Last updated 15:56, Wednesday, 19 March 2008

THE familiar red Post Office van and handy post offices have been a welcome part of our daily lives for generations. How long will it continue?

The quick-fix know-it-alls decided that part-privatisation of the Post Office would, as if by magic, make the service more efficient and also more profitable for the Exchequer. So now we have a postal service that has been forced to reduce its delivery times and now threatens to axe 35 post offices across Cumbria.

Yesterday there was a chance for MPs to vote on a motion urging a rethink of the closure options. Early indications were that not enough Labour MPs would be brave enough to defy the party whip and back the Conservatives’ motion.

As the News went to press it was unclear how Copeland MP Jamie Reed intended to vote.

A number of Labour MPs and ministers have campaigned against branch closures in their own constituencies, yet faced an awkward decision yesterday on whether to put their heads above the parapet. If the worst come to the worst and Parliamentary votes and ‘consultations’ come to nought, one glimmer of hope is that Cumbria has been at the forefront of pilot schemes, such as combining the post office with a shop and a library ‘link’ in the Eden Valley villages of Melmerby, Lazonby and Hallbankgate. The government is looking at other ways of providing PO services in a bid to stem the £4million a week losses being sustained. The Post Office certainly needs a shake-up but closing offices is not the answer.Perhaps its main problem is that this is a service which is still stuck in the age of Postman Pat. We’re now in the 21st century with email, texting and messaging being so quick and easy it’s hardly surprising that the Post Office’s core business is barely sustainable.

They had a chance with major changes to the business a few years ago but what happened was a dog’s dinner of a different rates for different sized envelopes and different weights. Gone are the days of just posting a letter. Now you have to find out what size it is, what weight it is, whether you want it to go first class, second class, special delivery, the fingers-crossed delivery. Most people just want to post the thing – not have to take a Phd in post office delivery rates before they can send it off.

It surely won’t be long before postal collections and deliveries cease at weekends completely.