Big changes are coming to your local post office.
An Post has come to an agreement with the Irish Postmasters Union (IPU) following a three-month mediation. The deal will see massive changes being implemented with regards to the long-term future of the Post Office network.
An Post will also be investing €50m in growing and modernising the post office network and as part of this modernising strategy, An Post Retail has been established as a dedicated business unit within An Post.
Part of this new subsidiaries plans for the future includes a guarantee that every community will benefit from a modern post office service and that there will be a post office for every community of over 500 people; within 15km of 95% of the population (and 3km in urban areas).
An emphasis is also being placed on better opening hours and better-located post offices.
The big news though is that there's going to be no compulsory closures - good news for anyone that's living in a rural community.
Aside from this, An Post will also be opening up to 20 new premises in communities of 500+ that are currently without a post office.
Here are the main objectives that An Post Retail are planning to introduce.
- Find locations for new post offices where they're most convenient for customers and operate them with longer opening hours. More post offices will be collocated with grocery, retail and convenience stores.
- Refurbish their structures to introduce larger post offices in every major town.
- Introduce new formats with an emphasis on e-commerce & parcels.
- Make more services 24/7 and online.
- Introduce automated transaction capabilities in post offices.
The focus of the newly established An Post Retail is in three areas that are aimed at reinventing the post office network and increasing customer visits.
- Post offices becoming the backbone of e-commerce: offering the fullest range of parcel and mail services including out-of-hours collections, returns, tracking, redirections.
- Community financial services: diversifying and growing financial services products for individuals and SMEs, local banking in association with the major banks, and a full range of Government Savings products in more locations nationwide than any other organisation.
- Post offices becoming a one-stop-shop for Government Services i.e. a payment point for local authorities, fines, planning applications etc; digital ID and authorisations; assisting online applications etc.
The development of these services will begin immediately and will be implemented over the next 3 years.
