Postal changes illogical, inconvenient and costly
Issued : Friday 30 July, 2010
Statement by Brendan Ryan TD
The proposed changes by An Post to arrangements for parcel and registered letter recovery, where these have not been delivered by the postman, in areas such as Rush, Lusk, Oldtown and Garristown are unacceptable and will result in unnecessary cost and inconvience to residents in these areas.
As things currently stand, if a postman or woman calls to a house to deliver either a registered letter or a parcel and there is nobody at home, the postman or woman will leave a note to the effect that the letter or parcel may be collected in the local post office i.e. Rush, Lusk, Oldtown or Garristown.
An Post are currently restructuring the delivery system in these areas and are rightly in negotiation with the unions on these matters. However, as part of the restructuring process they are also trying to implement changes to the collection system for failed deliveries of packages and registered letters which must be signed for by a member of the household.
Instead of a note to the effect that the item can be picked up at the local post office, the note will indicate that the item should be picked up at the Balbriggan depot. This is unacceptable and will result in unnecessary hardship for people.
Garristown is just short of 20km from Balbriggan (a round trip of 40km). Oldtown is just under 18km from Balbriggan and collecting a package or letter will mean a 36km round trip. There is no public transport available as the people of these areas are so acutely aware. If people have no car or if there is no car available before the Balbriggan depot closes, then the only option is to take a taxi at great cost. That's even if it is possible to get a taxi in these rural areas of Fingal.
Although there is a bus service between Lusk, Rush and Balbriggan, it is still a big deal to make the journey there and back.
There is no credible reason for these changes. There is no associated productivity improvement which will bring savings to An Post. The postman in the area still returns to the local post office each evening to leave the undelivered item there to be transferred to Balbriggan later in the evening.
It was introduced in the Skerries area last year and caused many difficulties to people. A woman, who contacted me, on finding the note in relation to the failed delivery, immediately got a taxi to Balbriggan to pick up the item and was informed when she got there that the item had not yet been returned to Balbriggan.
This proposal makes no sense whatsoever. It is a further reduction in the services provided by rural post offices and must be dropped. Perhaps it is a precursor to the closure of these rural post offices
In the Customer Charter on the An Post website Chief Executive, Donal Connell states that "all of us at An Post are committed to offering you high quality services that meet your needs."
The proposed illogical changes do not meet the needs of rural Fingal and should be dropped immediately.
