Royal Mail goodwill gesture is an 'insult'
Nov 20 2008 by Dan Warburton, The Journal
A SUB-POSTMISTRESS received a Christmas card and 50 first class stamps from Royal Mail a week before the organisation closed her post office – a gesture she described as “an insult”.
Stephanie Jarron’s Belsay branch, in Northumberland, will close today as part of cost-cutting restructuring of rural village post offices.
However Ms Jarron, 41, received the card depicting a rural village with a young boy looking out of a window.
Inside were two signatures from Royal Mail chairman Allan Leighton, and chief executive Adam Crozier, along with £18 worth of first class stamps.
The Royal Mail gaff has incensed post offices across the region as branches gear-up for closure.
Ms Jarron, who has a six-year-old son Edward, said: “It’s an insult. It implies post offices are important for rural areas, but that isn’t what they think.
“I got the card and I couldn’t believe it.
“I’ve spoken to other post offices and they feel the same. It’s actually been selected from a competition.
“It shows a rural village post card, with a whimsical little boy looking out at the post office.
“How dare they? The 50 stamps have a value of around £18, and they’ve sent that to every post office in the country – that must have cost a fortune.”
Earlier this year Post Office Ltd confirmed that 80 post offices across the North East would be axed in a bid to save the Government cash.
During a consultation period there were angry demonstrations and public outcry for the decision to be reversed. But branches in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham were given as little as six weeks to wind up operations.
Last night Ms Jarron said her “Christmas present” from Royal Mail showed how out of touch the company was with their customers.
She said: “It just shows how the powers that be have no idea what we think. We run a very busy little shop and I know that it will survive no matter what happens.
“The locals are up in arms about the closure, and if they knew about the card they would feel the same way as I do. I can’t believe someone has not spotted it before it was sent.”
The Belsay village post office is due to be converted into an “outreach” post office which will provide the same functions, but with limited services.
Last night a spokesman for the Royal Mail Group said that the gift was meant as a token of goodwill. He said: “We send a Christmas card containing 50 first class Christmas stamps to sub-postmasters and employees of the Royal Mail Group each year.
“It is meant as a gesture of goodwill.”
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