The reopening of the Walworth Post Office is great news, but lessons need to be learned from its sudden closure in February.
The Post Office abruptly shut its doors earlier this year when the operator running the branch suddenly resigned. It left 40,000 people without vitally needed services and people are overjoyed to hear it’s coming back.
Walworth Post Office to reopen – ending months of misery for elderly customers
It would be easy to point the finger at the postmaster who resigned at seemingly short notice. But the fact is that Post Office operators all over the country are struggling. A perfect storm of industrial action, rising energy bills and competition from other retailers have steadily chipped away at Post Office profits in recent years. Look through local newspapers across the country and you’ll find branches are closing across the country every week.
The Post Office provides an important public service that other companies don’t. At a Post Office, you can pay your taxes, send parcels and get help with your passport applications all at the same time. This is a plethora of affordable services that are hard to find elsewhere.
The UK government owns the Post Office and a new funding package may be needed to save faltering stores. The question is; does the government value these local services enough, or is the Post Office another public service at risk of disintegrating?
