Going Postal
I've had a lot of people contact me about this - our own local part of a national story. One by one, our post offices are closing - and the one along Woolwich Road, opposite Glenister Gardens is the latest victim earmarked for closure. It hardly seems yesterday that we lost the one along Station Crescent at Westcombe Park and now they've got it in for the closest one to it.
It's a funny little place - and I've always feared for it - especially when the school went and then the Hospital, and the footfall just - well, fell. But there are still a hell of a lot of people who live round there and need it. I got my hopes up when the (strangely ham-fisted) renovation took place about 18 months ago (I am still cross I didn't get a photo of the original Post Office signage above the shop which became visible again for a while before being covered up again - personally I'd have kept it - but then I wouldn't have done any of it like that...) but that doesn't seem to have done the trick and someone here told me the new guy can't survive on just the PO revenue (why he doesn't get a few more goods in beats me - I love the idea of a standalone PO but if it needs to be a shop too, so be it.)
It's a funny little place - and I've always feared for it - especially when the school went and then the Hospital, and the footfall just - well, fell. But there are still a hell of a lot of people who live round there and need it. I got my hopes up when the (strangely ham-fisted) renovation took place about 18 months ago (I am still cross I didn't get a photo of the original Post Office signage above the shop which became visible again for a while before being covered up again - personally I'd have kept it - but then I wouldn't have done any of it like that...) but that doesn't seem to have done the trick and someone here told me the new guy can't survive on just the PO revenue (why he doesn't get a few more goods in beats me - I love the idea of a standalone PO but if it needs to be a shop too, so be it.)
Luckily for me, Sean did take some pics of the signs from way back in the days of the mysterious Mr Perkins and sent them to me.
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Sean was accused of being nerdy for taking them, but I for one am grateful. Anoraks of the world unite. We have nothing to lose but our relationships.
But back to the Post Office. What baffles me is that although the internet age has brought email and thus fewer letters, it has also brought Mail Order and Ebay. People can buy stuff with the press of a button without leaving their seat - but someone has to trudge down to the post office and send the thing. It's the weakest link in the purchase chain now - I'd have thought that that should be the thing the PO concentrate on - and keeping local post offices so folk don't have to carry an entire scalextrix wrapped up in brown paper or a big cardboard box with a matchbox car and large volumes of expanded polystyrene a mile down the road should be an important part of that.
I heard an interesting thing on the radio. A Royal Mail worker was being interviewed about the cuts. The interviewer said "But they've said that there will still be a Post Office within a mile of every house." The worker said that he didn't know why this was a valid point since there used to be one within a QUARTER of a mile.
I don't know of any petitions. But if you want to vent your spleen, here's the address. Otherwise we face yet another dead shop along Woolwich Road (to add to all the new ones they'll be building at the Old District Hospital Site.)
Anita Turner,
Network Development Manager
c/o National Consultation Team
FREEPOST
Consultation Team
email: consultation@postoffice.co.uk
The branch's official address is 8 Woolwich Road, London, SE10 0JU
Labels: News
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
08:55
12 Comments:
More mysterious is the continued existance of the Blackheath Hill Post Office it is always deserted. Surely West Greenwich can't need two post offices and East Greenwich none at all.
Don't worry Tom, Blackheath Hill is on the list too. However it doesn't just serve Greenwich, there is a whole swathe of estates between there and Lewisham which use it too. It might seem to be deserted when you go in there, but believe me, that's not always the case! And with only one counter it can be a long wait if there are a couple of people in the queue.
I remember hearing that the Guys at Woolwich Road wanted to run an Internet Cafe within the shop, there was also talk of a walk-in lobby with cash machine, but they got turned down. Pity, it could have made extra income and hopefully would have tipped the balance in favour of making money rather than losing it has it has done since.
Since the Government took away all the over the counter benefits and email grew to the current levels the days of the PO were numbered. We just don't use them to the extent we once did. I remember the days when we used to make a trip out to go to the PO and do our 'business' with a cheery Postmaster. Bumping into our neighbours and chatting about nothing important. But the days of Community such as that have gone to be replaced with sitting in front of a screen interacting with faceless and voiceless people. I know the irony of placing a message on a service that is trying to create a 'community' but I think we are missing the bigger picture. The Channel 4 Doc last night (My Street) really made me stop and think about how communities have changed and not for the better.
Rant over, back to you.......
Thanks both. I think dazza hit the nail on the head. Post offices are like cobblers they can't survive without other businesses (key cutting in the case of most cobblers). There seems to have been very little effort to ensure that branches are sustainable businesses for the franchisees. It can be done, look at the Greenwich High Road branch. With a little thought Woolwich Road and Blackheath Hill POs could be catalysts for much needed regeneration on both streets.
I've lived in Greenwich for six years and in all that time have never been into a post office. Sorry to be blunt, but this is 2008 not 1908 - post offices are a thing of the past. Get over it.
Thank you, Anonymous, for proving my point so eloquently.
I agree that businesses should evolve, but when they are trying to they get stifled by either red tape or indifference from the public. A point summed up by the 'Get over it' comment.
I would like to bet that Anonymous is a child of the 80's with its 'I'm alright, what can I get?' mentality, but what of the majority that aren't of that time and have moved on to a more caring attitude? I ask you Anon, what would happen if your phone line and Internet connection went down, how would you pay for your car tax, contact your family and friends or even pay your bills? Putting all your eggs in one basket and all that......
PS. Before you think that I am an 'old fossil', I too am a child of the 80's, but I was raised in a small village and know the sense of self worth that a community can bring. Something I think our inner cities could do with in spades!!!
dazza
I'm in my 30s and grew up in a small rural village a long way from London. However internet is everywhere - if you don't have it on your pc you can get it via your phone, your tv or even in your local library. Now don't get me started on libraries.... ;-)
Although its a few years ago now, I think the demise of the Post Offices started when all the benefits, pensions etc. started to be payed directly into people's acounts. The elderly in particular had less of a reason to come out of the house and while that was convenient for them I think it may have made that part of the community more timid as a result; and yes, so many things can be done online now, even down to buying stamps (though at a cost), but technology reaps a very dubious benefit sometimes.
Whenever I go to see my father in North London and walk along the high street there I notice where the bustling post office used to be and there's a genuine pang for the fact that a heartbeat has been taken out of the community.
Isn't it hilarious that the wholly commercial rail companies receive massive subsidies to help them make money out of out transport needs. Well, I'd suggest the same imperative should then apply to the post office. If that makes any kind of sense at all.
Blackheathen
Interesting to read this 16000+ kms from Woolwich Road. Local sub-postoffices can sell all sorts of things- just visit the Trafalgar Road one and you could come out with a child's toy, The Indy (much missed during my trip) or a cheap screwdriver- as well as various bits of tacky Christian religious artifacts- well worth a visit- all that and stamps and poll tax payments (sic) too.
Support your local one- but stay out of mine when I'm back- the queues are long enough already.
Gwladys: Funny you say that. Just the other day I bought a huge plastic crucifix, some masking tape and a large bar of white chocolate.
Also, this morning when I went into the Trafalgar Road post office, the community spirit could be witnessed. School kids pointing at a woman while making loud grunting noises. It was hilarious.
I really wish they'd kept the old signs. I suggested it at the time, and was told it wasn't possible. But if East Greenwich was more like Greenwich Village - or even Spittlefields that would be the shop keepers instinct on discovering such a gem...
There are lots of small business in the area and sending parcels through the internet might be a little difficult!...
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