An Post - national infrastructure?

Skommando

Skommando wrote: »

That's only if you take a very narrow view of what state services a local post office can deliver to any local community urban or rural. You need to get past the old fashioned notion that a post office is only for selling stamps.



Yes, the state has no say in what services they deliver to local people. If it's only about delivering services that a bean counter says on paper makes profit, then no state hospital or police stations or health clinics, or any state serves for hat matter, should ever exist. Why not get the local centra shop to provide police and health services ? These services deliver a lot more benefit to society than mere profit.

To compare the hard dedicated work of HSE workers with the well paid Post Office ones is just laughable! Post Offices can and are being done without. Health professionals cannot.

newacc2015

Skommando wrote: »

You see that's the actual problem. Post Offices, if they were properly managed and governed nationally, can offer so many more state services than just the narrow minded out of date view than they can only be for letters and stamps and making profit for someone like a private centra shop. On a bean counter's ledger, no community or social service by it's very nature, from health services to schools to policing are in any way 'profitable' but they have a critical role in local community that needs to be recognised. There is a difference between the cost of something and the value of something. And it's not an urban vs rural argument. Local community services are as critical in a local Dublin community as they are in a rural one.

So you are suggesting An Post should take on the failing post offices around the country at the cost to the tax payer? I dont like using the post office for anything other than stamps. Most staff are unpleasant and incompetent. I would rather An Post was like Deutsche Post where you can buy stamps 24/7 on a machine outside.

It is very much a rural vs urban arguement. Dubliners have had dozens of post offices closed and we just get on with. Garda Stations were closed in Dublin and we got on with it. We closed hospitals in Dublin and we got it with it. Close anything in rural Ireland and it is an "attack on rural Ireland". Rural Ireland will never be content with the standard of services they have, even they are bankrupting the country

Dubliners dont need a ton of community services as we live in dense urban areas. They are always close to people and events. If you choose to build your house in the middle of nowhere literally, you cant expect the taxpayer to fund your entertainment and social outgoing with token post offices and garda stations. Literally everything you can do in a post office can be automated or online. There is really no need for post offices anymore other than a place for people who have chosen to isolate themselves

LeinsterDub

Skommando wrote: »

same thing could for every single local community brick and motor service from Dublin to Cork, close them all ? Or do they actually offer something more than a website ?

Not really. I mean you can't get your teeth fixed online. Or social worker type things. An Post are basically offering a delivery and banking service.

Bray Head

newacc2015 wrote: »

So you are suggesting An Post should take on the failing post offices around the country at the cost to the tax payer? I dont like using the post office for anything other than stamps. Most staff are unpleasant and incompetent. I would rather An Post was like Deutsche Post where you can buy stamps 24/7 on a machine outside.

I have a bout a 12-minute walk to two different post offices in an urban area. Incidentally, one that was a minute's walk closed down 4 years ago.

I don't need these post offices them for "community services". I need them to buy stamps and post parcels. 

And in neither of them can I post a parcel if I am coming home from work at 6.05pm. 

They should really focus on doing their core job better like have some automated system for buying stamps and depositing parcels outside working hours.

my3cents

Bray Head wrote: »

I have a bout a 12-minute walk to two different post offices in an urban area. Incidentally, one that was a minute's walk closed down 4 years ago.

I don't need these post offices them for "community services". I need them to buy stamps and post parcels. 

And in neither of them can I post a parcel if I am coming home from work at 6.05pm. 

They should really focus on doing their core job better like have some automated system for buying stamps and depositing parcels outside working hours.

Aren't any post offices near you open on a Saturday morning? If people here think reducing the number of delivery days a week to three is a good idea then your parcel can't be that important so can wait till Saturday to be posted.

Bray Head

my3cents wrote: »

Aren't any post offices near you open on a Saturday morning? If people here think reducing the number of delivery days a week to three is a good idea then your parcel can't be that important so can wait till Saturday to be posted.

Yes of course they are open on Saturday mornings. But sometimes I sell stuff on ebay and dispatch is expected within one working day.

BonnieSituation

Why does EVERYTHING need to make a profit in this country? What is this obsession about cost?

Absolutely drives me bananas.

Sure there are underlying issues with An Post and their cost base but there's so many more issues in Ireland that deserve attention than the pillorying of An Post and BÉ.

LeinsterDub

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Why does EVERYTHING need to make a profit in this country? What is this obsession about cost?

Absolutely drives me bananas.

Sure there are underlying issues with An Post and their cost base but there's so many more issues in Ireland that deserve attention than the pillorying of An Post and BÉ.

Paying for itself doesn't mean make a profit and if it was a true public service then off course we should subside or even fully fund it. The issue for An Post is it isn't a public service.

BonnieSituation

What is it then?

LeinsterDub

BonnieSituation wrote: »

What is it then?

It's a public owned entity in competition with private companies in the package delivery sector and a former public service replaced by email and the internet in the letter sector. Much like how LW252 is no longer a public service.

If it needs to cost a euro or two euro a letter so be it.

my3cents

LeinsterDub wrote: »

It's a public owned entity in competition with private companies in the package delivery sector and a former public service replaced by email and the internet in the letter sector. Much like how LW252 is no longer a public service

But the problem is the private companies that An Post are in competition with are crap at delivering to rural locations because they just aren't set up to do it.

An Post cover everyone, private companies only want the profitable work.

Sam Russell

The problem with An Post and other such semi-state operations is that they must be open to competition (according to EU rules).

This means that private (non-state) companies must be able to compete with them. Now this competition must be neutral, but in the case of An Post, the PSO is ignored. So a courier company can ignore the obligations that An Post has, and cherry picks the most profitable bits.

I think that the state could compensate An Post for PSO parts of the business and it would be in the national interest to have a reliable postal service.

loyatemu

I can post a letter here in Wicklow and have it delivered by hand to the depths of rural Donegal tomorrow - cost: 72c. It would be fantastic value even at €1. But as a business model flat mail is doomed - think of all the stuff that was delivered through your letterbox 10 years ago, how much of it do you receive now? It's not just that no-one writes letters anymore; bills, bank statements, renewals etc. are largely gone too. Days go by now without receiving any post; at least 50% of the delivered mail here recently has been those bloody charity stickers addressed to "The Resident".

Parcels and logistics are handled perfectly well by the private sector. So what's left for An Post - the post offices could become more general govt. services offices (but many govt services are moving online as well); and delivering Xmas cards (but I suspect that will die out eventually as well).

newacc2015

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Why does EVERYTHING need to make a profit in this country? What is this obsession about cost?

Absolutely drives me bananas.

Sure there are underlying issues with An Post and their cost base but there's so many more issues in Ireland that deserve attention than the pillorying of An Post and BÉ.

Because the Government has a thing called a budget. They have a certain amount of money to spend for the year. If they spend a large proportion of it on things that provide little benefit to society like over paying semi-state employees. Since there is a budget, cuts have to be made elsewhere, so social housing isnt built, there is no money for the HSE to introduce a life saving drug, etc. Sure who needs social housing or a decent healthcare system when glorified village in the west has a post office for no one to use it?

Do you now understand why keeping costs under control is extremely important? It is easier to close a few dozen post offices no one is using or a bus route used by about 3 people than to have another few families living in a hotel as DCC has no money to build housing. People are obsessed with costs, as they matter

sat matt

With the never ending increase in parcel volumes spurred by online buying and selling, surely An Posts future lies in positioning itself as a parcel delivery company first with mail delivery taking second place?

Having spent years dealing with An Post across various business, I'm always left scratching my head. I always got this impression from An Post that the dirty parcel business was below them and for that reason they never really bothered about it. One look at their parcel pricing says it all really. The price of an untracked, 20KG parcel to the UK is almost 12 times more expensive than our couriers are offering and many couriers will carry up to 30 or 40KG as standard, with tracking too

OK, I'm cheekily skipping the details here and I'm sure their attitude to parcel delivery isn't the problem I'd like to imply it is. More so perhaps, it seems An Post have haphazardly structured what parcel business they have around their core postal operations. They have basically bolted an ill-fitting parcel service onto their postal operation. Just one nugget to back up my point somewhat... the over-priced 20KG parcel I mentioned above - it is sent to the UK via airmail! Why on earth would any delivery outfit on this island move a standard parcel to the UK via airmail by default unless the sender specifically paid more, much more for express delivery? Our couriers aren't flying parcels across the Irish Sea and despite them using the ferry, they're enjoying the same transit times into their UK hubs as An Post are with airmail (i.e. overnight) which makes the whole express line moot anyway

As I said, head scratching but then An Post seem to have form in delivering mediocre, poorly thought-out services. AddressPal for example is mediocre and lazily designed in my opinion. There's the poor design of the service, there's the non-existent tracking, there's the Post Office collection aspect where hours don't suit working folk. I mean they're a delivery company... where the hell is the home delivery option?! Then there's "Post Logistics", their newly launched service for moving palletised freight. To quote their website - "As Ireland’s leading freight forwarding company, Post Logistics has the unique ability to utilise the well-established ‘An Post’ network servicing the Republic of Ireland". Sounds great and makes sense so you head over to price a pallet from Longford to Cork. Nope, they don't deliver pallets within Ireland! So you price a pallet from Longford to Belfast. Nope, much more expensive than what's already available. Longford to the UK... same story

Lets stick with parcels for now. Were An Post to re-arrange and roll out an affordable and sensible parcel collection and delivery across their network, the cut-throat couriers would very quickly feel their presence. The reach of An Post's National and International networks, the knowledge of their ground personell and their overall professionalism is unrivalled and perhaps more than anything, An Post is a brand that many trust to deliver their goods. That same trust is rarely extended to our couriers

The business of mailing flats is certainly in decline but in my opinion An Post's biggest problems are internal. They can't keep pointing the finger at a segment of a delivery market that has been in known decline for years while the remaining delivery market is seeing explosive growth. Adapt and adjust

Bray Head

In light of the current issue I did a quick search of some rural counties to see how many post offices they had. Sourced here.

Mayo: 59, or one for every 2,200 population
Donegal: 76, or one for every 2,100 population
Leitrim: 17, or one for every 1,900 population
Roscommon: 25, or one for every 2,600 population

CrabRevolution

Bray Head wrote: »

In light of the current issue I did a quick search of some rural counties to see how many post offices they had. Sourced here.

Mayo: 59, or one for every 2,200 population
Donegal: 76, or one for every 2,100 population
Leitrim: 17, or one for every 1,900 population
Roscommon: 25, or one for every 2,600 population

Does that tell us much though? For reference, the state has 1118 post offices, one per 4255 population. Dublin has one per 9150 people.

joujoujou

CrabRevolution wrote: »

Does that tell us much though? [...]

Not really, IMO. I'd like to see how far an average customer has to travel to their nearest post office instead.

LeinsterDub

joujoujou wrote: »

Not really, IMO. I'd like to see how far an average customer has to travel to their nearest post office instead.

I'd be more interested in how often they travel to it

Bray Head

I discovered recently that you can buy books of stamps online too, with a delivery cost of €1.

It is not prominent on An Post's website and almost seems to be geared at philatelic users.

For me another reason not to have to go near a post office unless posting a parcel.

bk

LeinsterDub wrote: »

An Post and BÉ aren't comparable. BÉ's service hasn't been replaced but An Post's has.

Actually they have! It is BE Expressway, the commercial arm of BE, that is in serious financial trouble. For the most part, the PSO arm of BE had been ok *

* Though the unions going out on strike is now endangering the entire company.

The reason Expressway is in such trouble is because it is getting wiped out by private companies like Aircoach, Dublin Coach, GoBus, Citylink, etc. offering vastly superior services on similar routes.

BE have been WAY too slow to respond to the new competition in the market and are thus suffering badly.

The same is happening to An Post, they are reacting far too slowly to a changing market and new competition.

Post Offices open only 9 to 5:30 and closed for an hour and a quarter at lunch make them largely useless to most of the working public.

Even when they launch new services like AddressPal they make a complete balls of it.

However there are a lot of things they could do to become more competitive:

- Merge post offices into the local shops like they are doing in the UK. And no, I don't mean just a separate "Post office" inside a shop with the normal crappy post office opening hours. I mean have the normal shop staff handle postal services.

The advantage being, you reduce staff and building costs, while increasing the revenue to the shop, while every one benefits from postal services being available at the same hours the shop is open. In rural areas, this could lead to a better level of postal services, while also helping to keep the local shop open.

BTW my local post office is in a shop, but a separate counter. It is open only 9 to 5:30, while the shop it is in is open 6am to 10pm 7 days a week. Madness!

- Set up a direct competitor to Parcel Motel with their own lockers outside post offices and other locations.

The German equivalent of An Post, Deutsche Post, did this. They are basically 24/7 post offices. You can buy stamps at them, weigh packages (and buy resulting stamp for them), send post, send parcels and receive parcels from them 24/7. Far better then a post office.

In Germany, they go a very cool step further with this. When delivering parcels, if you aren't home, they leave the parcel at the nearest locker and leave a letter for you letting you know how to pick it up from the locker 24/7. This all works without you ever having to first sign up to the service!

And it is awesome. People in Germany love it, it has been so successful, they have literally put hundreds of lockers in train stations, so that people can pick up and send packages while commuting to and from work:



- Perhaps move to postal deliveries every second day. Then a postman could cover two routes and you would only need half the delivery staff.

Lets be honest, it really wouldn't be the end of the world. Certainly wouldn't matter for your Christmas cards or even your bills or tax discs (going away anyway).

To be honest, as it is, I get so little mail now (actual mail, not junk) and it is so unimportant, I only check my mail box once or twice a week as it is (live in an apartment, so mail box is in another part the building). Most of the time, I just end up emptying it of junk mail!

Hell, probably even one delivery a week would probably be sufficient, IMO.

Perhaps, you could combine the above two ideas, you could have next day delivery to the lockers, but every second day to the home or something like that.

So there is a lot An Post can do to rationalise their services, while at the same time actually delivering better services.

However as we have seen with the mess with AddressPal, I'm not sure they have the flexibility for this sort of change.

Bray Head

@bk

You are mostly right. The problems are really on the collection side rather than the delivery end which performs reasonably well.

The next-day delivery is an essential part of the service though. It seems useless until the day you actually need it, and is something that quite a lot of business users rely on.

The problem with turning post offices into shops is security. Post offices are not so much there to provide postal services anymore. They exist to provide cash benefits to people who won't or can't use bank accounts. I am a bit agnostic about this. It is costly to the taxpayer on the one hand. On the other hand it promotes social inclusion - there are many recipients who simply can't handle the complexity of benefits paid electronically. Anyway it all adds up the need for costly security and restricted opening hours. 

All of this is inconsistent with providing better postal services. But as you've said, they've managed it in Germany very well.

Bray Head

double post

ED E

Anecdote: Went to local PO at 5.15 (rushed to make it) to send a parcel. Teller accepted it and then said I couldnt send it registered, the bag was already gone. The driver who had this bag was 1m behind me waiting for them to close and his van was 3m behind him, in eyesight. All he had to do was lift it back out of the truck. 15mins to closing. Nope. Next time it'll be 100% GLS or DHL getting my business. Civil servant not my job mentality exists throughout.


If AP really wanted to save themselves they'd install deliveryboxes free of charge and push them hard. They're only for their use so they'd corner the online shopping market in a week.

LeinsterDub

Bray Head wrote: »

double post

New An Post service? Send one letter get the second free?

bk

Bray Head wrote: »

You are mostly right. The problems are really on the collection side rather than the delivery end which performs reasonably well.

Delivery is pretty poor for many people too.

AddressPal is useless if you work normal hours and home delivery isn't much use to you if your not home. Sure it ends up in the local depot and they have somewhat better opening hours, but still not great.

They really need to get their own 24/7 lockers to better serve the delivery end, this would also help with the sending side too. In fact it would fix many of AP's problems. It has worked so well in Germany and Parcel Motel is doing so well here, I can't understand how they haven't copied it.

Bray Head wrote: »

The next-day delivery is an essential part of the service though. It seems useless until the day you actually need it, and is something that quite a lot of business users rely on.

Shrug, it hasn't seemed to be a problem for other countries that have moved to 2 day standard delivery.

If a business needs next day delivery, then they can always use a courier service. As it is most big business and solicitors use person to person bike couriers, etc. for such important deliveries.

Bray Head wrote: »

The problem with turning post offices into shops is security. Post offices are not so much there to provide postal services anymore. They exist to provide cash benefits to people who won't or can't use bank accounts. I am a bit agnostic about this. It is costly to the taxpayer on the one hand. On the other hand it promotes social inclusion - there are many recipients who simply can't handle the complexity of benefits paid electronically. Anyway it all adds up the need for costly security and restricted opening hours. 

Well the UK is making this change, so obviously they have solved this issue.

ED E wrote: »

If AP really wanted to save themselves they'd install deliveryboxes free of charge and push them hard. They're only for their use so they'd corner the online shopping market in a week.

The problem with this, is that when you order online, you mostly don't know who is going to deliver. Order from Amazon and it could be delivered by AP or Fastway, DPD, etc.

SPDUB

bk wrote: »

The same is happening to An Post, they are reacting far too slowly to a changing market and new competition.

Post Offices open only 9 to 5:30 and closed for an hour and a quarter at lunch make them largely useless to most of the working public.

Given that most are run on an agency basis as long as they cover the core hours of 930 to 530 they are free to open at lunchtime if they want to , and I do know of one open during lunch hour in a shopping centre .

- Merge post offices into the local shops like they are doing in the UK. And no, I don't mean just a separate "Post office" inside a shop with the normal crappy post office opening hours. I mean have the normal shop staff handle postal services.

As Brayhead said I believe this is down to security issues and how would it work for the more complicated tasks some people do at the post office without affecting the operation of the shop

- Set up a direct competitor to Parcel Motel with their own lockers outside post offices and other locations.

As far as I know the locker idea is not possible under Comreg rules unless you are happy that every other delivery company have access to them .

The rule from Comreg is that if it is an asset of An post it then has to offer it's competitors equal access as it has itself .

- Perhaps move to postal deliveries every second day. Then a postman could cover two routes and you would only need half the delivery staff.
So there is a lot An Post can do to rationalise their services, while at the same time actually delivering better services.
.

Well that's not within An Post power to do off their own bat as Comreg mandates a five day delivery everywhere in the state

ED E Anecdote: Went to local PO at 5.15 (rushed to make it) to send a parcel. Teller accepted it and then said I couldnt send it registered, the bag was already gone. The driver who had this bag was 1m behind me waiting for them to close and his van was 3m behind him, in eyesight. All he had to do was lift it back out of the truck. 15mins to closing. Nope. Next time it'll be 100% GLS or DHL getting my business. Civil servant not my job mentality exists throughout

Main registered bag is usually collected at 4pm ( in Dublin anyway ) .

I think the issue there might have been that the Teller would have had to redo the paper work for the bag if it had been reopened to allow your parcel into it

bk

SPDUB wrote: »

Given that most are run on an agency basis as long as they cover the core hours of 930 to 530 they are free to open at lunchtime if they want to , and I do know of one open during lunch hour in a shopping centre .

But most don't, so not much use to most people.

SPDUB wrote: »

As Brayhead said I believe this is down to security issues and how would it work for the more complicated tasks some people do at the post office without affecting the operation of the shop

Again, I'll ask, how are those services delivered in the UK?

Can we not follow the UK model for delivering these services?

Frankly, queuing up behind a line of OAP's for half an hour is one of the many reasons I no longer use AP's services. I tried using AddressPal the first month it launched (they offered reduced rates) it was a disaster, one of the many problems with the service was every time I went to the post office, I seemed to get stuck behind a queue of OAP's

It just isn't an efficient way of doing business.

If they had parcel motel style lockers outside the front of the post office and used them for AddressPal, etc. it would at least allow people just looking to use postal services to skip that queue.

SPDUB wrote: »

As far as I know the locker idea is not possible under Comreg rules unless you are happy that every other delivery company have access to them .

The rule from Comreg is that if it is an asset of An post it then has to offer it's competitors equal access as it has itself .

Huh, how is that? That doesn't make any sense.

Then that would mean other companies would be allowed to use An Posts post offices, depots and post boxes. If true, then why don't other companies not use any of these?

And yes, even if true, I'd be very happy to see other companies being allowed to use parcel lockers supplied by AP. I assume other companies would be required to pay to use them, similar to how Sky, BT, etc. pay Eir to use their phone lines for Broadband or how Lyca, Tesco Mobile, 48months, Virgin Mobile, etc. all use Three's mobile network and pay for it's use.

Such a set up is typically very good for the public and delivers a valuable service. Something AP seems to forget they are supposed to be doing!

SPDUB wrote: »

Well that's not within An Post power to do off their own bat as Comreg mandates a five day delivery everywhere in the state

Sure, but that can change. AP and others can make suggestions to Comreg to change this.

If AP continue to push up the price of flat mail, then the volumes are going to continue to drop quickly as companies switch more and more of their customers to electronic billing, etc. It will be a vicious circle.

I suspect with mail volumes continuing to fall, AP and Comreg will eventually have to accept the reality and adjust the requirements accordingly.

Just like the regulators in other countries have allowed their mail services to switch to every second day due to falling mail volumes.

SPDUB

bk wrote: »

But most don't, so not much use to most people.

But the point being I don't think An Post would actually try and stop those PO's opening

The only issue I believe they would have with it is the feasibility of doing later collections ( post 530pm postbox collections were dropped at least 10 years ago because of low volumes ) and that items dealt with after 530pm would not have "next day delivery status" at least outside the local area

Again, I'll ask, how are those services delivered in the UK?

Can we not follow the UK model for delivering these services?

Possibly but since I don't know the UK model we'll have to leave it there for now

Huh, how is that? That doesn't make any sense.

Then that would mean other companies would be allowed to use An Posts post offices, depots and post boxes. If true, then why don't other companies not use any of these?

Technically yes but for practical purposes what happens is that they do their collections and deliver it to the mail centre and for a fee set by Comreg An Post will sort it for them though I believe in the UK some postal companies have brought it to local delivery offices

Sure, but that can change. AP and others can make suggestions to Comreg to change this.

I suspect with mail volumes continuing to fall, AP and Comreg will eventually have to accept the reality and adjust the requirements accordingly.

Just like the regulators in other countries have allowed their mail services to switch to every second day due to falling mail volumes.

Believe me Comreg are the ones more resistant to change

They stopped even simple changes like delivery boxes in rural areas so that An Post wouldn't be obliged to drive down every bohreen .every day .

Here's a story to show how rule bound Comreg can be

To cover the next day delivery rule a few years ago Comreg insisted on a 530pm Christmas eve collection in Dublin even though by that point PO's were closed and even the Mail centre have stopped processing by that point

They were told how pointless such a collection would be since there would be very little mail in the boxes by that point and that it wouldn't be processed anyway until after PO's reopened and collections resumed.

But they insisted anyway and as expected there was hardly any mail collected and it was brought to the mail centre where there was only one person who was there to accept it and then close up .

bk

I just read over the Kerr report into the Post Office network. A very interesting report for any one interested in this topic:

http://www.ahrrga.gov.ie/app/uploads/2017/02/post-office-report-english-january-2016-hr.pdf

The main points of this report actually pretty much support every point I had made above!

So the most striking thing from the report is the discrepancy between An Post and the Post Offices/Post Masters.

On the one hand Post Offices/Postmasters make very little of their money from mail services, they make most of their money from financial services, 68% of their revenue (DSP payments, NTMA, billpay etc.).

So those postmasters really want that big queue of OAP's in their store, it is how they make their money!

But this is a serious problem for An Post, because the majority of their revenue comes from mail services, 65%. The money Post Offices bring in from financial services represent only about 20% of An Posts overall revenue.

This shows a clear problem for An Post. If a person like me, looking to use their mail services to send a package or use AddressPal, finds a big queue of OAP's at the post office and ends up taking almost an hour to do the most of rudimentary of tasks. Where I shake my head and say that I will never again use An Posts parcel service and use Parcel Motel in future, then An Post risks losing the most profitable part of their business to better, more innovative competitors, due to a poor post office experience.

The solution to this is very clear. Stick a 24/7 Parcel Motel style locker outside every post office, so that people can use the mail services without delay, 24/7, while inside the post office, they continue to focus on offering the financial services.

AP really need to do this or they are going to lose a massive amount of business to the like of Parcel Motel and Parcel Wizard.

In the report, Kerr, actually finds many of the points I made above. He was overall shocked at the poor maintenance of post offices. Most are dinghy, dark, unwelcoming places with their security features. Like me, he points out that this isn't what the consumer wants from modern retail services, that they want bright, open, welcoming places and that the post offices badly need major renovation to make them more attractive.

He points out that this is exactly happening in the UK now. Most post offices are getting major renovations. Security screens and doors, etc. are being removed to create a more welcoming and friendly environment for customers.

He points out that in the UK, there has been no increase in thefts with this change. This is due to the use of timed safes, which mean that there isn't that much money there to rob, making them less of a target.

No reason why the same can't be implemented here.

He also points out that co-locating post offices in shops, where the shop keeper actually carries out postal services, has also been highly successful. With postal services being available for much longer opening hours now (whenever the shop is open) and has been very popular attracting in new customers. Again, despite the lack of security screens and the openness of it, there has been no increase in thefts.

In rural areas in the UK, like us they have also been closing lots of post offices, but they have taken two steps to lessen the impact on rural communities, one which I had thought of, the other I hadn't.

1) Post office buses that go around the different villages on a schedule to offer postal services.

2) Keep the post office in every village, but only open it one or two days a week. Thus one postmaster can still deliver services to up to 5 villages at a greatly reduced cost. Pretty great idea and seems that it is working well.

I'd go an extra step, and put 24/7 postal lockers outside each of these post offices, so that you could continue to offer 24/7 mail services (which would be a substantial increase in the quality of service from now). That would help rural areas to maintain a decent level of service.

BTW Another really interesting idea is to team up with Credit Unions. There are 1,400 credit unions in Ireland, about 300 more then post offices. So obviously the credit union network is widespread in rural Ireland. One idea is to make credit union staff post masters too, so that they could also continue to offer post office services in villages where the post office closes. This extra revenue could help the credit union too, while also maintaining services to the community. This are also talking about how they could cross sell banking and financial services, too. Pretty good ideas.

So overall it looks like An Post is facing massive changes and challenges to it's business and it is going to need some radical thinking to survive and evolve it's business for the modern world.