Post office counter services to change in April

Sub-post offices will move to a postal-only model from 1 April, with non-postal counter services restricted to five key branches.

The Isle of Man Post Office said the change was part of the "evolution" of its network as many services previously offered on behalf of government had been digitised.

The move follows the withdrawal of vehicle and driving licence services and a scaling back of the system for cash pension and benefit payments, along with a "significant shift" in the way people use branches.

From April, non-postal services will be available from one branch each in Douglas, Peel, Port Erin, Castletown and Ramsey.

Contracted services offered at those locations would be restricted to bill payments, cashing government-issued cheques, and the newly created MiCard replacement – Payment Exception Service – which has been opened to 34 people claiming pension or benefit payments.

The Post Office said many of the retail outlets featuring sub-post offices had agreed to extend their opening hours.

However, it said operators in central Onchan and Foxdale had decided not to continue offering services, so "alternative solutions" to provide continuity in those areas would now be sought, it added.

Post Office chairman Stu Peters MHK told Tynwald no one was "being left without a route to access services" by the changes.

Services would continue to be "provided by skilled staff in fully compliant environments, while continuing to meet the needs of those customers who still rely on in-person support", he added.

"The post office is changing and has been doing for some time," he said, "we no longer have millions of letters to deliver every week and the business has changed dramatically and is now focused more on parcels than on ordinary mail".

He said while the post office was "committed to maintaining a retail network right across the island and will provide the services that it can where it can", it was "becoming more and more that post offices, local post offices will become postal only and not the centre of the universe in terms of community services".

• Douglas Post Office, Strand Street
• Castletown Post Office, Co-op, The Parade
• Ramsey Post Office, Spar, Parliament Street
• Peel Post Office, Spar, Atholl Street
• Port Erin Post Office, Church Road

Amended sub-post office opening hours introduced at the start of February at the request of Mannin Retail mean no services are offered at the weekend at the Ramsey, Peel and Port Erin counters.

However, Manx Retail's Douglas branch offers services between 09:00 and 13:00 BST on Saturday, and the counter located within the Co-Op in Castletown is also open between 09:00 and 12:30.

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