It is with no small sense of sadness that Mary Behan will finally shut the doors of her post office in Julianstown, Co Meath, for the last time at 5.30pm this evening.
A postmistress for 25 years and a local native, Mrs Behan says she decided to retire from a job she enjoys due to concerns about her security.
Her post office is located in a room in her home, something which she believes is just not viable in today's world.
"I enjoy the work, I enjoy the company and I enjoy meeting people, but it has changed over the years . . . I can't live with the security end of the job, thinking about what could happen.
"Particularly with it being in a room in my house, you're sleeping with it 24/7 . . . it's a changed Ireland in the past five years. I think the day for having it attached to your house is gone."
Much of her business has transferred to offices in nearby towns such as Laytown and Bettystown since last September, when she gave her obligatory three months' notice of her intention to close.
She describes Julianstown itself as being like a "ghost village", with the local shop long closed and its former hotel now derelict following a fire.
An Post had advertised three times for a replacement contractor to take up her business, but none had been found, she says. "The younger people are not using the post office whereas the older people are.The older pensioners are dying out and there are no younger ones to take their place."
Mrs Behan adds: "I feel sorry for the old . . . particularly somebody maybe who would have no car and would have to go on the bus. There are big queues in the town post offices.
"A lot of younger people are using the internet banking these days . . . and you can go to a hole in the wall at night.
"But older people are very set in their ways, they won't go anywhere but the post office."