Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Post Office
Was scanning the papers this morning and it looks like the harringay post office is about to be closed and franchised out. Along with 37others
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/37-crown-post-offices-closed-9595128
Tags for Forum Posts: harringay post office, harringay post office closure, post office
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Steve on
-
Whilst the Post Office will claim to continue to provide services many experienced staff often choose to leave and replacements are usually on lower pay and nowhere near as well trained.
-
-
I'm a bit confused: What normally happens in this scenario--1) Find someone to take over as franchisee (like WHSmith); 2) Failing that the current one closes? Or?; and 3) If the franchisee is found it will or might be at a different location than present? If different, is there a part of the franchise agreement that requires it be at least close to the present one (surely that must be the case)?
-
Permalink Reply by Hugh on
-
From what I can find out, the process is to find a franchisee and if successful relocate operations to the franchisee's premises. Use the links from this advert for our very own post office franchise on the post office's own post office franchise sales website. In the event that no franchisee can be found, from what I understand services could be withdrawn from a local area. The best I can find quickly is this woefully out of date piece from evidence given to parliament by the National Consumer Council in 2005.
Failure to find someone to take on the franchise could result in a withdrawal of post office services from the local area. We do not think that this is an ideal solution. We would seek a commitment from the post office to re-establish direct management of post office branches if a franchise is not a sustainable option.
-
-
I'm still finding it impossible to dig up much in the way of impartial analysis of the implications of franchising vs Crown post offices. I've come across a number of publications more focussed on closure. There's this article by Polly Toynbee and I'm attaching a number of documents. There's a Business and Enterprise Committee Report on the future of the Post office from 2008-09, along with an Ipsos Mori report for the National Audit Office and a Haringey scrutiny review from the same period.
- Attachments:
-
-
371i.pdf, 2 MB -
0809558_Ipsos_Case_Studies_Summary_Report.pdf, 165 KB
-
post_office_closure_report.pdf, 273 KB
-
-
-
Another couple of pieces here. This from a parliamentary debate last year:
Independent research carried out in the past five years found that franchises left to WHSmith in 2007 and 2008 perform poorly—worse than Crown post offices in queue times, service times, customer service and advice, disabled access and the number of counter positions.
And a now sadly out of date set of commitments to the future of the Post Office published by the Business Department in 2010 under Vince Cable. The report is attached.
- Attachments:
-
-
I wonder why Harringay was chosen, it always seems to be busy and so does the Crouch End PO. I cannot see that a franchise, particularly if it is in an existing shop on Green Lanes, would be able to handle the diversity of queries that the existing PO does so they will probably 'asset strip' the service.
-
-
In my opinion Maggie your analysis is very accurate.
I have attached a communication from the Post Office Chief Executive to staff which states 'we are seeking retail partners for a further 37 directly managed branches. This builds on the 93 we announced during the course of 2016' I have also added the details of the 37 offices.
You will see Harringay has not been singled out but is part of a 'strategy' that will in my opinion, if left unchallenged, drive Crown Post Offices into oblivion!
- Attachments:
-
-
37 Franchise list[1782].pdf, 393 KB
-
-
Permalink Reply by Christopher Fowler on
-
Maggie - I use the Harringay Green Lanes PO quite often, and generally it seems to be a busy branch; and the staff are very good and helpful. The same was true of the one in Wood Green, though I didn't go there as often. Which did not stop the PO moving them to WH Smiths as a franchise. At this rate, there will be hardly any Crown Post Offices left in this part of London.
-
-
This is part of the Tories dreary policies of privatising everything. Nothing must be for the public good, sharing is bad, and only and idiot would want to serve their community. The last huge wave of post office closures meant the end of many profitable concerns. They have been stopped from selling off The Land Registry but are still looking at the Ordnance Survey. Of course they are well on the way to selling off the NHS services to Branson and co. Don't think all governments are the same...
-
Permalink Reply by matt on
-
WHSmith as a business (in the last 7-8 years) has struggled to survive. The Wood Green branch always looks like it's about to close ... so WHSmith running our Post Offcies is simply laughable.
-
-
HOL should have got onto this a couple of months ago before the Disney makeover to SAVERS was complete - but a HolSavers campaign may not be too late. Harringay Savers seems to me to be very generously 'aisled' and not exactly overrun with purchasers. The existing PO premises has a lot of wasted queuing/queueing/hughing space. A PO counter with 5 cashier desks and back office along the back of SAVERS, with entry via Aisle 1 and exiting via any of the other shopping aisles could be very good for SAVERS' business as well as for more traditional Harringay savers. Jiffy bags and toiletry bags can exist happily side by side. Let's push the envelope. Mail/Pillar Box on front pavement by kerb.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
