ferme park road post office closing

naomi

so sad they are going to close the fp road post office in june. i'm not sure they will survive as just a newsagent with super-londis across the road, and they are such lovely folk. i may even write to my MP!

katiejane

Lynne's on to it already - we had email off her. She says... "I am writing to you because we face a problem. As you may have heard the Government - in its infinite wisdom - want to close several of our Post Offices. They are: Weston Park Ferme Park Road Alexandra Park Road Salisbury Road West Green Road Page Green Road Highgate High Street. We have just six short weeks to prove to the Government that this is a barmy idea and to get them to change their minds. this is precisely what I intend to do - but I can only do it with your support. Our Post Office is one of the essential ingredients that gives the retail life of the village its character. It makes for a vibrant High Street, encouraging we Highgate residents to use to other local shops as well. What is a High Street without a Post Office? Firstly, and most importantly, I'd like you to sign my petition online at http://ourcampaign.org.uk/haringeypostoffices If you feel up to it I'd also like you to print off the attached flyer and deliver as many copies as you feel able to your neighbours. It's important that as many people sign as possible - through sheer weight of numbers I hope we can squash this ridiculous idea. all the best, Lynne"

naomi

that's brilliant! i'm going to start tomorrow, need to feel like i'm doing something.
thanks!

Ian

Why is this a barmy idea? For what reason? It's hard for me to disagree more with this post office stuff. There is some sentimental attachment to them that doesn't make much sense.

The reason why they are shutting down is that they cost a fortune in subsidies and all the things you do in them you can do elsewhere. I reckon the best way to smoke this issue out is to give the ownership to local people. When they all realise how much they would have to pay each week to keep it open they would make the same sensible decision as the Government.

andy

Ace Lynne also asked a parliamentary question about Progesterex: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progesterex>, a made up internet drug. <http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2006-04-18d.63360.h&s>;

andy

Reading Lynne's campaign, only this paragraph makes the argument for why saving the post office is a good idea: *Our Post Office is one of the essential ingredients that gives the retail life of the village its character. It makes for a vibrant High Street, encouraging we Highgate residents to use to other local shops as well. What is a High Street without a Post Office?* Maybe I don't see it, but what's a Post Office for and why is it worth saving more than any other shop? I understand in remote villages a post office might be the only shop for miles. But this is central London. No one uses the Ferme Park Road Londis because there's a post office over the road. It's a rubbish argument. (Note to Lynne: "encouraging we to use to" isn't English.)

Ian

Doesn't surprise me. Just read the Stroud Green Residents Association email and it basically said "doom, hubris, shock, death" without having any substance as to why this is a problem. Very excitable and geared to wind people up. Calls the Government barmy without even trying to answer the simple question - why should we subsidise loads of post offices in the year 2008? Come on folks we are thinking people here - let's not be drawn into silly campaigns.

Ian

Essential why? What is vibrant about it? I guess it would be vibrant if it was full of people wanting to send big parcels. Which in an internet shopping age is unlikely. But it isn't, so it loses money. So why not have something that people actually want to use. I reckon that would be full of people in a "vibrant" kind of way.

My answer to that last, very difficult question Lynn poses is: erm... well... "A high street"

tosscat

I'm with Ian on this one. My olds insist on popping to the post office to pick up their state pension when they could just get it paid into their bank account for a massive saving to the state - bonkers. In a wee while I'll start on extinct animals - bring them on.

Ian

Don't get me started on pandas...

magicP

I think the polar bears have got the 'close to extinction' market all sewn up. Have all the whales been saved now?

Ian

Damn. I thought it was Wales we were supposed to be saving. Sent a fortune last year to the Cardiff Bay Barrage fund...

David

I'm not a business mind so feel free to chastise me for this thought, but why can't we save Post Offices when we're in the throes of nationalising Northern Rock? I'm not particularly attached to Post Offices, or Pandas, but it does seem the state picks and chooses its fights with the little man on the street not being its priority.

dominic

Tosscat, get started on it. I'm always up for a Darwinist rant.

andy

I can see a difference. Post Offices are set up to do things people don’t want to do very much anymore. If they were a private business, they’d have two choices. Work out what new things people want, or shut. Government’s aren’t very good at reinventing businesses, so they tend to close them down. The Northern Rock case is different. Imagine we’re all roped together walking along a mountain pass. One person deliberately walks too close to the edge, slips and looks like he’s going to fall off. It might be his fault, he might be an idiot, but you’ve still got to haul them off else we’ll all fall off. This creates the moral hazard issue. If everyone thinks there’s a safety net, they’re tempted to act like idiots on the edge of a cliff. Which is why the shareholders and managers are getting nothing from NR and the aim of the govt is to protect the savers and the wider financial system from the actions of a few idiots on a cliff.

David

So what your saying is that the Post Office man isn't on the rope, so he can go fuck himself when he gets too close to the edge.

naomi

alright boys, feel free to have your political debate/rant...i only mentioned it because I am in there almost every day (my business requires me posting parcels all over the place) and the people are lovely. I'd feel sad about any local business closing down. I don't want stroud green to end up as one verrrry long tesco with a starbucks at each end.

David

I agree Naomi. Approaching this problem in purely fiscal terms doesn't seem quite right. It seems the Post Office gets caught between a rock and a hard place. Everyone on here was sad when Chrysos closed, but as the PO is national it doesn't get the same sympathy yet its a local business all the same.

tosscat

When was the last time y'all went to Tesco? Stop going, it might suffer the same fate as the PO. (Fingers crossed)

Liz

@ David. Unfortunately, the problem with the Post Office is a purely financial one, and that's the truth of the matter. Royal Mail Group, of which Post Office is one of the three main operating companies, is effectively a private sector organisation whose only shareholders are the Government. They are judged on a purely fiscal basis, not a social good basis. The Post Office as a business became unsustainable when the Govt moved benefits to direct payment - before then, central Govt had effectively been the PO's biggest client, paying them a fee for every benefit transaction (in fact, more than Royal Mail, where the relationship operates on the same 'fee per transaction' basis). So, the current state of play is an unintended consequence of a perfectly sensible, cost-saving decision taken elsewhere in Govt. They have diversified into financial products, but it's not sufficient to sustain the business at the current level of outlets - a small neighbourhood Post Office just won't get the traffic it needs. The big banks are a good parallel example - they've also been closing branches because fewer and fewer people have any need to go in there. On a personal level, I have more sympathy for the argument about rural Post Offices, where without the PO revenue, small village shops which provide other useful services won't survive. But round here, where there are at least three within spitting distance of each other, it's hard to see what the case for keeping them all open is. @ Tosscat - with you on the Tesco front!

Ian

David. I am at least consistent on this point. I did say Chrysos was rubbish and deserved to go under.

David

I get the reasons, its probably just misplaced sentiment that I feel this way. Like I've said before, I'm no business mind, but things like saving Northern Rock, the AA paying no tax and plenty of money being available for things like bombing sandpits, I just feel we could stretch a little more for the little community things. Chrysos was rubbish, but there was a charm about the place. It seems there is just no room for these things nowadays.

Liz

That's quite touching, in a curmudgeonly sort of way.

tosscat

Post removed - as suspected, DUI.

Liz

Blimey! Love the fact that I'm getting it in the neck when the original sentiments were actually David's - which, by the way, I don't share! And I haven't been to McDonalds for almost 10 years.

andy

inappropriate personal abuse + missing the point + not making much sense= tosscat posting when he got in from the pub?

naomi

oh dear. this has turned into some kind of drunken cyber brawl. i don't think i'll revisit this thread, people on forums are all such tosscats!

David

The old DUI. Nevermind Tosscat. Fortunately for me my views on Morrissey are solid, irrefutable and easily defendable under/after any amount of alcohol.

Liz, I think I've hit on why I feel this way, be it curmudgeonly or not: I'm miffed that the Government sees it fit that I pay more corporation tax than the AA and have to now walk further to post them the cheque.

David

Just signed the Londis petition to save the Post Office. Those guys seem genuinely upset for them too after having a little chat about it. Its unfortunate for Ferme Park Road, after the Threshers closed down late last year there's a real worry there'll be nothing more than a Londis and a Launderette at this rate.

Giles

I'll sign the petition, as Naomi said in the original post, the folks there are so friendly it's a pleasure to go to the Post Office.

@Tosscat, oh dear....

matt

I've signed the petition because I love Ferme Park Post Office, I lived on the road for a year and used it regularly. I often travel there even though I now liver closer to two other POs, simply because their service is better. Plus, their ATM charges less than the one in Londis!