Five-day post on the cards as Postwatch backs cut
Monday 16th May 2011, 1:00PM BST.
POSTWATCH believes it is unsustainable for Guernsey Post to continue to deliver six days a week, its chairman has said.
The postal users group responded after it emerged that 57% of the 38 responses to a Commerce and Employment Department consultation on the current universal service obligation were in favour of reducing deliveries.
Postwatch chairman Dennis Le Moignan said the group was also in favour of dropping to a five-day a week delivery service.
‘The use of postal facilities, mainly post boxes etc, is dropping dramatically – you’re talking about a worldwide reduction of about 14 to 16%,’ he said. ‘So this is not just a local problem. Postal services are looking at ways to economise.’
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So Postwatch are swayed by the results of the “consultation” by C&E.
Just lets sit back and think about it shall we; there were 38 responses to the consultation and 57% were in favour of fewer deliveries, that equates to just 21 responses favouring fewer deliveries, Hardly representative of the Island population is it. All this result shows is the lack of enthusiasm from C&E to encourage and advertise an open consultation.
If those responses were from businesses who no doubt are closed on Saturday then of course they are not bothered whether there are Saturday deliveries.
The rest of the General public may not be so keen on the idea.
It is a shame that these so called consultations are kept low key and not made more accessable to more people. I suspect a different result would be seen if for instance a leaflet was dropped through our letter boxes. Maybe even our elected deputies could do this and give the public a chance to ask questions and hear answers on the consultation in question, but then that might be too much to ask.
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DA
The world has moved on and letter post has been collapsing for a few years now.
You’re right if you asked the public if they wanted a 6 day post they would probaly say yes.
If you asked them if they were prepared to double the cost of a stamp for the same service, then the answer would be different.
6 day post is from a different time. The reduction seems eminently sensible to me just on market changes alone.
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DA666
I suppose you could have printed out your 1.35pm effort and placed it in a postbox with a 32p stamp
It would have reached the Press sometime tomorrow and they would have printed it in their letter pages (If Webber wasn’t hogging all the space) sometime next week
No wonder letter post is falling away
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Neil; I am in agreement with you actually though that may not be obvious from my first post (sic)
What I was highlighting is that some pretty major decisions are being made nowadays on the back of the results of a very poor response to a poorly advertised low key “consultation”, in this case less than 0.1% of the Islands approximate working population of 30000.
It is inevitable that at some point a reduction in postal deliveries will be made, though whether that means a Tuesday to Saturday delivery, Monday to Friday (or other arrangement)is open to debate. Nothing will change until the States change the USO that binds Guernsey Post to a 6 day delivery.
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Sadly, Postwatch is following the support the management and *** the consumer approach that has been the approach of Postwatch, and the group headed by Honeybill and his committee before that.
Time the consumer had a real consumer champion who would make the Post Office work in the interest of customers.
Like him or not when Mike Torode was in charge of the Post Office before commercialisation it was run for the customer and usually covered its costs.
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Wake up Ray, Local postage is 36p nowadays! I do take your point for this type of communication, however letter post still has a very important place in our world despite falling volumes.
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DA666
36p! That’s over seven bob!
I can remember when seven bob would buy a fish and chip lunch for four,with either a green lime or strawberry soda each,at Harvey’s on North Side
Islander must remember even better times ?
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Ray
You’re still a youngster then.
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