Privatisation fears for the post service

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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I READ with interest your article on safeguarding the future of the post office network and was very pleased to see RBS and NatWest now agreeing to using Post Offices to access customers accounts, Post Office adds banking services to stem decline, Echo, November 10.

For some considerable time the Communication Workers Union, the Federation of Small Businesses, the National Pensioners Convention and others have been pressing for this type of action under the umbrella of our campaign for a Post Bank.

Under the coalition Government's current plans to privatise the Royal Mail and split it from the Post Office there are no legal mechanisms in the proposed legislation to prevent the new owner of Royal Mail taking their business elsewhere.

In short, Royal Mail pays around £350 million each year to the Post Office to enable customers to post mail and purchase stamps etc. Without this business and footfall there will be huge numbers of post offices closing and the current good work being done will be completely undermined.


Make no mistake, the new owner of Royal Mail will go where it is cheapest as they will have shareholders' interests to think about. They will not pay to access post offices if they can get a service cheaper elsewhere. Amazingly in a Government response on October 14, the minister Ed Davey confirmed that only an inter-business agreement was in place and there were no plans to change that. This is a huge and irresponsible leap into the unknown.

If your postal service is privatised, the post office network is on a downward spiral and hard commercial interests will override everything else. Of course so is your six-day service and "one price goes anywhere". If you would like to stop this go to http://www.keepthepostpublic.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or http://www.cwu.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Phil Chadwick

Branch Secretary CWU

Okehampton Road, Exeter