out whether a fat, long or big letter falls in the expensive ‘large’ category. Like sending a recorded letter, posting abroad or weighing a parcel. These simple transactions will now mean a trip into town.
Yet, if internet shopping is bucking the recessionary trend (or so it’s said), we need to post larger items, including returns. And if worried savers are progressively moving their money into the safety of post office accounts (or so it’s said), they need a point of access. And the safeguarding last week of the Post Office card account means that post offices continue as ever more important in financial services, especially for vulnerable people. All this is now too late for west Rhuthun. In Llanfwrog Urban, the vast majority will manage without its post office. But some will not.
On the other hand, imagine if it was the St Peter's Square branch that was to close, instead of Llanfwrog's...
Yet, how borderline is 21,000 to 26,000 post office visits per annum? From a population in Llanfwrog Urban of 1,909? And that’s without the 360 or so who will eventually live at Glasdir.
When in August we first raised this issue, we felt we had to accept that if people can travel into town to fulfil their wants and needs, the same can be true of post office services. We commented that there were often local alternatives. Virtually everything you can do at the post office can be done elsewhere, often at times when the counter is shut (e.g. PayPoint services within the Co-op building that houses Llanfwrog post office and also at nearby Bridge Services). There’s now even a cash machine at Bridge Services for access to cash and the pensions and benefits you tend to use the post office for, albeit with a £1.60 charge per withdrawal at Texaco.
Alternatives there may be. For some things there are none. Like actually posting a packet larger than can fit in the small *letter* box in Llanfwrog post office’s wall. Like fathoming out whether a fat, long or big letter falls in the expensive ‘large’ category. Like sending a recorded letter, posting abroad or weighing a parcel. These simple transactions will now mean a trip into town.
Yet, if internet shopping is bucking the recessionary trend (or so it’s said), we need to post larger items, including returns. And if worried savers are progressively moving their money into the safety of post office accounts (or so it’s said), they need a point of access. And the safeguarding last week of the Post Office card account means that post offices continue as ever more important in financial services, especially for vulnerable people. All this is now too late for west Rhuthun. In Llanfwrog Urban, the vast majority will manage without its post office. But some will not.
On the other hand, imagine if it was the St Peter's Square branch that was to close, instead of Llanfwrog's...
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