Post shake-up for Newbuildings village

The shake-up is due to begin next month when the postal service will be shifted from its current location in Unit 2, Duncastle Road to Longs.

Mandy Donaldson, the Post Office’s Field Change Advisor wrote to Derry City Council recently advising about the planned changes. She explained the existing service was operated by a temporary agent.

“Whilst this arrangement has enabled us to maintain access to Post Office services to our customers in this area, this does not mean that the current service is unstable and for some time now we have been actively seeking a more secure solution that would enable us to retain services locally into the longer term,” she wrote.

Ms Donaldson informed Council it had been successful in the appointment of a new partner to continue to operate a Post Office service within the immediate locale.

“This will provide us with the opportunity to incorporate Post Office services into their local convenience store in Newbuildings,” she wrote.

The new Post Office Local service was hailed by Ms Donaldson as a new concept for delivering Post Office services from the premises of an established outlet.

“The services will operate from a newly formatted open plan counter that will offer a range of key Post Office products and services alongside retail transactions.

“Longs Supermarket Ltd. offers a large selection of convenience products and Post Office customers will benefit from the extensive opening hours provided by our operator including Saturday afternoon and Sunday opening times, and longer opening times throughout the week,” she explained.

Newbuildings is amongst the earliest locations to undergo the Post Office Local pilot in the UK with the bulk of roll-outs expected in 2014.

In April 2011 the lobby group Consumer Focus in its report ‘Local but limited? Will Post Office Locals meet consumers’ needs?’ gave a mixed verdict on the new plans.

Authors Andy Burrows and Claire McAnulty concluded: “PO Locals could play a positive part in stabilising and securing the Post Office network, but the risks associated with delivering the restructure are clear.

“As Government has signalled that PO Locals will become the mainstay of the network over time, the significance of the pilot phase could not be greater.

“The roll-out of PO Locals has the potential to safeguard the network, but without major improvements to the model, and an effective implementation process, the network could also be weakened.

But Ms Donaldson was keen to stress the positives in her letter to Derry City Council.

She stated: “Customers will be able to transact a wide range of Post Office services including automated banking services, bill and budget payment schemes, Post Office card account, Postal Orders and postage; inland letters/packets (including Signed For and Special Delivery), inland parcels, international letters/packets to a maximum 6 kilogrammes, or the individual country limit for small packets or printed papers.”

On demand Bureau de Change facilities will not be available but On Line Lottery and internal ATM facilities will.

“We will be trailing this product over the next 12 months. During this time, Post Office Limited will be carefully monitoring the situation to ascertain if this service meets the needs of the local community and would provide a commercially viable alternative to the way our services are currently offered.

“The success of this trial is, to a great extent, reliant on customers using the service on a regular basis and we will be reviewing the situation, and any feedback received, over the coming months,” explained Ms Donaldson.

She invited people to contact the Post Office’s National Consultation Team by October 4 - the closing date for all enquiries - if they have any views on the proposed changes.

To do so contact the National Consultation Team by emailing [email protected] or at National Consultation Team, Post Office Ltd., PO Box 1138, St Albans, AL1 9UN.

For further information contact the Post Office’s Customer Helpline 08457223344 or Textphone 08457223355.

Respondents may wish to consult the aforementioned Consumer Focus report which states: “While we are confident that the PO Local model can potentially work for consumers, the success of the roll-out programme will be determined, in no small part, by POL’s willingness to make necessary improvements to the product range, in-branch experience, staff knowledge and expertise, and the availability of core services, including those dependent on cash availability.

“The model cannot be considered robust unless POL acts to secure significant improvements against each of these areas.

“Consumers’ use of PO Locals will inevitably be driven, in the first instance, by the convenience and opening hours of these branches. PO Locals perform strongly in this respect.

“However, in the context of the forthcoming restructure programme, there is a clear risk that without improvements to the in-branch experience, some consumers may perceive the shift to a PO Local negatively.”

The full report is available at www.consumerfocus.org.uk/files/2011/04/local_but_limited.pdf.