‘People use the postal service because of convenience’

Guernsey Post has announced plans to remove 96 of its 141 post boxes. This is a very foolish idea. Please can I urge all deputies to contact Guernsey Post to oppose this, before Guernsey Post’s deadline of tomorrow?

We have many post boxes that are historic and unusual and need to be preserved.

Guernsey Post say they collect five items of post per day from some of the post boxes.

This is 5 x 365 = 1,825 items of post each year. Why are we talking about removing boxes that collect more than 1,000 items each year? These are large numbers.

Guernsey Post claims that it costs money to visit the boxes. How will money be saved by closing the boxes? The postmen will still be in the vicinity of these boxes delivering letters to businesses and residents. If the postmen empty the box whilst they are in the area delivering, there is no net cost to the business.

One report said that the post box at Les Camps du Moulin, St Martin’s, will be relocated to the doctor’s surgery. Why? This is completely unnecessary.

Guernsey Post say they will keep post boxes near shops, and yet a number of post boxes at shops are on the closure list, bizarrely, the post box outside the Coop on the bridge is on the list – and that supermarket contains a post office!

It is much easier to park at the Coop to post a letter than it is to park around the corner by Stonelakes pharmacy. The post box at Longstore is another example of a supermarket box at risk of closure.

Guernsey Post needs to remember that people use the postal service because of convenience; if that convenience is lost, people will not use the postal service. If I want to send a ‘get-well-soon’ card, or to send congratulations or condolences, I need to be able to post it today. I am not going to drive halfway across the island to Waitrose to post a letter; I am going to send a text or an email instead. Yes, people visit supermarkets, but we do not visit them daily.

Royal Mail have made similar mistakes in the UK, destroying their business in the process of trying to save money.

Royal Mail changed collection times from the evening to the morning. A letter posted on Monday is now collected on Tuesday and is delivered Wednesday, and they wonder why no-one is using the post when an email gets there the same day and a letter takes three days.

It is ironic that Guernsey Post wants to keep the tacky, sheet metal Romec boxes as found at Beau Sejour and Waitrose Admiral Park, that are devoid of character, while removing all the historic ones.

Guernsey Post seems to have forgotten the lessons of Covid, and want us to go to busy areas to post letters. Where will we post letters during the next lockdown if all the local boxes have gone?

How will people get to the few remaining post boxes if they lack a car? People will not catch a bus, they will send a text.

Why is there no post box at the bus station, which would be the obvious place for one?

The Guernsey Post consultation reminds me of the episode of Yes, Prime Minister, where Sir Humphrey demonstrates how to carry out an opinion poll to get the result you wanted all along. People can only comment about one post box at a time, very few people are going to visit the site 96 times.

Stephen Orme