The outlook for hundreds of rural post offices has been compared to being "on death row" by the general secretary of the Irish Postmasters' Union, Ms Vera Hogan. At the union's 100-delegate conference in Limerick at the weekend, she said the Government's public policy of no post office closures was the opposite of An Post's policy.
She claimed the company's refusal to introduce automation to almost half the post offices in the country and ultimately these communities, was giving them an inevitable sentence. Ms Hogan urged the Government and An Post to implement a strategic development plan for new business and services, including banking. She argued that the Post Office network throughout the country was the largest potential banking facility in the State with no overcharging, "no hidden costs, no tax favourable deals for selected friends, simply an honest, low-cost, up-front customer based service ready and willing to be developed".
She warned An Post the union was running out of patience in the pay talks which started more than seven years ago. She called on the company to accept the need to radically overhaul the present arrangements, which were introduced in 1907, to a pay structure which reflected the realities of running a post office in an age of information technology and rising overhead costs.
She urged the Government to consign its present pay strategy, which put nearly 60 per cent of postmasters and postmistresses well below the proposed new national minimum wage level into the dustbin. She said figures for 1998 showed almost 931 of the 1,800 post offices earned a gross income of £10,000 a year and 779 of these offices earned a maximum of £8,000 and 399 earned less than £5,000 a year.
Mr Gregory Fitzgerald, president of the Irish Post Masters' Union, urged An Post to automate all post offices as "it was essential for their survival". He called for post offices to be one-stop information services centres, as this would consolidate all post offices as the hub of rural communities, a position they had held for generations.
At the conference, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, yesterday pledged the Government's continuing commitment to the rural post office network at the conference.
She told the delegates the post office network was of "critical importance and she announced that An Post has secured new three-year contracts with sub-post offices' major customers, the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, the National Treasury Management Agency and RTE. These contracts were won in a competitive environment and would secure the company's core business areas into the next century. New customers have been added to the bill-pay client list, MBNA international bank and Swiftcall Telecom. Overall Bill Pay volumes were up by 8 per cent on 1996 figures. The Minister also told the conference An Post would shortly begin a £1 million advertising campaign to promote the post office network and its range of services.
A recent survey revealed 84 per cent of customers were served within two minutes and there was 85 per cent satisfaction with the attitude of counter staff. The Minister warned it was important that An Post's mail delivery service be improved to a next day delivery of 95 per cent throughout the State.
Ms O'Rourke said one of the key challenges facing An Post was the liberalisation of the postal market. The first phase begins next year when about £14 million of its revenues will be exposed to competition. "The age of monopoly is nearing an end and we must all face up to this challenge with optimism and determination.
An Post through its SDS Parcels Service had already shown it could become market leader in the liberalised market. This first phase of liberalisation was only beginning.
"I anticipate that further proposals in opening up markets to competition will be announced at EU level before the end of the year," she said.
The Minister pointed out that An Post has enjoyed after-tax profits of £6.3 million in 1997 with increased letter and parcel volumes.