The beloved village post office, which barely pays for operation

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The population of the Shouivenham village in Oxfordshere is about 3000 people, the rural homes, two bars, a church dating back to the twelfth century, and a small mail office. Jackie Edowe was standing last week, speaking to Sarah and Matthew Thorne, the couple who were delighted.

“If you need a card, they will tell me what a friendly greeting is friendly and useful,” said Adawaye, who suffers from a visual weakness and lives 10 minutes on foot. “It is a social place. If I am at home and feel lonely, I will come here and have a conversation.” In addition to postal services and greeting cards, the branch is used to deposit and pull it.

Shornham is a prosperous and wealthy village, with golf clubs, infiltration stables, and the UK’s defense academy, which trained military officers from all over the world, in the surrounding region. But its Lloyds Bank branch is closed a few years ago, and the post office is a vital commercial center for many residents.

Rich Page, another village, runs a business of the Pokémon Card from his home and uses the branch to send cards with a record post. There are EVRi Parcel services in a collaborative local store, but it prefers the post office. “Some cards are of great value, and when I came here and I see Sarah and Matthew, I know they are safe.”

There is no doubt that the Shrivenham Post Office, which the Thornes has made since 2009, has a great value for society. Whether it’s good work is another issue. While the post office tries to move from Horizon computing scandal Its branches of 11,500 branches made more profitable for the sub -masters they run under the concession, Shouivenham explains the problem.

The Thornes 104,500 pounds from the post office in the last fiscal year for transactions such as parcels and mail sale. After paying the rent and wages for four part -time employees and other expenses, they managed to attract 37,000 pounds per year. In addition, they achieved a profit of 22200 pounds by selling cards and gifts such as tea towels and playing them in the tightly packed retail spaces.

It earns 37,000 pounds to operate the post office branch, put the Thorns in the highest rank of the sub -coach, but it is less than the annual minimum legal minimum between two. “They are better than most of them because 52 percent of postal managers do not earn any money at all,” says Elliot Jacobs, the non -executive post office manager who runs a series of stationery stores and post offices.

The gap between the societal value of the post offices and its economic value expanded as a traditional relationship with Royal Mail, which was privatized in 2011 and It was obtained for 5.3 billion pounds Last year, Czech billionaire Daniel Keteinsky extended. Post offices deal with fewer messages and there is a competition to connect parcel: Amazon has a logistical center near Shrouman.

For example, Thornes gets about 1.50 pounds for each special delivery piece that the customer brings to the branch, and pays the mail and papers there. If the customer instead purchased the mail online from Royal Mail, then print the label and drop it in the post office, then they receive 25 pennies.

“It takes a long time to serve some customers because they want to chat. They are beautiful people and I will not get them in any other way, but in the end, I got 25 points,” says Sarah Thorne, who previously worked as a property lawyer, including for Linklates. The Thornes hopes to move soon to the nearby bank building, which is larger, to provide wider retail and banking services.

The sub -post office paid 416 million pounds last year and wants to raise this amount by 120 million pounds by next year and 250 million pounds by 2030 by reducing costs and increasing banking services and other revenues. It is owned by the public and the government will soon issue a green paper around its future: the post office wants a long -term charter to give it more independence to the administration.

But tensions between personal service and financial logic remain. The Jacobs’ Uoe series, supported by the Next Wave Partners, includes nine branches in and around London. He wants to get more mail offices. “This is a great work in its essence, but you should work hard and need savings.”

In their branch, Thornes needs high rewards soon. He says: “We have not taken a vacation three years ago, partly because we were unable to bear its costs,” he says. Sarah Thorne. The government, the post office, and two villages in Sherifham agree that their work is valuable. Make it tougher.

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