Use it or lost it - post office warning (From Maldon and Burnham Standard)

Use it or lost it - post office warning

6:04am Wednesday 7th May 2008

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MALDON Post Office could be under threat for the second time in as many months.

"Use it or lose it" is the simple for choice for customers who have stopped using the service.

Earlier this year there was a public outcry when Budgens supermarket closed, taking the district's only main post office with it.

A huge campaign followed, resulting in a temporary post office being opened in the High Street.

But just a month later the businessman who took on the project has warned that if people do not start using the facility it may never move into a permanent home.

Jake Singh opened the temporary Maldon Post Office on the site of a former gift shop on April 10.

The move was an emergency measure but, at the time, Post Office Ltd vowed to continue searching for a permanent home in the town centre.

Mr Singh said: "A lot of business was lost because of the break in service from the closure of the post office in Budgens until the opening of the temporary unit.

"People started using other post offices in the meantime - we were hoping they would return to the High Street when we reopened but many of them haven't."

Mr Singh said he is still fighting to turn the site's fortunes around, saying: "I have spoken to Maldon District Council officers to find out what they can do to help.

"The main issue is getting more custom - in particular we need business people to start using the post office to make their deposits again - they make up a large percentage of our business."

He added: "I am still actively looking for an alternative location for the post office but it would need to be much bigger in order to offer the full range of services.

"However, with the amount of customers we are currently getting it would simply not be a viable business.

"With things as they are the only way it would survive would be if another business opens a post office counter within the store.

"The simple fact is that we need to be getting the level of business it was before it closed in order for anybody to want to take it on permanently."

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