Q&A
I collect my pension/child benefit from a post office that is due to close. What happens now?
The trip to the post office on a Friday morning is a vital part of the weekly routine for many elderly people. You have two options if your office is shutting. You can travel every week to a nearby post office to collect the payment. An Post promises it will have a post office within 15km of one that is being shut. An Post said it will pro-actively inform people in areas where post offices are closing about the nearest alternative offices. Your other alternative is to have your pension or child benefit paid into your bank account.
What do I do if I don’t have a bank account?
If you do not have a bank account you will have to travel each week to the nearest post office in your area that has remained open. Alternatively, you could open an account with your credit union, have your State payments paid into the credit union, and access your State payments that way.
What do I do if I don’t have an ATM in my village?
If there is no ATM in your village your best bet is to try a shop. Retailers will often provide you with cash when you make a purchase on a debit or credit card.
Why is my post office closing?
Many post offices are doing too little business to justify keeping them open. These are mostly in areas of low population. An Post insists post offices that are closing are all locations with populations of less than 500 people. One in 10 people now receive social welfare payments, such as pensions, into their bank accounts instead of collecting them in the post office. And the mail business has declined sharply due to electronic communications.
The closures come after the Irish Postmasters’ Union agreed an exit package with An Post that will allow mainly older postmasters to retire with a lump sum. Where retiring postmasters operate in a post office doing little business, An Post has decided to close it down.
An Post said it will publish details on future services for the post offices that are closing in the next two weeks, including social welfare payment arrangements.
What is the future of the network?
An Post says that 960 post offices will remain open, with five new ones to come. Post offices that remain open will offer a full range of parcel and mail services, including out-of-hours collections, returns, tracking and redirection.
An Post also has Address Pal, which gives customers the use of a proxy address for the delivery of online shopping from the UK, US and beyond.
Post offices will also offer loans, credit cards and more foreign exchange products to consumers and small business. An Post launched a current account, Smart Account, last year. And there will be an extension of the range of local and central government services offered in the post offices that survive.
This will include licensing, payments for local authorities, fines and planning applications, and digital authorisations.
Is my post office threatened?
If it was not on the list published by An Post this week then it should survive, for now.
An Post has established an independent review process for communities to seek an assessment of decisions on future post office provision in their area following the retirement of a local postmaster.
A document, called ‘New Vision for Post Office Services in Ireland’ on this can viewed at www.anpost. ie/Newvision.
What could be done to save rural post offices, as others may close?
One option could be to implement a new community banking service to be operated by An Post in all post offices. Any profits made would be returned to the community.