The papers are full of stories about Tesco's desire to become a bank, without many commentators pointing out that the Post Office is still ideally positioned to provide people in the UK with an alternative to the (currently) tarnished high street banks. While some postmasters have pointed out that their network is set up to handle financial transactions, it seems this will be yet another missed opportunity for the local store due to governmental inaction.
True in part to my New Year resolution, I held a business meeting in an independent coffee shop today just next door to a Starbucks. The cafe was presented well and four staff were busy preparing for the lunchtime rush, at 11am. As my guests were late, I had a half hour overview of footfall on the street outside and in the restaurant. Six customers. Barely enough to form the queue in Starbucks or Pret-a-Manger just down the road. Plus one Italian girl who dropped off her CV. Some people stopped to look at the posters in the window and moved on. The owners seemed quite happy. When I left just after 1215, they were doing brisk trade. However, I have the impression that the business is not working hard enough. It could easily have managed 120 customers between 11 and 12, instead of 12. This is lost profit as the fixed overheads and staff costs are already in place. The owners are clearly busy - perhaps too busy to take time to look at the potential that their cafe has. What shou...
You are right there. The Government through their inaction will waste a significant community resource.
ReplyDeleteTo do the 'Peoples Bank' will not be easy, but there are many thing that Central and Local Government can do to secure the future of the Post Office network. For me its about ensuring that we attract and keep as many local business users as we can including the E-Bayers.
That means doing the things that we need to do to give them a smooth service, several of them are on a drop off and pay later process.
And by the way in five years we have tripled our Post office salary.
Steve