Trials by Post Office bosses to cut costs with a network of 'lite' branches with only limited services have been sharply criticised by a Government watchdog.
Headache: Hilery Bond couldn't use her mobility scooterIn November, the Government pledged a £1.34 billion survival package to keep the 11,500-strong network of post offices alive until 2015.
But a scheme to replace many subpost offices with cut-price 'post office local' alternatives, to be run by corner shops, garages and other outlets is being carried out.
About 60 'locals' - sometimes branded 'essentials' - have been operating for months and their performance was the subject of a report published last week by the Consumer Focus watchdog.
The report, called Local but Limited, found that more than half of all users were not impressed with the moneysaving idea.
It highlighted the fact that 'locals' don't offer popular services such as basic banking, certain bill payments or some parcel handling.
More than half of customers had to go to a bigger post office to get what they wanted, the report said. And two in five complained about lack of privacy because they were served at the same till as other shoppers.
One advantage, though, was that 'locals' offered longer opening hours. A post office 'essentials' opened in January last year inside Lloyds pharmacy in Cambourne, a village with a population of 10,000, nine miles west of Cambridge, as one of the first pilots. Outside it advertises a core of basic postal services along with Post Office card account and electronic bill payment facilities.
When Financial Mail visited last week, multiple sclerosis sufferer Hilery Bond, 68, was picking up a prescription and posting letters. The post office area is beside the checkout on the same open counter next to a headache tablet stand.
Hilery says: 'Having a post office facility here is a godsend, but it would be better if it was a larger, dedicated branch.
'I have a specially adapted mobility scooter, but I cannot use it to get into this pharmacy, so I must use crutches. Unfortunately this outlet does not offer basic banking facilities.
I must visit another post office for that.' The nearest traditional subpost office is in Bourne, three miles to the south.
Convenient: Rachel Stone and Suzanne Adams Midwife Suzanne Adams, 30, was out and about in Cambourne with her eight-week-old daughter, Amelia, and her friend Rachael Stone, 29, who has a 15-week-old baby, Charlotte.Suzanne says: 'The traditional post office is a great meeting place. This new outlet in a pharmacy is not a social hub and I have to travel to Cambridge for such things as passports and car tax discs. However, as a compromise, it certainly beats no post office at all.' Marta Pombo, 39, a telecoms manager, believes the 'local' offers convenience she cannot always find in bigger post offices.
'The parking is great here and for basic postal needs this outlet is an ideal solution,' she says. 'I can pick up my pharmacy needs at the same time. The staff are friendly and provide the help required.' Andrew Burrows, of Consumer Focus, says: 'Locals will replace many traditional sub-post offices, but more must be done before that happens.
Greater convenience is welcome, but this must not be at the expense of service.' The Post Office says: 'The local lets people use the same counter for all their needs - posting a parcel at the same time as buying baked beans.
'It cuts overheads while offering 95 per cent of services. There is no simultaneous closure programme and the network will be the same size.'
THE DECLINE How branches were axed
2000: At the start of the millennium there are 19,000 post offices. 2003: Post Office management launches 'urban reinvention programme', closing 3,000 branches in towns and cities. Benefits books are scrapped - these generated 40% of branch revenue and were used by 14m people.
2006: Post Office loses right to sell TV licences to private firm PayPoint. Postage-paid stamps can be bought and printed online.
2007: Another closure programme of 2,500 branches begins. Most shut within two years after a sixweek 'consultation'.
2010: Post Office pledges £1.34 billion for survival of 11,500 branches in November 2010. MARCH 2011: US banking giant Citibank wins bid to handle benefits cheques.