tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1283956986296919147.post4248605139466994895..comments2024-03-28T11:24:36.397-07:00Comments on Charlotte Leslie : Post Offices want a hand up, not a hand out...Charlotte Lesliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13138761602383734539noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1283956986296919147.post-54079410282963173022008-06-25T14:26:00.000-07:002008-06-25T14:26:00.000-07:00Thanks for your comment, Northern Lights. If you s...Thanks for your comment, Northern Lights. If you speak to sub-postmasters, there are lots of thing that Post Office Ltd. could allow them to do to make them more viable which do not amount to anything like privatisation. Things as simple as extended counter hours for one. The reason you don't hear sub-postmasters jumping up and down about this is because they have been effectively gagged by their contracts. One squeak against Post Office ltd. and a sub-postmaster facing closure could lose his compensation package. That kind of threat is a major barrier to getting to the bottom of how the Post Office network can be improved - those who can tell us most are being threatened by their contracts in case they say too much. As I said in my post, the whole point is that the subsidies do not need to be so much. That is the starting point.Charlotte Lesliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07703411616115488034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1283956986296919147.post-28298453667215331762008-06-22T14:03:00.000-07:002008-06-22T14:03:00.000-07:00Is 'liberating' the Post Office the same as privat...Is 'liberating' the Post Office the same as privatising it? <BR/><BR/>Considering 3 out of 4 branches are unprofitable (Pat McFadden - a recent edition of the Politics Show) and in the opposition debate on 19 March 2008, Alan Duncan said that a Conservative Government would NOT match Government subsidies up to 2011 (Hansard, Column 950) wouldn't this 'liberation' just lead to further closures?<BR/><BR/>Or has the Conservative position changed since then?LDNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01644458953430709918noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1283956986296919147.post-63194883376161334912008-06-06T13:24:00.000-07:002008-06-06T13:24:00.000-07:00I was recently chatting to a Postmaster in Bristol...I was recently chatting to a Postmaster in Bristol West with Nick Yarker (PPC) and the local council candidate Phil Thompson. We heard the same views - in essence that politicians shouldn't presume to know more than shop owners about what customers want.<BR/><BR/>I'm not a fan of subsidies, but I can see the need to keep them going until the dead hand of government is removed from the situation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com