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Shrewsbury is facing the closure of its central post office in St. Mary’s Street the plan is to transfer its services into the basement of WH Smith who will manage Shrewsbury’s Post Office branch from their existing premises via “a franchise agreement”.
Around 6,000 customers of Shrewsbury main Post Office have already objected in writing to this proposal. They have done this because it will produce a badly located, poorly accessed, undersized replacement that will offer worse customer service.
We object to this move for the following reasons:
Access
The access to the proposed new branch will be very much worse than the current premises, particularly for the disabled, the elderly and others with mobility problems.
The current branch provides access direct from the street up a small ramp, it is highly visible and easily located. The new proposal replaces this instead with a branch on a basement level requiring the disabled and elderly to use a small inadequate customer lift, or to make a long confusing detour through the Darwin Shopping Centre to use their lifts.
The location at the rear of the basement level of WH Smith will be difficult to locate for new customers, and whatever you call it, is a definite downgrading of the service.
Fewer Serving Points
The proposed replacement design only has 8 serving points including a dual purpose foreign exchange/Giro business banking position. This is a reduction in the current provision, will result in longer queuing times and a worse service.
For a main Post Office branch in an important centre such as Shrewsbury, your artist’s impression of the replacement facility looks very much smaller in size compared to the current branch and is obviously a downgrading of the existing provision.
Staffing Problems?
What guarantees are there that WH Smith will continue to maintain staffing and service levels? When they have local staffing problems the temptation will be there to take staff from the Post Office counter.
The County Town Needs a Post Office
Shrewsbury is an important County town, regional centre and focal point for a wide area of the Marches and Mid Wales. Do you really think it is reasonable to replace the current branch with a downgraded, smaller substitute at the rear of a shop basement?
What sort of impression of the town will this proposal give Shrewsbury, in every serious European tourist destination you find a prominent, appropriately sized main Post Office – why are we to be downgraded to a back of the basement location?
Poor Treatment of Current Staff
Local Post Office staff appear to have been treated very badly over this proposal, reading about it in the local paper before management told them, being given almost no time to state their future employment preferences, and leaving those without transport very few options concerning relocation. Is this a proper way to treat hard working staff, who have worked loyally, many for a long period, for Royal Mail?
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