One in five post offices ‘could close in next year’

More than one in five post offices could disappear over the next 12 months as the often self-employed postmasters struggle to earn a living amid lower wages and falling customer demand.

A survey of 1,000 post office workers by the National Federation of SubPostmasters (NFSP) found that 22% are planning to close, hand on their business, or downsize over the next year as they go without holidays and take on extra jobs to make ends meet.

There are about 11,500 post offices in the UK, having almost halved in number over the last 30 years. Major retailers such as WHSmith and Ryman feature post office counters in some of their stores, but the majority of postmasters are self-employed small business owners, often operating a neighbourhood post office inside a shop.

Postmasters are unhappy with the amount they are paid by the Post Office for the individual transactions they process, and about three quarters (76%) of those surveyed said they earned less than the hourly national minimum wage per hour for the work they do.

Their biggest concerns include falling incomes and higher costs, low transaction rates for banking services, more customers using Royal Mail services directly via the Internet, and fewer using a Post Office card account.

Calum Greenhow, chief executive of the NFSP, himself a subpostmaster for 23 years, said it was easy to understand why so many wanted to give it up.

“We can see how easy it would be for subpostmasters to lose faith and feel disenfranchised, to feel the system is working against them.

“For many of you, your feet are going to do the talking,” he said.