Exclusive Rights for Post Office?

[Banker]

7 minutes ago, woolley said:

This is not really the whole story. The salaries received by the small sub post offices is a pittance, and most of them are in danger of subsidising the post office from their ancillary business activity rather then the other way around. It is the case that the small post office salary combined with the other bits of trade they do just about makes a viable business. Just about. Nobody is getting rich running these shops, and I know at least one who is thinking of dumping it. This is why the post office was so keen to convert their last main offices to sub offices and farm them out to other operators. Costs them far less than operating directly with employed staff.

The post office does not get a share of any ancillary business these shops are owned by the sub postmaster who receive any profits 

[dilligaf]

5 minutes ago, woolley said:

That service is down to the post office on the other side though really, isn't it? IOMPO only had to drive it to the Airport along with all the other UK post in time to catch the evening plane!

It will have gone in the trailer to Heysham I think. So arriving NW England at midnight, it went through several hubs before final delivery. Very impressed to say the least.

[woolley]

1 minute ago, Banker said:

The post office does not get a share of any ancillary business these shops are owned by the sub postmaster who receive any profits 

I know. I didn't say otherwise. The only involvement of the post office is to pay the sub-postmaster, usually the shop proprietor, a salary. This salary can be surprisingly small. It is only because the shops sell other things that they have managed to hang on for as long as they have, hence my point that the private side of the business is subsidising the continued existence of the post office. As the post office withdraws different aspects of its service from these locations over time - as recently highlighted by the case of Ballasalla - it becomes increasingly difficult for the private operators to justify continuing in business.

[dilligaf]

13 hours ago, Kopek said:

Uh Oh!!!

.

Edited July 19, 2020 by dilligaf

[Kopek]

the post office withdraws different aspects of its service from these locations over time - as recently highlighted by the case of Ballasalla - it becomes increasingly difficult for the private operators to justify continuing in business.

What you are saying there Woolley is that it is the PO that is subsidising the other side of the business? Which contradicts your earlier statement?

[Kopek]

5 minutes ago, dilligaf said:

Who gives one ? Halve , half, fook, fuck. I don’t care.

You usually do! Not when applied to yourself then?

[Roger Mexico]

26 minutes ago, Kopek said:

the post office withdraws different aspects of its service from these locations over time - as recently highlighted by the case of Ballasalla - it becomes increasingly difficult for the private operators to justify continuing in business.

What you are saying there Woolley is that it is the PO that is subsidising the other side of the business? Which contradicts your earlier statement?

No he's not.  The business of running the shop + post office is only viable with the income from both side.  If either stopped the other couldn't continue.  But within the business more time/expense goes into the post office side than would be justified if you allocated it between to two parts in terms of income.  So there's an effective subsidy from the retail side to the post office side in terms of staff time.

[dilligaf]

32 minutes ago, Kopek said:

You usually do! Not when applied to yourself then?

You know what dilligaf is an acronym, yes ?

[Kopek]

........... but if the retail side cannot survive without  the PO subsidy, then the retail side was failing anyway. Which is the opposite of what Woolley posted, perhaps not what he meant?

Edited July 18, 2020 by Kopek

[Kopek]

I do dilli but if you don't give a fuck, why do you keep posting on here???

[woolley]

27 minutes ago, Kopek said:

the post office withdraws different aspects of its service from these locations over time - as recently highlighted by the case of Ballasalla - it becomes increasingly difficult for the private operators to justify continuing in business.

What you are saying there Woolley is that it is the PO that is subsidising the other side of the business? Which contradicts your earlier statement?

Not really. At one time, a sub post office provided a living with the other bits and bobs of the general shop trade as the icing on the cake. As time has gone by, with declining postal business, the salaries have been eroded by costs and inflation until it has now reached the stage where the post office salary together with the private aspect of the business are barely sufficient for the combination to stay afloat. So to that extent, you might say that each side subsidises the other, although some of these post office salaries are pretty grim.

I had a conversation with one sub postmaster recently who was looking at the prospect of some services being withdrawn from his office, and he was projecting how much additional non-post office turnover he would have to do to subsidise the continuation of the sub post office on the reduced post office income. He was wondering whether it was worth the struggle.

[woolley]

And what Roger said. The running of a post office is far more involved and onerous than running a general store although not necessarily commensurately rewarding.

[dilligaf]

2 minutes ago, Kopek said:

I do dilli but if you don't give a fuck, why do you keep posting on here???

Because I tend not to give a f@@@ about what most posters say. I do care about what a few of the more intelligent posters think though. I try not to annoy them, but sometimes fail at that. 

[Kopek]

What Roger presumed , was adding a sub PO to an existing retail business, as a means of adding extra income, to make the whole viable.

I doubt that is the way this has evolved?

What I would require of a 'Corner shop' would be that it made a profit. If the opportunity arose to add a PO. to further add to the profits, then I would take that... but if that meant that one or the other of the  busnesses were 'subsidising ' the other, I would look at the overall performance of the business as to which is the more viable.  If it turned out that the retail side was subsidised by the PO or that the previously profitable retail side, given that these were the original core business,  was being subsidised by the PO side, then I would make a decision, which is going to give me the best income?

If a local business  has  folded because of the loss of the PO business, that would indicate the the retail business had failed in not being viable in its' own right?

[woolley]

13 minutes ago, Kopek said:

What Roger presumed , was adding a sub PO to an existing retail business, as a means of adding extra income, to make the whole viable.

I doubt that is the way this has evolved?

What I would require of a 'Corner shop' would be that it made a profit. If the opportunity arose to add a PO. to further add to the profits, then I would take that... but if that meant that one or the other of the  busnesses were 'subsidising ' the other, I would look at the overall performance of the business as to which is the more viable.  If it turned out that the retail side was subsidised by the PO or that the previously profitable retail side, given that these were the original core business,  was being subsidised by the PO side, then I would make a decision, which is going to give me the best income?

If a local business  has  folded because of the loss of the PO business, that would indicate the the retail business had failed in not being viable in its' own right?

You wouldn't have the luxury of making a decision as to which side of the business would give you the best income. The reality is that you would have to continue to run both to just about make enough to keep your head above water with the revenue from both sides of the business diminishing in real terms over time. Or you could give up the struggle. That's where some of these businesses are now.