Why downgrade our post box?

May I thank the anonymous resident(s) who decorated Rough Common’s main post box beautifully for Christmas (see previous page).

Royal Mail’s Christmas present to the village is a small notice on the post box that in January, Saturday collections at 12.45pm will change to 7am.

The loss of almost six hours is a grave dis-service to the general public.

On Saturdays, 7am is too early for most people to have written greetings cards or prepared correspondence.

The same notice has appeared on Blean’s main post box.

These two changes will leave the whole area between Canterbury and Whitstable with no effective Saturday collection.

This will force residents who need to post after 7am on Saturdays to drive into Canterbury or Whitstable, increasing traffic and emissions, as well as taking time.

Those without cars will be particularly badly hit, including residents of Maple House retirement home in Rough Common.

Royal Mail’s Code of Business Standards says its policy is to “consider properly the effects the conduct of our business may have on people and communities; consulting wherever appropriate.”

This does not seem to have happened.

The notices state that the changes are “to improve efficiency”.

Clearly, this means cost savings for Royal Mail, rather than improved efficiency for the public!

Moreover, both Rough Common’s and Blean’s post boxes are NHS priority post boxes.

The NHS guide to PCR hometesting instructs the public to post completed test kits in a priority post box no later than one hour before the collection is due.

For those unable to get to a priority post box without using public transport, the NHS will provide a courier - therefore Royal Mail’s move will increase costs to the NHS.

Might I ask the public, and our elected representatives, to join me in opposing these changes, by logging an online complaint or writing a letter to the address Freepost, Royal Mail Customer Services?

Jeremy Baker

Fir Tree Close, Rough Common