Post offices to close and stamp cost to rise
The Chief Executive of An Post, David McRedmond, has said that the cost of a national stamp is to rise from 72c to €1 and that some post offices will have to close as part of cost-savings measures.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Six One, Mr McRedmond said the increase is essential if there is to be a good postal service and as part of cost cutting measures, some post offices will be forced to close. The number of closures is of yet unconfirmed.
According to the Chief Executive, the 28 cent increase is necessary and at €1, it is still a very good value service. An Post, he said, had the highest quality ratings in Europe, the best next day service in Europe and the best international mail service in Europe. However to have all this, it must be funded.
He added that there has been a decline of nearly 50% globally in mail volumes and that fall is expected to continue by between 5% and 10% a year. He also said there was no point in having a post office that was not in walking distance of anywhere but that as many post offices as possible will be kept open. Under new plans post offices will launch new financial services along with an expansion of the amount of licences that can be sold in post offices. He said that staff numbers will have to be reduced substantially over the next decade and there will be redundancies.
Commenting on the situation, Minister for Communications Denis Naughten has said the seriousness of An Post’s situation was outlined to him in November. He said he wanted to protect the An Post brand, which he said had huge potential along with the five-day delivery service and the mail service across the country. he added that there was a lot of work that had to be done and the company is expected to have a strategic plan to present to the board within a number of weeks.
