THE SUBPOSTMASTER - JUNE ISSUE

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Retail Post Office in focus system in place. When we had deliveries, we had to block off aisles and restock, one aisle at a time.” Social media Gary concedes that he is not very good at updating social media platforms. “We have a Facebook page for the shop, but I’m not completely sure how to update it,” he said. “Spar will put on promotions every week automatically, and we can add stuff to it; we’re also being encouraged by Spar to have an Instagram account too.” from Colonel Edward Bolitho, Lord- Lieutenant of Cornwall, at County Hall in Truro. Two weeks later, Gary had an invitation to a Buckingham Palace garden party. Looking forward, Gary said that his children Barney, a professional photographer; and Charlie, a professional chef, who featured on BBC TV’s MasterChef: The Professionals just before Christmas, have no interest in taking over the family business. Fundraising for good causes Gary is quick to point out that when it comes to fundraising, he is part of a team effort. “I run the village bar as a volunteer,” he said. “We’ve raised money for the hall, and we’ve just been awarded a £226,000 grant to build new stores, new disabled toilets and a new roof. “We support anything going on in the village and we’ll always sell the “Managing a 100% increase in sales overnight was a challenge” tickets from the shop, whether that’s for fireworks, the carnival, or the theatre pantomime, and raffle prizes at school fairs.” The Covid pandemic During the pandemic the store delivered to customers seven days a week at first, but eventually that became six days a week. Gary said: “At one point we had 150 customers to deliver to; we do it once a week now on a Friday to around 20 people. Customers used to be able to order up to 1pm and deliveries would take place after 3.30pm, and we took payments over the phone. “We let two or three customers in the shop at a time, and our customers were all outside along the street chatting. We doubled our turnover overnight, managing a 100% increase in sales overnight was a challenge. “We put up screens and we were fortunate that the store has two entrances, so we could put a one-way GARY’S TOP TIPS FOR POSTMASTERS COMMONSENSE IS KEY “I’m in post office and Spar WhatsApp groups and judging by some of the questions that get asked there are lots of people that don’t know what they’re doing. “Be confident in what you’re doing, and have a commonsense approach. And if you don’t know the answer to something, ask. “I used to have six partner sites. Those four partner sites that I lost, if staff there want to know anything, it’s me they call, not the Post Office helpline. They’re not afraid to talk to me and tell me what they’ve done; I will tell them what they need to do.” TRAINING “One thing that’s coming out of the Horizon Inquiry is there’s a need for more training – I’ve never had any formal Post Office training. I’ve just been told to get on with it. “People that haven’t got the skill set, need a bit of training.” SHOP TALK Menheniot Post Office, Menheniot, Liskeard, Cornwall Opening hours: Shop – 7am-7pm (Monday to Saturday) and 9am-7pm (Sunday); Post Office – 9am-5.30pm (Monday to Friday) and 9am-12.30pm (Saturday) Size of branch: 2,500sq ft PO counters: Fortress Staff: 13 (Two full-time; 11-part-time) PO services: Mails, banking, returns, bills, Drop & Go, Amazon Retail: Grocery, confectionery, soft drinks, cards, newspapers, stationery, dry cleaning 28 The SubPostmaster June 2024
MAILBOX Your letters answered by Post Office Ltd and Jon Follenfant, NFSP Members’ Editor Postmasters need to plan for cost increases, so will we hear about remuneration increases before dipping into our own pockets? R emuneration is always a hot topic and we do see a pattern of Post Office Ltd (PO) applying increases one way or another. However, this is insufficient to cover the ever-increasing costs. I have rapidly increased my shop sales from £6k per annum to £40k but still struggle to pay the bills. Will there be an enhanced recognition that remuneration needs to increase and that communication must take place by early January next year to allow business owners to plan for the Living Wage increases? Martin Rudderham Skellow PO POST OFFICE REPLIES Paul Liddiard, Head of Postmaster Remuneration Development, writes: Thank you for your questions and I’m pleased that you have recognised the increases in remuneration. As you have stated, postmasters, like many retailers on UK high streets, are facing a very “I have increased my shop sales rapidly but still struggle to pay the bills” challenging economic landscape right now. We are committed to seeing postmasters share more in the profits we make. Postmasters now receive more than half of the variable income PO makes. At the end of March, we announced a remuneration package for postmasters worth £30 million for the 2024/25 financial year. As part of that, our new Operational Excellence Incentive Scheme will directly reward postmasters who deliver strong performance in certain back-office activities. In turn, this also helps to save money that is then available to use elsewhere, including future remuneration reviews. We’re also ensuring that postmasters share in profits from online platform products. More widely, we are always looking for new opportunities to improve branch profitability. You’ll be aware we have introduced in-branch sales with carriers other than Royal Mail, for example. We are also negotiating the next Banking Framework agreement, which will be a vital part of protecting remuneration, and we have secured a renewed commitment with Bank of Ireland, which will see us continue to provide a wide range of savings products online and in-branch. As you know, we now review remuneration annually, and we are committed to updating postmasters before the start of each financial year in April. We will endeavour to make future announcements as early as possible, but the timing is largely driven by budget setting processes, including the need to understand the impact of any Royal Mail tariff changes once they are announced. MEMBERS’ EDITOR REPLIES Many thanks to Martin Rudderham for his letter about increases in PO remuneration and the timing of any announcements of those “Many postmasters have had to dip more deeply into any profits they make” pay increases, and to Paul Liddiard for his response on behalf of PO. Postmasters, like any other businesspeople, have to plan ahead and budget. More so over the last two years because of the unprecedented swingeing increases in the cost of running a post office. These costs, primarily in employing staff and energy, have in no way been offset by increases in payments by PO. The result is that many postmasters have had to dip more deeply into any profits they may be making on any associated business or, in few cases, savings. This amounts to an unseen subsidy of PO, a government-owned institution, by the very postmasters who own and operate them. This must stop. It is interesting to consider Paul’s comments that increases in remuneration worth £30m have been announced for the current financial year and that perhaps more might flow through from the next Banking Framework agreement June 2024 The SubPostmaster 29
Page 1 and 2: THE THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE NAT
Page 3 and 4: Contents THE THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL O
Page 5 and 6: It was therefore important to resta
Page 7 and 8: Wide-ranging meeting with PO The NF
Page 9 and 10: OUTREACH PROVISION Post Office Ltd
Page 11 and 12: specialist helplines such as cash m
Page 14 and 15: The NET update JUNE UPDATE FROM THE
Page 16 and 17: Conference 2024 Monday morning of C
Page 18 and 19: Conference 2024 THE FUTURE IN FOCUS
Page 20 and 21: Conference 2024 WORKING TOGETHER FO
Page 22 and 23: Conference 2024 Postmasters spoke p
Page 24 and 25: NFSP mails support GETTING MAILS SE
Page 26 and 27: Retail Post Office in focus COMMUNI
Page 30 and 31: Your letters “More needs to be do
Page 32 and 33: Ben Fund quarter page horizontal ad
Page 34 and 35: Planning ahead HERE COMES THE SUN
Page 36: New range launch! TOYS IPS Retail a

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